Lemures- Roman RaceRace
Also known as: Larvae
Description
At midnight, a Roman father walked barefoot through his house, spitting black beans over his shoulder and chanting nine times: "Ghosts of my fathers, depart." The Lemures were the dead who would not stay dead, and every May, Rome shut its doors against them.
Mythology & Lore
The Ghost of Remus
Ovid traces the festival to Rome's first murder. After Romulus killed his brother, Remus's ghost rose from the earth and appeared to his foster parents, Faustulus and Acca Larentia. The shade stood dripping with blood, filled half their bed, and spoke in a thin voice. He told them he had once been half a kingdom's worth of hope. Now he was a ghost. He asked only for a day of rites.
The foster parents brought the message to Romulus, who established a festival for the dead. He called it the Remuria, after his brother. Over the centuries the name softened to Lemuria, and the rites expanded beyond one ghost to cover all the restless dead: those killed by violence and those whose bodies the living had failed to bury.
The Midnight Rite
Ovid describes the ritual in the Fasti. On three nights in May, the ninth, the eleventh, and the thirteenth, the head of each household rose at midnight. He walked barefoot through the house. He washed his hands in spring water, then placed black beans in his mouth.
He turned away from whatever might be behind him and threw the beans over his shoulder, one at a time, nine times. With each throw he spoke: "These I send; with these beans I redeem myself and mine." He did not look back. The Lemures were thought to follow in the darkness, picking up each bean.
When the nine beans were thrown, he washed again. He took a bronze vessel and struck it, filling the house with noise. Nine times he spoke the command: "Ghosts of my fathers, depart." Only then could he turn around. The rite was finished. Whatever had been in the house was gone.
The Month of Ghosts
Three nights of Lemuria in May made the whole month dangerous. Romans would not marry in May. The proverb was blunt: Mense Maio malae nubent, bad women marry in May. Plutarch records the prohibition in his Quaestiones Romanae. Temples closed. No one wanted to begin anything while the dead walked. June, when the Lemuria was safely past and Juno blessed new unions, was the month for weddings.