Ambarvālia

, a joyful proce ion round the ploughed fields, in honour of Ceres the godde of corn. There were two festivals of that name celebrated by the Romans, one about the month of April, the other in July. They went three times round their fields crowned with oak leaves singing hymns to Ceres, and entreating her to preserve their corn. The word is derived ab ambien dis arvis , going round the fields. A sow, a sheep, and a bull, called ambarvaliæ host iæ , were afterwards immolated, and the sacrifice has sometimes been called suovetaurilia , from sus , ovis , and taurus . Virgil , Georgics , bk. 1 , lis. 339 & 345.— Tibullus , bk. 2 , poem 1, li. 19 .— Cato , de Re Rustic a , ch. 141 .