NEMEA ; OLYMPIA; OLYMPIAD; OLYMPIC GAMES; I'YTIIIAN GAMES.
As in Greece, so in Italy, the festivals were in earlier times comparatively few in number. Among them were distinctly animistic feasts such as the Lemuralia and the Fcralia. The Roman receptivity to foreign religious customs subsequently led to a great increase, and a con stant fluctuation in their number. At the be ginning of the Christian Era the most impor tant were the following: In January, New Year's Day, the Agonalie and the Carmentalia ; in Feb ruary, the Founalia, the Lupercalia, the Quini nalia, the Ferelia, the :I'm-minutia, the •ugelia, and the Equiria; in March, the Metrunalia, the Liberalie, and the Ouingnetria; in April, the Megalesia, the Cerealie, the the Vinelia, the Robiyalia, and the P/oreiie; in Nay, the Lemitrio, and the Ladi Marthiles; in June, the feast of Sono &Incas, the lestelia, and the Ma tralie; in July the Apollinaria and Neptunalia; in August, the Nemoralia, the Consualie, the I'm elie Rustica, and the Yu/cot/alio; in Septem ber, the Ludi. Magni in honor of Jupiter. .Juno, and Minerva; in October, the Meditrinalia, the Faunalia, and the Equirie ; in November, the Epulum Joris; and in December, the last Feu nalia, the Opalia, the Saturnalia, and the Laren talia. Under the emperors the number of festi vals increased to such an extent that at one time there were more feast days than days of work. The Germanic nations had important fes tivals at the winter solstice and the vernal equi nox, the Yule-tide devoted to Frey, the Easter to the goddes Ostara, and there are also traces of neomenia. Evidence of original ancestor-worship is found in connection with some Celtic and Slavonic feasts.
In ancient Egypt each none had originally its own cycle of feasts, and the character of the festivities was determined by the nature of the divinity worshiped at its chief sanctuary. Lunar feasts in honor of the dead were appar ently celebrated everywhere, and even the solar feasts were likely to be of an animistic character. Since the fertility of the soil depended wholly upon the inundations of the Nile, it is natural that its rising should be celebrated throughout the valley. Where worship of the solar deities forms so large a part of the religious life as in Egypt, and in the epic of the myths all other gods and departed spirits are brought into relation with them, it is natural that the life-producing energy of the sun should be bodied forth in sym bolic acts. Sexual excesses were therefore apt
to characterize especially the celebration of the great goddesses, Neith. Nut. Hathor, and Isis. In later times. however, a pantheistic philosophy and a mystic mood seem to have given the Isis festivals a more spiritual character.
In Babylonia each great sanctuary also de veloped its own calendar. Extant inscriptions do not give a full account of any system : hut it is evident that some of the greatest festivals, such RS the Zakinuk. or New Year's feast at the vernal equinox, and the Same possibly at the summer solstice, were kept throughout the land. At the former. the destinies of men were fixed for the coming year. It seems to have been a Narduk festival. A procession between the neighboring shrines of Babylon and Bo•sippa took place at this time, and the King "seized the hands of Bel," by which ceremony he was formally in etalled as vicegerent of the god during the year. According to Berosus and Strabo the Sacwa had a Dionysiac character, and among the enjoyments it furnished was the crowning of a condemned criminal as mock king. For five days he had full license, and then was disrobed, scourged, and impaled. The five days are probably the ha w/ash/ or intercalary days. At certain Ishtar feasts women sacrificed their virginity or offered themselves for the benefit of the goddess, ac cording to Greek writers. A special significance seems to have been attached to the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th days of the month, according to an ancient calendar, and the term shabatturn is explained in a lexical tablet as "day of the rest of the heart." It is therefore possible that the Sabbath is of Babylonian origin as a day when the heart of the gods was pacified by sacri fice. Whether it was observed by the ancient Canaanites and Phoenicians cannot be determined. (See SABBATH.) The clearest testimony concern ing their festivals is found in the Hebrew records, since it was from these Semitic peoples that the invaders borrowed the agricultural festivals. The license that prevailed at the Aslitaroth and Adonis festivals is vouched for by many wit nesses.