It is not known how they unfolded in the primitive indigenous cult, to which may belong the sacred-magical rite of hurling foxes with torches tied to their tails into the Circus Maximus, aimed at intensifying the heat of the sun upon the spirit of the grain incarnate in the foxes (Ovid., Fast., VI, 681-82). But in Ovid’s account the festival is already absorbed into the games of the Circus celebrated on that day, which are connected with the assimilation of Ceres with Demeter. The ludi Ceriales, first mentioned by Livy (XXX, 39, 8) in 202 BC, but certainly more ancient, were connected with the temple of Ceres, Liber and Libera and were prepared by the plebeian aediles who had their seat there since 449 BC.
Bibl.: Hunziker, s. V. in Ch. Daremberg et E. Saglio,