February in ancient Rome had several festivals, the Lupercalia and Parentalia as two examples. Yet running alongside this was a festival with a name which might raise an eyebrow. The Fornacalia was a festival to celebrate ovens, yes, you read that correctly. It was a feraie conceptivae, this translates something along the lines of ‘a moveable feast’. It meant that the days relating to the festival weren’t set in the calendar and that they might change each year. With that said the final day was on the 17th February for a reason which I will come to later.
How to celebrate an oven and why?
Pliny the Elder wrote that the origin of the festival was said to have been established by Numa, Rome’s second king (NH.38). Numa was said to have instituted several religious practices (including the use of thunder for divination). The rites at the Fornacalia involved toasting the spelt and the baking of cakes to honour Fornax, the goddess associated with ovens. In his Fasti, the poet Ovid reckoned that she would help regulate the heat and therefore ensure the oven functioned as it should.
The Fornacalia didn’t consist of a single event, instead each of the 30 curiae in Rome would organise their own festival. Curiae were divisions of the Roman people and each of these had its own name, structure and history. A curia would have its own meeting place and traditions. In Rome’s early years an assembly of the curiae was a legislative body which would vote on important matters. However, by the time of the Imperial period it was largely symbolic and met largely for religious purposes. I should also add that curia also referred to a meeting place, such as the Senate house.
In February each curia would organise its own celebration to Fornax. This would likely involve the curiones (the those in charge of a curia) organising the events which would involve a feast and sacrifice of some sort (most likely grain) at its meeting hall.
The Fornacalia and fools?
As I wrote earlier the festival took place in early February as its last day was the 17th. The feast held on this day (presumably held by the state) was known as the Fools’ Feast and this was because there were some in Rome who didn’t know which curia they belonged to. As such a feast and rite was staged where anyone who had forgotten (or fancied another meal) were permitted to attend. There might be another reason, as mentioned in Plutarch’s Roman Questions, it’s plausible that you might be on business or not able to attend on the day your curia had selected for their celebration.
That said I suspect the ‘I was away/sick/unavailable’ excuse was often used more often than it should!
