You are visiting friends in a certain city precisely 2,000 years ago and are awakened at night when your host starts pacing around in his bare feet, tossing beans everywhere, and muttering incantations. At the same time, the rest of the household is making quite a lot of noise with the kitchenware. What have you stumbled into, and into what did it eventually evolve?

peasypod

You would be celebrating Lemuria, later known as Halloween. http://www.cambridgescp.com/ws2_php/ws2_date_explanation.php?date_explanation_text=05_11.txt May 13 06, 5:05 PM

lanfranco

But yes! And it matters that I posted this question on May 13. As the site below indicates, the RC Church doesn't want to believe that the Feast of All Saints developed from the Lemuralia; but many historians are quite sure that it did. And you get a bronze bean, peasy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Lemures May 13 06, 5:17 PM

zbeckabee

Halloween... Early Romans observed the Feast of the Lemures, during which the unwholesome and malevolent specters of the restless dead were appeased. Ancient Romans performed rites to exorcise the fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. The myth of origin of this ancient festival was that it had been instituted by Romulus to appease the spirit of Remus. On those days, the Vestal Virgins of the temples would prepare sacred mola salsa (salt cake) from the first ears of wheat of the season. The custom involved the head of the household getting up at midnight, walking around the house with bare feet, throwing out black beans over his shoulder and repeating the incantation, "With these beans I redeem me and mine" nine times. The household would then clash bronze pots while repeating, "Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!" nine times. http://www.meridiangraphics.net/halloween.htm May 13 06, 5:19 PM