The Compitalia, a Roman festival held sometime between January 1-5 each year, honors the Lares Compitales, guardian spirits of the crossroads and, by extension, the surrounding neighborhood.
Compital shrines were sometimes simple frescoes or stone altars, though stone buildings are known to have been built for the purpose. The shrines were often the focus of the surrounding community during the year, places where news and gossip were shared and where wedding parties would pause for the newlyweds to leave coins or other offerings to the Compital Lares on the way to their new home.
This festival was administered by magisteri vici and ministeri vici, local government offices held by freedmen and slaves respectively. Because this festival was based in neighborhoods and rural communities, the simplicity or grandeur of the celebration varied with the wealth of the inhabitants and the aspirations of the office-holders.
Common to this celebration at every level of society was the garlanding of the Compital shrine with flowers. The doorways of houses and the Compital shrine itself were also decorated with balls and and anthropomorphic figures of wool, which perhaps served an apotropaic function. There was a procession to the Compital shrine in the morning, with offerings of honey cakes by each household and usually a sacrifice of an animal or animals. This was followed by a block party with entertainment, music and dancing, perhaps plays, contests, and/or gladiatorial combats.
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Featured image: A fresco depicting Roman men wearing the toga praetextae participating in a religious ceremony, perhaps the Compitalia. It was discovered at the archaeological site of Moregine, along the Sarno River just south of Pompei during road maintenance. The area was reburied due to the high water level and resulting cost of preservation.
I have taken my Compitalia offerings to the Lares, to my local crossroads and I hope that they will bless my household and my neighbourhood with safety and wellbeing over the coming year.
Compitalia dies attributus Laribus vialibus: ideo ubi viae competunt tum in competis sacrificatur.
"Compitalia, day assigned to the Lares of roads; therefore a sacrifice is made at the 'compita' where roads meet". Varro.
Levei as miñas ofrendas de Compitalia aos Lares, no cruzamento local e espero que bendigan a miña casa e a miña veciñanza con seguridade e benestar durante o próximo ano.
«Compitalia, un día asignado aos Lares das estradas; polo tanto o sacrificios fanse nas 'compitas' onde as estradas xúntanse. Varrón.
'The Compitalia is a day assigned to the Lares (guardian spirits) of the roads; therefore sacrifice (of honey cakes) is made at the 'compita' (crossroad) where roads meet. Varro.
I offered my honey cakes, a head of garlic and two figures made of cotton to the Lares today, may they bless my neighbourhood, and my household with good fortune and a good remainder of the winter and year to come. 🙏
«Compitalia é un día asignado aos Lares (espíritos gardiáns) das estradas; polo tanto, onde as estradas se xuntan, o sacrificios (de bolos de mel) fanse nas 'compitas' (encrucilladas)». Varo.
Hoxe ofrecín bolos de mel, unha cabeza de allo e dúas figuras de algodón aos Lares. Agardo que bendigan a miña veciñanza e a miña familia e que nos axuden pasar un inverno bo e san, e un ano feliz.
De statutis diebus dixi; de annalibus nec die statutis dicam. Compitalia dies attributus Laribus vialibus: ideo ubi viae competunt tum in competis sacrificatur. Marcus Terentius Varro.
Hey! Technically according to some sources this is the first day of Compitalia so I'm gonna explain to you what that is to continue that one series no one knows I'm doing because I'm bad at it!!!!
Compitalia, or Ludi Compitalii, were three (maybe) days dedicated to the Lares Compitales.
The Romans believe that basically every single place on earth, as well as every single phenomenon, human or natural, had a little spirit with them. Specifically, the Lares were the spirits of places. Even more specifically, the Lares Compitales were the spirits that reside at crossroads (compitum), where there was often a small altar dedicated to them.
Crossroads are traditionally magical places in many cultures, and to this day it's not uncommon to see altars dedicated to especially Saint Mary at crossroads in Italy. The cult of the Lares is one of the oldest and most mysterious of the Italian peninsula. It has no Greek equivalent, and it was probably shared with the Etruscans, thought to which degree the two cults were one and the same is debatable. It is believed that like many other ancient Roman rituals Compitalia too was born as a rural ritual to be celebrated in farm households, in ancient times often inhabited by dozens of people, and then got a civil side added when more and more of the countryside got absorbed by the growing city. Since small countryside villages are often born near crossroads, the Lares Compitales were also tasked with protecting such small communities.
Compitalia and the cult of the Lares is general is also interesting for another reason, the same reason we know so little about it. The elite Romans would could read and write testimonials about their religion considered Compitalia an old time festival, a bit outdated, that had none of the splendor of the more storied Greek and Eastern cults and deities that were arriving in Rome, so they didn't leave much in writing about them. Still, however, we know that at the same time the cult of the Lares and the old deities of Rome had an enormous importance for the pleb of Rome and especially for the slaves, for which Compitalia was a vacation period during which they were free of all obligations. The Lares, it's said by Dionigis of Alicarnassus, especially liked being worshipped by slaves.
Compitalia was born, apparently, as a sacrificial festival to ensure good luck for the following year, after the grandiose celebration of Saturnalia. There was a legend about the goddess Mania that said that one of the Etruscan kings of Rome had made a deal with her. Thru an oracle the goddess asked for "an head for an head": a child would have to be sacrificed every year to ensure prosperity for Rome. When the Romans chased out the Etruscan kings, however, one of the first consules of Rome decreed that the "sacrificial head" could be switched with a garlic and poppy "head", as the oracle had not specified what type of head they meant. Worth noting that this tradition is reported by Macrobius who is a very late author - I say this because while reports of human sacrifice in the very archaic Roman era do exist, it's very hard to tell apart truth from legend. Don't get me wrong, it is possible that human sacrifice was a component of this ritual at some point, it just seems weird to me that there's no other trace of this in other authors.
Other traditions included offerings of honey cakes and hanging little figures of men and women on house doors, made out of wools, corresponding to how many men and women lived in the house, plus spheres of wool corresponding to the amount of slaves. In this way, Compitalia also served as a rudimental yearly population count.
Like a great many of these ancient rituals, Compitalia went thru several times of being abolished, then re-established, later on with added aspects of being included into the wider building of the civil Roman religion that August made. The wider celebrations also included some ludii, which means a sport festival and also in later times gladiatorial and other circus fights.
Weird and suspect stories about child sacrifice aside, Compitalia is a smaller festival all centered on the household and ensuring luck for the new year. I might try to make a lil honey cake tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes.
