Roman religion truly is fantastic. Even in their days they were able to conform a Pantheon that was completely compatible with their metaphysics, their myths were loaded with sacred symbolism, and they went as far as to realize that most European religions worshipped similar divinities, and began the efforts of what we now know as comparative religion.
Heir to both Greek and Latin traditions, it lacks little respecting the deepest philosophical motives for the How’s and Why’s, while boasting of a down-to-Earth and ever contingent practical aspect.
For their deep understanding of the common origin of Europeans, you could be travelling around the Roman posts in Germania and spot an altar to Mercurius Hranno (for an Odinic name, Hrani), or a Mars Teutates votive stone in the celtic land. While it suffered from the ills of an early “globalization” in its later stages, when the Pax Deorum was replaced with alien religions, it demonstrated its skill to deal with its own size in its youth, both metaphysically and physically.
Also for the avid practitioner, the Roman calendar is riddled with holy days that make the yearly cycles a living reality, and bring the different parts of the community to the stage now and then. It must’ve been a sigh to see, the Eternal city buzzing with one spirit during the harvest seasons, and retreat to the intimacy of their homes during the colder days, to honor the ancestors and familiar spirits.
I’ll try to work out a calendar for those that don’t necessarily live in the rural Roman Empire, that I will be posting in the near future.
Questions and discussion are more than welcome.
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