Halloween in Ancient Rome: Lemuria

Halloween has its roots in the Gaelic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season, and a time where the physical realm and the spiritual realm were easily crossed. 

It was christianized as All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day, or All Souls’ Day, depending on the country, and eventually westernized as Halloween and adopted as a commercial holiday. 

The Roman parallel to Halloween was known as Lemuria. Lemuria was an annual feast which took place on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May, where Romans would exorcise malevolent spirits and evils out of their homes. The restless spirits were offered beans and salted flour cake, prepared from the first wheat of the season.

Roman families would pace their house barefoot, throwing beans over their shoulder, and recite the incantation; “These I cast; with these beans, I redeem me and mine." (Haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis). The household would then clash bronze pots while repeating, "Ghost of my fathers, go forth!"

It was suggested by Ovid that the etymology of the word Lemuria stemmed from Remuria, and referenced Romulus’ attempts to appease the angry spirit of Remus. Read about Romulus and Remus in this blog. However, many scholars doubt this theory, claiming that the festival name stems instead from the Roman word “lemures,” which are malevolent spirits. 

Bibliography:

Lemuria the Ancient Roman Day of the Dead