(_For the Mirror._)
The _Portumnalia_ was a festival in honour of _Portumnus_, who was
supposed to preside over ports and havens, celebrated on the 17th of
August, in a very solemn and lugubrious manner, on the borders of the
Tiber.
The _Vinalia_ were festivals in honour of Jupiter and Venus. The first
was held on the 19th of August, and the second on the 1st of May. The
Vinalia of the 19th of August were called _Vinalia Rustica_, and were
instituted on occasion of the war of the Latins against Mezentius; in
the course of which war, that people vowed a libation to Jupiter of all
the wine in the succeeding vintage. On the same day likewise fell the
dedication of a temple to Venus; whence some authors have fallen into a
mistake, that these Vinalia were sacred to Venus.
The _Consuales Ludi_, or _Consualia_, were festivals at Rome in honour
of _Consus_, the god of counsel, whose altar Romulus discovered under
the ground. This altar was always covered, except at the festival, when
a mule was sacrificed, and games and horse-races exhibited in honour of
Neptune. It was during these festivals (says Lempriere) that Romulus
carried away the Sabine women, who had assembled to be spectators of the
games. They were first instituted by Romulus. Some say, however, that
Romulus only regulated and re-instituted them after they had been before
established by Evander. During the celebration, which happened about the
middle of August, horses, mules, and asses were exempted from all
labour, and were led through the streets adorned with garlands and
flowers.
The _Volturnalia_ was a festival kept in honour of the god Volturnus, on
the 26th of August.
The _Ambarvalia_ were festivals in honour of Ceres, in order to procure
a happy harvest. 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_. 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. These
festivals took place at the time the harvest was ripe.
The _Vulcanalia_ were festivals in honour of Vulcan, and observed at the
latter end of August. The streets of Rome were illuminated, fires
kindled every where, and animals thrown into the flames as a sacrifice
to the deity.