AMBARVALIA (Ambarvalia). – A Roman festival of the conceptual type, i.e., those that were annually proclaimed by the pontiffs in relation to seasonal events and therefore not recorded in the “numan” calendar. It essentially consisted in the circumambulation of the fields, namely in leading around them the three characteristic sacrificial animals of the Roman rite: 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 Ambarvalia would be identified with the great May rite celebrated by the Arval Brothers (v.) in their sanctuary on the Via Campana; but this is an hypothesis that requires confirmation, since the surviving Acts do not mention the circumambulatory rite, and since the three animals, which the Arvals also sacrificed, were immolated separately, at three different moments and for different reasons.