The Roman festival year begins on the first day of March, the month which is dedicated to Mars. Appropriately our first festival of the year is dedicated to mothers and wives. Read more

This past weekend we celebrated the festival called Caristas, or the Dinner for Dear Ones [Feb. 22]. As the name implies, it is a feast held in celebration of the family. The Caristas feast comes as a culmination of a festival period honoring our deceased family members in the Parentalia [Feb.13-20] and for others who have passed at the Feralia [Feb. 21]. The festival period begins with a solemn memorial held by the Vestal Virgins for the first members of... Read more

In the Julian calendar today marks the second day of Carmentalia. The festival celebrates Carmena, who is the Goddess of women's health, birthing, and prophecy. Read more

When the Dolphin rises an hour before sunrise in the first flush of dawn (19 Jan) and later swims above the East beneath Vega as the sun rests on the horizon towards the southeast, and the first quarter of the moon at nones has not yet been seen, then is the time to celebrate the Compitalia. Celebrated these days are the Lares whose friendly spirits inhabit our neighborhoods and travel our roadways.   Every place has its unique character, which... Read more

Marcus Horatius Pont. Max. cultoribus, Quiritibus, et omnibus s. p. d. In ancient times the Regina sacrificorum, alongside her husband, would perform a sacrifice of a ewe for Juno. Sometimes it is assumed that this ritual was for Juno Capitolina, when more likely it was for Mater Matuta or Iana (Djana), Goddess of the Dawn and of new beginnings. Rituals were performed at private homes on the kalends for a Juno, but we ought to note that these were for the Juno of the front... Read more

M. Horatius Pont. Max. cultoribus, Quiritibus, et omnibus s. p. d. Over the last fifteen years some of our sacerdotes have written rituals that they have used in addressing Janus on the kalends of each month. In addition to my own efforts in this area we should thus recognize L. Cassius Cornutus sacerdos Ianialis, C. Marius Basilius, and Pontifex Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, and Pontifex Gryllus Graecus. Most of the rituals that have been devised during these years followed a template based on what Cato the... Read more

In these wee hours of 12 January 2013 the moon is completely obscured. Tomorrow the first sliver of the NEW MOON shall be seen. It shall then be time to prepare to celebrate the KALENDAE IANUARIAE MMDCCLXVI anno. 14 January 2013, according the civil calendar based on the Gregorian reckoning, is actually the 1 January 2766 Ab Urbe Condita in the Julian Calendar, instituted 2058 years ago (45 bce) by Pontifex Maximus G. Julius Caesar, which is the proper reckoning... Read more

Traveling through Europe this past summer offered many sights and experiences, along with some adventures. My journey began in Frankfurt, Germany, from where I soon departed for Budapest, Hungary. There I met with my fellow Pontifex Corneilus Lentulus, Popillia, and Livia Plauta. The four of us had met earlier at Conventus VI held in 2008 at Bucharest and Baile Herculane, Romania. Since that time I have attended Conventus VII in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2009, while Pontifex Lentulus had gone on... Read more