Fanny Dolansky’s Roman Family Festivals explores the vital role religious ritual played in domestic life for Roman families from 200 BCE to 200 CE. Seven festivals, from the Parentalia in February to the Saturnalia in December, are reconstructed and analyzed from varied perspectives, including those of men, women, and children who were free, enslaved, or formerly enslaved. The festivals addressed key concerns for families such as relations between freeborn and enslaved members of the household, spouses, adults and children, and the living and the dead, and played an important role in the ongoing processes of socialization and enculturation of  Roman identity. Integrating literary, epigraphic, papyrological, archaeological, and art historical sources, the study pays careful attention to the critical categories of age, gender, and juridical status to understand better who celebrated the festivals and how, and what their participation meant to them individually and to the collective. Roman Family Festivals demonstrates the longevity of family festivals and their continued relevance in late antiquity, despite a rapidly changing religious and cultural landscape.

Fanny Dolansky is Associate Professor of Roman Social History, Latin Literature, and Roman Religion at Brock University.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1 Pietas grata est: the commemorative rites of the Parentalia
Chapter 2 Dies proprie festus matronis: the Matronalia
Chapter 3 Nocturna Lemuria: ancient rites for the family dead
Chapter 4 Matronae and ancillae, aunts and mothers: intimate relations and the rites of the Matralia
Chapter 5 The intricacies and intimacies of domination and the rites of the Nonae Caprotinae
Chapter 6 Exspectata Saturnalia
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index