Quinquatrus Minusculae on the 13th. The Ludi Apollinares
were on the 5th, and the Neptunalia on the 23rd of July. On
the 13th of August were the Nemoralia, in honour of Diana;
on the 18th the Consualia, on the 19th the Vinalia Rustica, and
on the 23rd the Vulcanalia. The Ludi Magni, in honour of
Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, began on September 4. The Meditrinalia
(new wine) were on the 11th of October, the Faunalia
on the 13th, and the Equiria on the 15th. The Epulum Jovis
was on 13th November. The December festivals were—on the 5th
Faunalia, and towards the close Opalia, Saturnalia, Larentalia.
The calendar as it stood at the Augustan age was known to contain many comparatively recent accessions, brought in under the influence of two “closely allied powers, the foreign priest and the foreign cook” (Mommsen). The Megalesia, for example, had been introduced 204 B.C. The Ludi Apollinares could not be traced farther back than 208 B.C. The Floralia and Cerealia had not come in much earlier. Among the oldest feasts were undoubtedly the Lupercalia, in honour of Lupercus, the god of fertility; the Equiria, in honour of Mars; the Palilia; the great September festival; and the Saturnalia.
Among the feriae conceptivae were the very ancient feriae Latinae, held in honour of Jupiter on the Alban Mount, and attended by all the higher magistrates and the whole body of the senate. The time of their celebration greatly depended on the state of affairs at Rome, as the consuls were not allowed to take the field until they had held the Latinae, which were regarded as days of a sacred truce. The feriae sementivae were held in the spring, and the Ambarvalia in autumn, both in honour of Ceres. The Paganalia of each pagus, and the Compitalia of each vicus were also conceptivae. Of feriae imperativae,—that is to say, festivals appointed by the senate, or magistrates, or higher priests to commemorate some great event or avert some threatened disaster,—the best known is the Novendiale, which used to be celebrated as often as stones fell from heaven (Livy xxi. 62, xxv. 7, &c.). In addition to all those already mentioned, there occasionally occurred ludi votivi, which were celebrated in fulfilment of a vow; ludi funebres, sometimes given by private persons; and ludi seculares, to celebrate certain periods marked off in the Etrusco-Roman religion.
Feasts of the Jews.—By Old Testament writers a festival or feast is generally called either חג (compare the Arabic Hadj), from חגג to rejoice, or מועד, from יעד, to appoint. The words שבת and מקרא קודש are also occasionally used. In the Talmud the three principal feasts are called רגלים, after Exod. xxiii. 14. Of the Jewish feasts which are usually traced to a pre-Mosaic origin the most important and characteristic was the weekly Sabbath, but special importance was also attached from a very early date to the lunar periods. It is probable that other festivals also, of a seasonal character, were observed (see Exod. v. 1). In common with most others, the Mosaic system of annual feasts groups itself readily around the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. In Lev. xxiii., where the list is most fully given, they seem to be arranged with a conscious reference to the sacred number seven (compare Numb. xxviii.). Those belonging to the vernal equinox are three in number; a preparatory day, that of the Passover, leads up to the principal festival, that of unleavened bread, which again is followed by an after-feast, that of Pentecost (see Passover, Pentecost). Those of the autumnal equinox are four; a preparatory day on the new moon of the seventh month (the Feast of Trumpets) is followed by a great day of rest, the day of Atonement (which, however, was hardly a festival in the stricter sense of the word), by the Feast of Tabernacles, and by a great concluding day (Lev. xxiii. 36; John vii. 37). If the feast of the Passover be excepted, it will be seen that all these celebrations or commemorations associate themselves more readily with natural than with historical events.[1] There was also a considerable number of post-Mosaic festivals, of which the principal were that of the Dedication (described in 1 Macc. iv. 52-59; comp. John x. 22) and that of Purim, the origin of which is given in the book of Esther (ix. 20 seq.). It has probably no connexion with the Persian festival Furdigán (see Esther).[2]
Earlier Christian Festivals.—While making it abundantly manifest that Christ and his disciples observed the appointed Jewish feasts, the New Testament nowhere records the formal institution of any distinctively Christian festival. But we have unambiguous evidence of the actual observance, from a very early period, of the first day of the week as a holy day (John xx. 19, 26; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; Acts xx. 7; Rev. i. 10). Pliny in his letter to Trajan describes the Christians of Bithynia as meeting for religious purposes on a set day; that this day was Sunday is put beyond all reasonable doubt by such a passage as that in the Apology of Justin Martyr, where he says that “on Sunday (τῆ τοῦ ἡλίου λεγομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ) all the Christians living either in the city or the country met together.” The Jewish element, in some churches at least, and especially in the East, was strong enough to secure that, along with the dies dominica, the seventh day should continue to be kept holy. Thus in the Apostolic Constitutions (ii. 59) we find the Saturday specially mentioned along with the Sunday as a day for the assembling of the church; in v. 15 it is ordained that there shall be no fasting on Saturday, while in viii. 33 it is added that both on Saturday and Sunday slaves are to have rest from their labours. The 16th canon of the council of Laodicea almost certainly means that solemn public service was to be held on Saturday as well as on Sunday. In other quarters, however, the tendency to regard both days as equally sacred met with considerable resistance. The 36th canon of the council of Illiberis, for example, deciding that Saturday should be observed as a fast-day, was doubtless intended to enforce the distinction between Saturday and Sunday. At Milan in Ambrose’s time Saturday was observed as a festival; but Pope Innocent is found writing to the bishop of Eugubium to urge that it should be kept as a fast. Ultimately the Christian church came to recognize but one weekly festival.
The numerous yearly festivals of the later Christian church, when historically investigated, can be traced to very small beginnings. Indeed, while it appears to be tolerably certain that Jewish Christians for the most part retained all the festivals which had been instituted under the old dispensation, it is not at all probable that either they or their Gentile brethren recognized any yearly feasts as of distinctively Christian origin or obligation. It cannot be doubted, however, that gradually, in the course of the 2nd century, the universal church came to observe the anniversaries of the death and resurrection of Christ—the πάσχα σταυρώσιμον and the πάσχα ἁναστάσιμον, as they were respectively called (see Easter and Good Friday). Not long afterwards Whitsunday also came to be fixed in the usage of Christendom as a great annual festival. Even Origen (in the 8th book Against Celsus) enumerates as Christian festivals the Sunday, the παρασκευή, the Passover with the feast of the Resurrection, and Pentecost; under which latter term, however, he includes the whole period between Easter and Whitsuntide. About Cyprian’s time we find individual Christians commemorating their departed friends, and whole churches commemorating their martyrs; in particular, there are traces of a local and partial observance of the feast of the Innocents. Christmas day and Epiphany were among the later introductions, the feast of the Epiphany being somewhat the earlier of the two. Both are alluded to indeed by Clemens Alexandrinus (i. 340), but only in a way which indicates that even in his time the precise date of Christ’s birth was unknown, that its anniversary was not usually observed, and that the day of his baptism was kept as a festival only by the followers of Basilides (see Epiphany).
When we come down to the 4th century we find that, among the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, Ascension Day has
- ↑ In the “parallel” passages, there is considerable variety in the designation and arrangement of these feasts. While Ex. xii. approximates most closely to Lev. xxiii. and Num. xxviii., Ex. xxiii. has stronger affinities with Deut. xvi. The relations of these passages are largely discussed by Graf, Die geschichtlichen Bücher des A. T., pp. 34-41, and by other recent critics.
- ↑ On the whole subject of Jewish festivals see Reland, Antiq. Hebr.; Knobel, Leviticus (c. 23); George, Die jüdischen Feste; Edersheim, The Temple; its Ministry and Services; Ewald, Altertümer des Volkes Israël; articles in Bible dictionaries.
