The 22nd of March is the festival of Die Sanguinas. Die Sanguinas is The Day of Blood in Latin. This festival honors Cybele, the goddess of fertility and rebirth. The priests serve Cybele by slashing their wrists and splattering the blood against a stone likeness of Cybele. Ahh, how nice! The priests back then were so devoted. In fact the priests were so devoted that they were called galli, meaning that they were castrated priets. Now that’s devotion!

Anyway, after the blood was splattered on the statue like a Pollack painting, the priests would then cleanse the statue in a river. As for strange rituals, this blood-letting ritual probably tops it all. Well, at least it’s strange for us modern folks. The Ancient Romans saw this festival as fitting and appropriate for the month of March, which was the month devoted to Mars, the god of war.

While blood-letting may seem like a suicidal S&M technique, it’s actually symbolically related to the goddess Cybele. The river in which the statue is washed symbolizes rebirth. As you know water goes through a recycling and renewing process and so does life in general.

The celebration called Hilaris also honors Cybele and is held to celebrate the beginning of spring. The Ancient Romans saw spring as the rebirth of a new cycle in the seasons and appropriately honored this festival to Cybele.

So there you have it, another crazy and interesting Ancient Roman festival.