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Volcanalia, the flames of time. Propitiatory rites of the mounth of August

At the time of ancient Rome, in the sacred calendar, August 23 was the day dedicated to the God Vulcan. He was identified with the destructive fire, on whose altar burned a perennial flame, associated with the summer fires used in agriculture during the harvest. 

Volcanalia was the name of this holiday. To help the God were two “attendants”, Maia and Stata Mater, one was an ancient goddess of fire and sexual heat, the other (was) a domestic deity of the crossroads that protected from fire. The one, therefore, represented the fire that spreads, the other the one that stops; both together with the God supervised the feast and the games that took place in honor of the fishermen of the Tiber river, who sacrificed in the fire small live fishes, caught in it, to symbolize human souls. 

At this point it should be made clear about the gods related to the fire element: Vulcan was the God of destructive fire, unlike Vesta who was the Goddess of domestic fire. Therefore the first one was the wild fire, the other was the fire that man had been able to “train” and make useful and domestic. But the fire of the God Vulcan has an even greater value, it is the fire in which the lightning of Jupiter was forged, as well as the shields of Rome, which served to protect the children of Mars, a deeply warrior people, the Romans one. 

The Volcanalia were celebrated in the city (exactly in the space between the city and the defensive walls, called pomerio) but also in the countryside, with wild songs and dances, banquets and night fires. They wore clothes warmed by the sun, the clothes of the feast, enriched with flowers and garlands, to symbolize the prelude to the new advent of the heat of the sun. Another ritual was to place bronze bowls on the fire with pieces of lead inside, the metal sacred to the God. When the lead had melted it was poured into bowls of cold water where it took various forms, so that the head of the family could decipher its meaning and recognize the omen of good harvest or good luck. 

Still today, as in ancient times, fire continues to exert its mystical and aggregative charm, even if the propitiatory value is now lost in the folds of time.

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Life after death: Pompeii, stories that never end.

“Everything exists forever, no force can destroy what it once was”, with these words Théophile Gautier recounts Pompeii, reviving it with the words of the protagonist “Arria Marcella”. So the apparently abandoned city comes alive with its protagonists, those who, trusting in a different ending, waited too long before deciding to go, remaining immobilized forever in their last pose, frozen in time, in an imperishable memory of what they were.

In that fatal dawn of 79 AD life in Pompeii had started to flow with the usual animation of a commercial town. Although for some days a strange cloud had appeared on its top and strange rumblings were coming from inside, the Pompeians- who had built their city on a hill of prehistoric lava and they erected the walls of their houses with it- did not t care. 

Yet 17 years earlier a violent earthquake had seriously damaged many buildings and the water pipes, making public buildings and Forum monuments unusable, but the citizens, motivated by the desire to return as soon as possible to a normal life, had ventured into a massive reconstruction to make the city more beautiful than it was before. In this way the echo of so much wonder could reach every province of the Roman empire, attracting even more curious and merchants.

At 10.30 am a noise suddenly rumbled in the clear sky: the top of Vesuvius had split in two. In a succession of roars, a pillar of fire rose and it quickly turned into a cloud of smoke. The Pompeians, stunned and incredulous, were overwhelmed by a bombardment of lapilli, pumice stones, blocks of rock that constituted the cap and the upper walls of the exploded crater. The roofs began to collapse under the weight of lapilli, the first victims were already counted. This was only the beginning of the end.

Today, after almost 2000 years, Pompeii still lives, and walking in its streets, entering in the homes and public spaces is like a journey through time.

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The true meaning of the transition to the new year

“Every new beginning comes from the end of another beginning” Seneca.

Even in ancient Rome the New Year corresponded to a new beginning. Giano was the god of passage, from one place to another, from one “state” to another. 

On the first day of January, the Maximum Pontiff offered to the God Giano spelled with salt and a focaccia (bred) made with grated cheese, flour, eggs and oil. With this it was possible to attract the beneficial influence of divinity on nature and on crops. Romans invited friends to lunch and in their houses they used to exchange presents, which consisted of a jar of honey with dates and dried figs. As the Latin writer Ovidio has handed down to us, in this way the year was sweeter. The figs were embellished with bay leaves, as a wish for luck and happiness.

Giano bifronte (with a double face) was a Roman deity, was the god of “RITUALS OF PASSAGE”, which are represented by the symbol of the door, which in Latin is called “ianua”, for the name of that God. 

So Ianua means door and ianus means passage, and that’s why that Ianus is portrayed with two opposing faces: not only past and future, but to signify the transformation of the Passage.

With this I want to wish a GOOD PASSAGE TO ALL!