Hail Jupiter!
Hail Feronia!
Hail Fortuna Primogenia!
Hail Pietas!
We salute the lord of light even in the darker times of the year.
We recognize as well the goddesses of plenty, the oracle and domestic affection.
We cheer the god and goddess or the god and goddesses.
Salve Iuppiter!
Salve Feronia
Salve Fortuna Primogenia!
Salve Pietas!

 

* * * * *

 

The Ides of November is the only feriae of the month. As all Ides, they are sacred to Jupiter, the lord of light who was originally honoured especially at the time of the full moon. There is some speculation that the epulum or banquet to the Capitoline triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva was first celebrated on November’s Ides and later transferred to those of September.

Through additamenta informing us of temple dedications on this day, we also have associations with the Latin but non-Roman fertility goddess Feronia, the oracular goddess of Praeneste – Fortuna Primogenia, and Pietas – the personification of piety. Feronia may be the goddess Juno virgo. Fortuna Primogenia was recognised in Praeneste as the ‘first-born’ of Jupiter but also as the mother of both Jupiter and Juno. As such, she would be the dawn-goddess Aurora, the Mater Matuta. Consequently, while the day in the original Numan formulation is sacred to Jupiter, we find the feminine also associated with these Ides in a series of incarnations that stretch from the terrestrial to the celestial.