CARNA. - C. is a Roman goddess who had a sanctuary on the Caelian; her feast fell on 1 June, a day sacred to Juno and popularly called kalendae fabariae: indeed, among the sacrifices offered to C., besides pork, was a mixture of spelt and beans. To these scant data concerning her cult should be added the isolated epigraphic notice of the festival Carnaria, with an offering of roses, a festival whose reference to C., however, is doubtful. C. was credited with protecting newborn children from the stryges. Ovidian mythology adds other elements to our knowledge of C., whom the poet regards as the goddess of the hinge; she is said to have been a chaste nymph, born in the grove of the god Helernus, believed to be the sister of Apollo, who, hidden in
a cave, would have escaped everyone except Ianus, who could also see behind his shoulders. The mythological connection with Ianus and the cultic one with Iuno prove significant in the light of the cultic connections between Ianus and Iuno.