Ante diem V Idus Iunonias (9 June) Nefas

VESTALIA

The festival of Vesta, goddess of the sacred flame and of the hearth, was marked by a procession of barefoot matrons and of donkeys wearing wreaths of bread. Ovid explained that where as spelt was once roasted in open ovens, and Fornax had Her own festival, bread was baked in an open hearth, placed on a tile and beneath hot embers. On this day mills were decorated with flowers, and the donkeys who were used to work the mills were given a day of rest. The matrons joined with the Vestales Virgines in offering prayers to Vesta on behalf of the City. The Vestales would offer platters of cakes made from the year's first ears of corn that they had gathered between the nones and ides of May (7-14 May), the same grain used by the Vestales Virgines to make mola salsa. The matrons offered platters of other foods. Similar rites were held at the hearth of each Roman home, and a public feast in honour of Vesta was also held.

Inside the Temple of Vesta were stored Rome's most sacred relics. One of these was the palladium, said to have been brought from Troy by Aeneas. Ovid described the palladium as a statue of Minerva sent down to Ilium by the Gods, others would describe it as a large phallic. It was believed that so long as the sacred flame of Vesta burned and the palladium was safe within Her temple, that Rome's greatness would not extinguish. The flame and the temple's treasures were put under the care of the Vestales Virgines. Beginning on 5 June and lasting until 15 June, the Temple of Vesta was cleaned. No men were allowed inside the temple, except for the pontifex maximus. The Vestales began on 5 June by carrying water from the sacred spring in the Grove of Egeria outside the Porta Capena. On 7 June the inner sanctum (penus) of the temple was opened to the matrons of the city, led by the flamenica Dialis. During this period the flamenica was not to cut her hair or trim her nails, and she appeared in public wearing mourning dress. She was to abstain in this period from sexual relations with her husband, the flamen Dialis, and no marriages were to be performed. The matrons entered the temple grounds barefoot and assisted the Vestales with cleaning the temple. On 15 June it was declared Vesta clauditur, or that the temple of Vesta was closed once more and all religious proscriptions were lifted. This happened in the middle of the day when it was Quando Stercus Delatum Fas. That is, on this day it was proper to carry from the temple of Vesta whatever waste (dust and dirt, leaves and bird droppings) was regarded as stercus, that had collected over the past year (Varro L.L. 6.32).

Ovid refers to the story of L. Caecilius Metellus, pontifex maximus, who once rushed into the temple when it had caught fire, and rescued the sacred objects within.

He scoops water and lifts his hands to the heavens, praying, 'Forgive this man, Holiness, I shall enter where no man may enter. If this is a crime, let me be punished for the act, and Rome be absolved by my life?s forfeit' (Fasti 6.449-52).

Earlier that day Metellus had been leaving for Tusculum when two ravens halted him. At first he ignored their omen, but when they began to claw and peck at one another he returned to Rome (Val Max. 1.4.5). Although as pontifex maximus he was permitted to enter the Temple of Vesta, he was still barred from entering its inner sanctuary, at least while dressed as a man. Like the soldiers sent by Camillus into the Temple of Veia to recover a statue of Juno Regina, Metellus first ritually purified himself with water and offered prayer manus supinus before entering the flames. For saving the palladium and other sacred objects his life was spared, but he was blinded by the flames as punishment for committing a sacrilege (Pliny N. H. 7.141; Livy Per. 19; Dio. Hal. 2.66).


June 9 is also the feastday of Vacuna, the Sabine goddess of victory.