Festae: poetry for the ancient Roman sacred calendar

by Andrew Watt

The Roman poet Ovid wrote a nearly-epic poem called "Festae" or 'Festivals', which detailed the surviving rites of ancient Rome's even more ancient religious festivals. In the existing portions (Ovid either only wrote his collection up through June, or the second half of the year did not survive to modern times), Ovid explored the underlying mythology of Rome's ancient festivals from the time before the Roman Republic, and explained and explored the meanings of the rites and rituals. In this collection of n, Andrew Watt created a collection of hymns or odes in his inimitably formal style, re-imagining Ovid's calendar as both complete, and a celebration of Greco-Roman divinities in a modern context. This collection of fifty poems explores the year's end rites of February and the temple cleaning rituals of mid-June. In mid-summer, ancient Romans propitiated deities who watched over springs and wells, and who prevented drought. In autumn, they sought protection for ships returning home, and the protection of the goddess of medicine during the coming winter season. In winter and spring, they made offerings and put on performances in celebration of deities of planting and harvest. They looked to foreign spiritual traditions, too. Here are prayers for the Mesopotamian Inanna and the heterodox Christian Mary Magdalene — touching on the syncretic way in which Rome opened herself to religious experiences from across and beyond their frontiers, however reluctantly. In each poem, Andrew touches on both the mythology that lay behind these deities in language that is both specific and rich. He also offers us ways in these mythological stories touch on the modern experience, and in the ways in which the spheres of influence of these deities still affect us. In language both realist and magical, he calls the reader's attention into prayer or at least conciliate these ancient powers. By reading and reciting these poems aloud, you may find yourself drawn into what he calls "the spider-web of interdependence" — recognizing that you and nature around you are not wholly separate.

83 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 16, 2017

About the author

Andrew Watt is an independent consultant and author specializing in XML and Web technologies. He has written over ten books, including XPath Essentials and XML Schema Essentials, and is an active contributor to Web development specifications and technical communities.