VĪNĀLĬA

There were two festivals of this name celebrated by the Romans: the Vinalia urban a or prior a , and the Vinalia rustic a or alter a . The vinalia urban a were celebrated on the 23rd of April, when the wine-casks which had been filled the preceding autumn were opened for the first time, and the wine tasted. The rustic vinalia, which fell on the 19th of August, and was celebrated by the inhabitants of all Latium, was the day on which the vintage was opened. On this occasion the flamen dial is offered lambs to Jupiter, and while the flesh of the victims lay on the altar, he broke with his own hands a bunch of grapes from a vine, and by this act he, as it were, opened the vintage, and no must was allowed to be conveyed into the city until this solemnity was performed. This day was sacred to Jupiter, and Venus too appears to have had a share in it.