FERALIA. - It was the last day of the Parentalia, which consisted of a week dedicated to the dead of the family, or it fell on February 21 (Varro, De l. lat., 6, 13, 1), whereas it is marked on the 13th in the Feriali rustici of Philocalus (virgo vestalis parentata) and of Polemius Silvius (Parentatio tumulorum incipit).

On that day the same funeral rites were paid to the deceased, which were repeated on every anniversary. Before the tomb adorned with flowers, a clay vessel was placed containing grain, salt, bread soaked in wine and loose violets (Ovid, Fast., II, 536-39). On that day, which was a nefastus day, the magistrates did not wear the praetexta, the temples were closed and no marriages were celebrated.

On the following day took place the Caristia or cura cognatio, in which the relatives, having fulfilled their duties toward the dead, gathered for a banquet, almost as if to reckon, as Ovid says (loc. cit., 617-22), the surviving degrees of kinship.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: A. De Marchi, Il culto privato di Roma antica, I, Milan 1896, p. 109-122; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultur der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 832; E. Sumter, s. v. in Pauly-Wissowa, VI, col. 2206; N. Turchi, La religione di Roma antica, Bologna 1939, p. 109. Alberto Galini

@incollection{ec5_feralia, author = {Galieti, Alberto}, title = {Feralia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1159--1160}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/feralia} }

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