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sucks my balls sucks my balls
The Latin for the dead was mortuus/mortua(masculine/feminine) or silentes. There were also other important qwords which were used for the dead. To the Romans there were three aspects of the dead: the Manes and the Lares who were Chthonic deities and the Lemures, who were deamons. Chthonic deities were subterranean gods; that is gods of the underworld (di inferi)
The manes (shades of the dead) or di (gods) manes were the souls of the dead loved ones and represented the ancestors of the family. It is thought that the word originated from an archaic adjective, manus, which meant good. They were honoured in the religious festival Parentalia or dei parentales (ancestral days) which lasted nine days beginning ion 13th February. The manes were given sacred offerings (sacrificia) of flower-garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread and violets at their tombs by their families. The festival was a time of family unity and of symbolising the ties between the living and the dead ancestors. To emphasise the importance of the family to the state, on the opening day there were public ceremonies. The Vestal priestesses conducted a public rite for the collective di manes of the city of Rome.
The end of the parentalia was marked by the Feralia on 21st may. Offering were given to the tombs of the dead ancestor consisting of 'wreaths, a sprinkling of grain and a bit of salt, bread soaked in wine and violets scattered about.' (Ovid). It was a day of public mourning and rite of placation and exorcism which seems to have been purification for the Caristia on the following day, when the family had a banquet to celebrate friendship within the family, exchange gifts and to honour their benevolent dead ancestor, the Lares. While dining, the families offered food and incense as their household gods. It was a day of reconciliation and families conflicts were to be put aside.
On the Feralia and Caristia marriages were not allowed worship of the gods was banned, the doors of temples were closed and no incense burned no the altars. Ovid said that once, during a war the Romans did not observe the Feralia. The angry spirits rose from their graves, howling and roaming the streets. The Romans then made the offerings to the tombs and these events stopped.
The Lares were the benevolent dear ancestors. They were also tutelary gods; that is, gods who provided protection. There were the Lares who were the gods of the household/ family. The Lares could also be gods who protected the neighbourhood and where housed in shrines at crossroads. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities, the state and the army were protected by their particular Llares
The lemures (singular lemur) were shades or spirits of the evil or vengeful dead. They were the shades of those who were not given a proper funeral or burial and were not honoured by the living. They were vagrant, restless, unsatiated manes who could be vengeful and torment and terrify the living. They name was probably derived from larvae (singular larva; mask). They were shapeless and lurked in the darkness and its dread. The 9th, 11th and 13th of May were days dedicated to their placation by the households in the ritual called Lemuralia or Lemuria. The head of the household got up at midnight and cast black beans behind him with averted gaze. The Lemures were presumed to feast on them. Black was the appropriate colour for offerings to chthonic deities (see below). If these malevolent shades were dissatisfied with this offering, the head of the household could frighten them into flight by the loud banging of bronze pots.
It is not named for a god, but for Februa, the Roman festival of purification. However, a god "Februus" was also later named for the festival. February was created, along with January, from the monthless winter period of the early calendar.
The Roman calendar was jam-packed with religious festivals. Most of them, but not all, were in honour of the numerous deities of the Romans. The list below is not exhaustive.
There were the Compitalia in honour of the Lares Compitales, deities of the crossroads, the Carmentalia in honour of the goddess Carmenta, the Lupercalia in honour of the god Lupercus, the Fornacalia honour of the goddess Fornax, the Quirinalia, in honour of the god Quirinus, Feralia in honour of the Manes (spirits of the dead), , Terminalia, in honour of the god Terminus, Veneralia in honour of the goddess Venus, Cerialia in honour of the goddess Ceres, the Fordicidia in honour of the goddess Telus, the Parilia in honour of Pales, a deity of uncertain gender, the he Robigalia in honour of the god Robigus, Floralia in honour of the goddess Flora, the Mercuralia, in honour of the god Mercury, the Vulcanalia in honour of the god Vulcan, the Matralia in honour of the goddess Mater Matuta, the Fortunalia in honour of the goddess Fortuna, the Neptunalia in honour of the god Neptune, the Furrinalia, in honour of the goddess Furrina, the Portunalia in honour of the god Portunes, the Consualia honour of the god Consus, Volturnalia in honour of the god Volturnus, Fontinalia in honour of the god Fons, the Saturnalia in honour of the god Saturn, the Opalia in honour of the goddess Ops, the Divalia or Angeronalia in honour of the goddess Angerona,
There were also two equirria (horse races) in honour of Mars, four agonalia in honour of different gods (Janus, Mars, Vejovis and Jupiter Indiges) the Feriae Iovi ion honour of Jupiter, the Quinquatria or Quinquatrus in honour of the goddess Minerva, and the Megalesia in honour of the goddess Mater Magna (Great Mother),
There were festivals not directly connected with deities: the Parentalia in honour of family ancestors, the Caristia or Cara Cognatio celebrated love of family, the Lemuria exorcised malevolent and fearful ghosts, the Meditrinalia in honour of the new wine vintage, the Vinalia prima which blessed and sampled the wine of the previous year and asked for good weather until the next harvest, and the Vinalia rustica was held before the harvest and grape-pressing.
The Celts, Irish, Scotts, Welsh, Anglo-Saxon, and Brittans, had a religion called Druidic Shamanism which is Religion of Nature Worship. They believed the god of summer and winter, which is life and death. For Halloween, they focused on Samhain, which is the God of Winter and Harvest.
The festival of Samhain is on November 1st but Samhain's Eve is on October 31st. And on October 31st the wall between the living and the dead is at its thinnest where you could actually talk to dead relatives (so they say). But, the spirits could also come into our world and physically harm us on that day.
To be safe on Samhain, they would start bonfires and wear disguises so the ghosts would stay away and think that they are ghosts as well. They also put "actual" skulls on their houses so the spirits will know not to mess with you. Some people didn't have skulls so they carved turnips (they grew turnips there). That was the early "Jack O' Lantern".
The Romans conquered them and decided to make a holiday too on October 31st called Feralia, in which they celebrate Pomona which is the Roman goddess of harvest. That is when the Romans invented bobbing for apples, in which we use today.
People though it was bad celebrating death, so they created a new "catholic" holiday when Christianity was legal because of the Edict of Milan.
On October 31st, they would celebrate All Hallow's Eve
On November 1st, it would be All Hallow's Day (All Saint's Day) in which they celebrate the saints.
On November 2nd, people celebrated All Soul's Day to pray for deceased loved ones that died recently because they thought it should be more for their loved ones also.
On that day, peasants would go around knocking on people's doors asking for soul cakes, which is bread with crosses on the top in exchange for them to prayer for their deceased loved ones in which they would light a candle at church and pray all day.
When they went to America during the Great Potato Famine, people got confused with the name "Hallow's" and it changed to "Halloween" in which Irish kids would go around asking for soul cakes in exchange for prayers. (The Irish kids went to the store to look for turnips (skulls) but instead found huge orange things that they found out were called Pumpkins and decided to use that instead). People who didn't believe the holiday found out, and went around saying give me stuff or they'll threaten them. Halloween turned out to be a bad thing and actually banned in the 1900s until they were legal again for kids to go around to people's doors saying: Trick Or Treat.
Trick Or Treat, which people don't know, means give us food or we will commit vandalism. People now, don't think of it as that, but that is what it means when you go around knocking on people's doors.
