Cerealia was a 7-day holiday celebrated in ancient Rome in honor of the goddess Ceres. The exact dates of the April festival are uncertain: it may have started on April 12 and ended on April 19 (Or it may have started on the Ides of April, i.e. April 13, or even on April 7.) In the United States, a holiday is a day set aside by a nation or culture (in some cases, multiple nations and cultures) typically for celebration but sometimes for some other kind of special culture-wide (or national) observation or activity. ... History - Ancient history - Ancient Rome This is a List of Ancient Rome-related topics, that aims to include aspects of both the Ancient Roman Republic and Roman Empire. ... Roman mythology can be considered as two parts. ... For other uses, see Ceres (disambiguation). ... April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... A festival or fest is an event, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some theme, sometimes on some unique aspect of the community. ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the foundation of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. ... April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ...

In Rome, this was the primary festival of Ceres and was accompanied by the Ludi Ceriales or "Games of Ceres" in the Circus Maximus. Ovid's description (Fasti iv.494) mentions that Ceres/Demeter's search for her lost daughter Proserpina was represented by women clothed in white, running about with lighted torches. The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin Roma) is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. ... Map of downtown Rome during the Roman Empire, with Circus Maximus at the lower right corner The Circus Maximus in an ancient arena and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. ... For other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation) Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1640 London edition of Ovids Metamorphoses Publius Ovidius Naso, ( March 20, 43 BC – AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Fasti, a Latin word, refers to the Roman calendar and almanac; and especially, to a long, unfinished poem on the religious festivals of the Roman year and their mythological underpinnings, by the poet Ovid. ... Dêmêtêr (or Demetra) (DEH-MEH-ter) (mother-goddess or perhaps distribution-mother) is the Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher of youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. ... There is also an asteroid 26 Proserpina and a character in Larry Nivens Known Space universe called Proserpina. ... This article is about torches as portable fire sources. ...

See also

• Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were annual initiation ceremonies for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. ...

External link

• Lacus Curtius site:William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1875: (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Cerealia.html) Cerealia