Hail to the Lord of Light, hail to Jupiter!
May we find renewal and purification through you as we bring this sacred year to a close!
May the sounds of the ‘waters’ help us to know what to do, and may we honour our di manes as those who have gone before us!
Salve Iuppiter!
Salve, sancta parens!

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The Ides of February are sacred to Jupiter as the lord of light. In the original lunar calendar of the Romans, this was the time of the full moon and greatest light over a twenty-four hour period, and hence, Jupiter – in his luminous capacity and whose very name develops from a root word signifying brightness – was deemed the appropriate deity to be honoured.

The Ides of February also comprise the first day of a nine-day commemoration for one’s ancestral dead – the di manes or di parentales. The first two, three, three-and-a-half or four days of the Parentalia conclude the dies nefasti or period of cleansing restrictions that have begun with the February Kalends. The month of February itself, as the last month of the original Roman year, is generally considered a time for purification and preparation for the coming start of the new year. For the tempus religiosum of the Parentalia, the Vestal Virgins officially launched the offerings to the benign ancestors on these Ides.

Ovid refers to the February Ides as the Faunalia. Faunus possessed a temple on the Tiber Island that was dedicated on this day. Faunus, perhaps also known by the name of Favonius, belongs to the constellation of Mars – perhaps as an instance of the more chthonian manifestation of Mars as an agricultural deity. Considering the that the sounds from the river as it flowed past the Insula Tiberina may have been considered to convey prognosis from the fauni, Faunus could be considered to be Mars as a prophetic deity. Throughout the calendar, the link and interchange between Jupiter and Mars becomes evident.