Ambarvalia (Ambarvales)

AMBARVALI (Ambarvalia). - A Roman conceptiva festival, that is, one proclaimed year by year by the pontiffs, in relation to seasonal events, and therefore not recorded in the “Numan” calendar. It consisted essentially in the circumambulation of the fields, that is, in leading around them the three characteristic animals of Roman sacrifice: the pig, the sheep, and the ox. Cato (De agr., 144) describes the rite and transcribes the prayer formula. According to W. Henzen, Th. Mommsen, and G. Wissowa, the a. would be identical with the great May Arval Brothers (v.) in their sanctuary on the Via Campana; but this hypothesis requires confirmation, because the surviving Acts do not mention the circumambulatory rite, and because the three animals, which the Arvals also sacrificed, were immolated separately, at three different times and for different reasons.