The Calendar and the Religio

[Anonymous]

The Kalends and the Nones of each month are sacred to Juno, and the Ides to Jupiter. Special rituals to those deities should be performed on said days before one's lararium.

In the beginning, the Romans employed a lunar calendar as most ancient peoples did and as observant Jews still do (and as Hellenic Reconstructionists do). The three main days of the months were tethered to lunar phases:

Kalends = New Moon
Nones = Half Moon
Ides = Full Moon

This makes sense since some of the epithets of the two deities are concerned with light (Juno Lucetia, Jupiter Lucetius).

Julius Caesar's reforms switched to a solar calendar and fixed the three main days, making the lunar phases mostly irrelevant. Thus the Ides fall on the thirteenth or fifteenth of a month and is considered sacred to Jupiter, regardless of whether or not the moon is full.

My question is: wouldn't it be better to revert to the old practice of honoring Lupiter and Luno on the relevant lunar phase regardless of the calendar day? There is something about a full moon that is striking and suggests the power of a deity. I can certainly see why Wiccans make the full moon their main event.

This question might seem trivial, but if you are particularly devoted to Jupiter and Juno, and all Rome is to some extent, it is food for thought.

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salve Urse
You have a good point. Switching back to the Lunar Calendar is beter to me and you are right when saying that a full moon suggest the power of a deity. When it is full moon and there is no cloud in the sky, it is really beautiful to see this event. When the moon is up rahter it is a full moon or not, it is striking and very beautiful suggesting a divine power like you suggested. But switching back to the lunar calendar is something that must be personal (i think) but it can be difficult. Like the Hellenic calender you have days of a lunar month that can last up to 2 days. It is a real adjustement if you switch to the lunar calendar. But than again switching over to a foreign calendar is an adjustement on itself.
valete optime

[Anonymous]

Salve!

*nods* Well, most civil calendars have the phases of the moon clearly marked on the days. I think I shall incorporate this into my own personal practice.

As it would turn out, tonight just happens to be a new moon. I think I shall run along to to make a prayer to Juno.

Vale!

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salve Urse

Earlier when I was serving as Pontifex Maximus and posting on the Fasti, I was using a modified Julian calendar, adjusting for the lunar phases, and gave the Gregorian date as well. It can be done with only a little effort. While the Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian, adjusting for lunar phase varies from the Julian only slightly. I think it is more of an appropriate calendar to use for the Religio Romana, and no more confusing than that used by Greek Orthodox, Judaism or Islam.

A couple minor points. While the Kalends were dedicated to Juno, and the Ides to Jove, the first quarter moon of the Nones was more likely dedicated to Faunus. I think the fixing of the Ides to 13 or 15th of the month occured before Julius Caesar. The Romans had abandoned setting their civil calendar according to the lunar phase some time before.

In the domestic cultus there was a ritual regimen centering around the kalends, nones, and ides of each month that involved the cleansing of the house and its shrines, along with changing offerings of flowers and such at the household shrines. In the earlier period when lunar phases played a greater role there were likely other things associated with each lunar phase. There were three Roman calendars I am aware, the civil calendar of the Fasti being only one. Varro's De Rustic has an older agricultural calendar, based on the production of winter wheat, that began in September along with the traditional dies natalis of the Capitolium and Founding of the Res publica libera. Cato's De Agricultura has a different rustic calendar based on viticulture. The festival's of the Fasti, although no longer attached to the seasons or lunar phases, appears to have been based on Varro's earlier calendar. Ovid mentions a time when the Roman calendar had only ten months, the missing months assumed to be January and February, but the calendar ran from autumn until summer to coincide with the winter wheat cycle.

Vale
Moravius Piscinus