CARNA. - Carna is a Roman goddess who had a sanctuary on the Caelian Hill; her festival fell on June 10, a day sacred to Juno and popularly called *kalendae fabariae*: indeed, among the sacrifices offered to Carna were, besides pork, a mixture of spelt and beans. To these scant cultic data should be added the isolated epigraphic notice of the *Carnaria* festival, with offerings of roses, a festival whose connection to Carna, however, is doubtful. Carna was credited with protecting newborns from the *stryges*.
Ovidian mythology adds other elements to our knowledge of Carna, whom the poet considers a goddess of the thorny plant (*cardo*); she would 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 eluded everyone except Janus, who could see even behind his back. The mythological connection with Janus and the cultic one with Juno prove significant in light of the cultural links between Janus and Juno.