Mos maiorum4/28/2023 ![]() (This was supposed to signify the father’s recognition of the child as one of his own.) At the conclusion of the dies lustricus, a baby was officially given a name, which is why babies who died early were left nameless. Various rites were performed leading up the final day, including the laying of the baby on the ground and its subsequent raising to the sky by the father. Healthcare and technology being what they were back then, a large percentage of children didn’t make it past one week, and the Romans felt that a child wasn’t officially a part of the family until the dies lustricus had passed. The dies lustricus, or “day of purification,” was an eight- or nine-day period after birth, which carried with it special meaning for the newborn. Just as it is in our society today, the birth of a new child was seen as a joyous event, one which brought with it a number of interesting traditions. (Historian Zosimus actually blames the fall of the Roman Empire on the Romans neglecting to honor this ancient festival.) Held in honor of a saeculum, or the longest estimated human lifespan, the Ludi Saeculares were held once every 110 years. The ludi with the largest gap in celebration was probably the Ludi Saeculares, or Secular Games. Later editions incorporated gladiatorial combat and there were even special ludi, which were strictly theatrical performances. Ludi normally consisted of chariot races, as well as animal hunts. (It’s the oldest of the ludi and was the only one held in Rome for 300 years after it first began.) ![]() Many of them were annual events, especially the religious ones, and the most famous was the Ludi Romani, which honored Jupiter and was held each September. The ludi were public games that were normally held in conjunction with religious festivals, though there were occasional events which were secular in nature. As such, the transmission of the mos maiorum from one generation to the next was said to be the duty of the family, especially the paterfamilias (head of the household). Even with the strict punishment handed down for certain offenses, it was still considered unwritten. Any magistrate who neglected to perform this duty ran the risk of being labeled a traitor. There were occasions where breaking tradition was seen as subversive in the case of legislation, it was considered customary to bring proposals before the Senate. Therefore, obedience to the mos maiorum was seen as tantamount to maintaining a proper civilized Rome and was almost given legal standing. Much like the Jews in the first song in Fiddler on the Roof, the Romans loved tradition and felt that moral decay would occur if they strayed too far from the ideals of the past. The mos maiorum was an unwritten code pertaining to behavioral customs mostly derived from the traditions of the Romans’ ancestors. However, there are still many ancient Roman traditions that are slightly obscure, mostly relegated to the dustbin of history. Depending on your personal view, ancient Rome was responsible for giving the modern world a number of traditions, including various legal ideas, democracy, and some of our religious celebrations.
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