LUSTRATION (Lat. lustratio, from lustrare, to purify, from lustrutn, purificatory sacrifice, from lucre, Gk. Aoticcv, lauein, to wash). An an cient ceremony, the object of which was to retain or reestablish those friendly relations with the gods upon which the prosperity of the community depends. This may be accomplished by purifica tion by various means, which will remove any de filement, or by leading the sacrificial victim around the object to he purified, and thus sym bolically shutting out impurity. The purification was accomplished by fire, water, sulphur, or other fumes. These ideas appear prominently at many of the Roman festivals, such as the Palilia or Parilia, when the herds and people were purified, or the Amburhium or Ambarvalia, when the vic tims were led around the city or the fields, and still more at the purification of the assembled people on the Campus Martius at the close of the census taken every five years. At this /ustrum,
the suarctaurilia, or the hoar, sheep, and ox offered to Mars, were led solemnly around the gathering and then sacrificed, with a vow of a similar offer ing if prosperity were granted the community for the ensuing, five years. It may he noted that the term lustrune came to denote the whole period between these Instrations. Not only were these state purifications usual at regular seasons, but any prodigy indicating the displeasure of the gods called for lustrations, often on a very elab o•ate scale. Moreover: many of the acts of daily life, especially those connected with marriage, birth, and death, called for purificatory rites, not only among the more formal Romans, hut also among the Greeks.