FERALIA. — It was the last day of the Parentalia, which consisted of a week dedicated to the dead of the family, and fell on 21 February (Varro, De l. lat., 6, 13, I), while it is marked on the 13th in the Ferialia rustica of Philocalus (virgo vestalis parentata) and in Polemius Silvius (Parentatio tumultorum incipit).
On this day the same funeral offerings were made to the deceased, which were repeated on each anniversary. Before the tomb adorned with flowers, a clay vase was placed containing grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, and loose violets (Ovid, Fast., II, 536–39). On this day, which was nefastus, magistrates did not wear the protesta, temples were closed, and marriages were not celebrated.
The following day saw the Caristia or cura cugnatio, in which the relatives, having fulfilled their duties toward the dead, gathered for a banquet, as it were to embrace, as Ovid says (loc. cit., 617–22), the degrees of kinship.