Ambarvalia
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Ambarvalia was a Roman agricultural fertility rite held at the end of May in honour of Ceres.
At these festivals they sacrificed a bull, a sow, and a sheep, which, before the sacrifice, were led in procession thrice around the fields; whence the feast is supposed to have taken its name, ambio, I go round, and arvum, field. This sacrifice was called a suovetaurilia in Latin. These feasts were of two kinds, public and private. The private were solemnized by the masters of families, accompanied by their children and servants, in the villages and farms out of Rome. The public were celebrated in the boundaries of the city, and in which twelve fratres arvales walked at the head of a procession of the citizens, who had lands and vineyards at Rome. During the procession, prayers would be made to the goddess.
The ambervale carmen was a prayer preferred on this occasion. The priests who chiefly officiated at the solemnity were called fratres arvales.
Other Roman festivals and rites include the Lupercalia and the Saturnalia.
Scaliger, in his notes on Festus, maintains the ambarvalia to be the same as amburbia.
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This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
