REGIFUGIUM. – Feast of the ancient Roman religion, observed on February 24, a remarkable date insofar as it is an even-numbered day and immediately follows the Terminalia, which close the sacred year, preceding the series of intercalary days.
Roman tradition conceived of the feast as a commemoration of the expulsion of the kings, but evidently it involved a ritual flight performed by the king. The parallelism of the date with March 24 and May 24 should be noted; on these dates too, the calendrical notation Q(uando) R(ex) C(omi-tiasit) F(as) likewise alludes to a function of the king.
BIBL.: G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 436; J. Frazer, The Fasti of Ovid, II, London 1929, p. 495 ff.; F. Altheim, A history of roman religion, there 1938, p. 171. Angelo Brelich