PĂLĪLIA

a festival celebrated at Rome every year on the 21st of April, in honour of Pales, the tutelary divinity of shepherds. The 21st of April was the day on which, according to the early traditions of Rome, Romulus had commenced the building of the city, so that the festival was at the same time solemnised as the dies natal it i us of Rome. It was originally a shepherd-festival, and continued to be so among country people till the latest times, but in the city it lost its original character, and was only regarded as the dies natal it i us of Rome. The first part of the solemnities was a public purification by fire and smoke. The things burnt in order to produce this purifying smoke were the blood of the October-horse , the ashes of the calves sacrificed at the festival of Ceres, and the shells of beans. The people were also sprinkled with water, they washed their hands in spring-water, and drank milk mixed with must. As regards the October-horse ( equus October ) it must be observed that in early times no bloody sacrifice was allowed to be offered at the palilia, and the blood of the October-horse mentioned above, was the blood which had dropped from the tail of the horse sacrificed in the month of October to Mars in the Campus Martius. This blood was preserved by the vestal virgins in the temple of Vesta for the purpose of being used at the palilia. The sacrifices consisted of cakes, millet, milk, and other kinds of eatables. The shepherds then offered a prayer to Pales. After these solemn rites were over, the cheerful part of the festival began: bonfires were made of heaps of hay and straw, and the festival was concluded by a feast in the open air, at which the people sat or lay upon benches of turf, and drank plentifully.