Poplifugia or Populifugia was a Roman festival celebrated on July 5th. Translated from Latin, the name of the festival is: “the day of the people’s flight”.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Poplifugia was a mysterious and obscure Roman festival celebrated on July 5th, which involved a unique ritual of fleeing from the city.
This festival is believed to have originated in the early Roman Republic and was dedicated to the god Jupiter. Its name, “Poplifugia,” translates to “flight of the people.”
During Poplifugia, Roman citizens would leave the city in haste, carrying their belongings and engaging in a mock escape.
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Origins
It appears that the ancient Romans did not even know the meaning behind this festival, but there were several theories.
It seems someone attacked Rome and the people fled to safety, but a few days later, Rome rallied and subdued their enemies.
Who the attacker was, is lost to history. Varro believed it to have been the Gauls, Macrobius the Tuscans and Plutarch says the Latins, although Plutarch also suggests that this festival actually commemorates the death of Romulus rather than any military action and the flight of the people was their rush out of Rome to get to the place where he disappeared to make sacrifices.
The event, whatever it was, is linked to Nonae Caprotinae.
The festival itself involved people being chased out of the /regia (King’s home) and the sacrifice of a bull and the reading of its entrails.
How was the festival planned?
The festival itself involved people being chased out of the /regia (King’s home) and the sacrifice of a bull and the reading of its entrails.
The ceremony took place in the Caprean Marsh (Palus Caprae), the area of the Campus Martius where Romulus, during a popular assembly, disappeared without a trace during a storm of rain, thunder, and wind that obscured the daylight.
Every year on July 5th, the people gathered in the Palus Caprae to perform a sacrifice, likely officiated by Jupiter’s flamen, the flamen dialis, after passing through the city gates ritually shouting some of the most common Roman first names, such as Gaius, Lucius, and Marcus.
Like all ancient Roman festivals, the meaning of the Poplifugia soon became obscure, although it likely contrasted with the Regifugium of February 24th, in which the rex sacrorum abandoned the comitia and took refuge in the regia, to be temporarily replaced by an interrex, before reappearing in public on March 1st.
The festival was perhaps also connected with the Nonae Caprotine, held on July 7th, so much so that it was confused with the latter even by ancient authors.
Due to the obscurity surrounding the origin of the Poplifugia, attempts were made even in antiquity to explain its meaning.
According to Plutarch, the flight of the people referred to the moment of disarray and confusion that gripped the Quirites immediately after the disappearance or assassination of Romulus.
Other sources linked it to the armed flight of the people before the Latins of Fidenae and Ficulea, or to the Etruscans, who took advantage of the Romans’ grave disarray following the burning of Rome by the Gauls in 390 BC to launch raids on the city.
Among modern scholars, some see a connection with the end of the harvest and therefore the close of the agricultural year, where the Regifugium symbolized the end of the year, which for the Romans began on March 1st, when the rex sacrorum made his public reappearance.
Given the current state of knowledge and the scant existing documentation, it is unfortunately impossible to reach any conclusions other than mere hypotheses.
How is Poplifugia linked to witchcraft?
This is such an interesting combo, as we can tell that witchcraft is a form of Poplifugia!
Witchcraft has always been used as an escape from the mundane world, a way to heal our souls in a society marked by religion, rules, and nothing else.
Everything was kinda dogmatic and there was no place for spirituality beyond this. So witchcraft became both an escape from reality but also a solution to ease struggles, both emotionals and practical, but also a way to leave it all behind and reconnect with nature, the element and our ancestors in a pure and deep meaningful way.
How to honor Poplifugia in your craft?
You might follow your instinct, going beyond the rules and focusing on what you truly feel is right.
Connecting with nature, energies, seasons both weather season and zodiac season. Going the extra miles with your spellcasting doing custom spells and diy practices.
All this is an amazing way to honor this festivity and its energy.
More Information
- Poplifugia and Festival for Romulus in Rome at the Prot-Indo-European Religion Home Page
- The Poplifugia: a Roman Festival Celebrating a Flight at decodedpast.com
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