VINALIA. — Under this name two festivals are marked in the most ancient calendar of the Roman religion.
Literary sources distinguish between them, defining the one on April 23 as the V. priora and that on August 19 as the V. rustica. The first was connected with the first tasting of the new wine, the second with the inauguration of the grape harvest by the flamen Dialis, the priest of Jupiter. Both festivals are indeed dedicated to Jupiter, although the fact that not only the tradition regarding their connection with Venus, but also the oldest temples of this goddess in Rome have their dedication days on the very dates of the two Vinalia, does not seem devoid of significance.
BIBL.: W. Warde Fowler, Roman festivals, London 1899, pp. 85 ff., 204 ff.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, II, Munich 1912, p. 115; F. Börner, in Rheinisches Museum, 90 (1941), pp. 30 ff.