Ante Diem XVIII Kalendas Februarias

Modern Date : January 15th

Ante Diem XVIII Kalendas Februarias
Eighteenth Day to the Kalends of February

This day is for special religious observance.

This is the final day of the Carmentalia which began January 11th in honor of the goddess Carmenta. She was otherwise known as Metis, the Titaness of Wisdom. She is also called Car, Carya, or Car the Wise. Carmenta was the mother of Evander. After arriving in Latium with her son, she went atop the Capitoline Hill and began prophesying. Afterwards she became revered as a deity. She is also considered the goddess of childbirth. A temple in Rome was dedicated to her and known as the Temple of Carmentis. The right arch of this temple was called the porta scelerata, because the Fabii passed through it on their way to their destruction at Cremera. After her are named the Caryae (walnut trees) and the Carytids (nut nymphs). The Second Festival of Carmentalia was created after the Senate prohibited a practice to which mothers had become accustomed. At one time, old matrons drove in carriages (carpenta) during the festival on the 11th. After the honor was taken from them, every matron vowed not to produce any children for her ungrateful spouse. The Senate restored the rite and declared there would now be two festivals in the Mother’s honor to promote the birth of boys and girls.

On this day in 69 AD, the emperor Galba was killed by his Praetorian guards.

This month is sacred to Janus, the god of Beginnings. The Romans had numerous temples to Janus. Whenever war was declared, the chief magistrate would lead a ceremony in which the doors of the main temple of Janus were opened. In time of peace they were normally shut.


Orion
On this night at about 10 PM, the constellation Orion culminates, or reaches its highest point. To the ancients it was the best known constellation and the resemblance of the pattern to a tunic with a belt, and the bow being shot at Taurus, was obvious to the Greeks, to whom it was known in 425 BC. The Egyptian pyramids are arranged in the pattern of Orion's primary stars.


Sein-No-Hi
Sein-No-Hi, Adult's Day, is a Japanese festival to honor those who have turned twenty. A person is not considered an adult until they turn twenty.
This is also the Small New Year. Azuki-qayu (gruel cooked with red beans) is eaten to drive away evil spirits and illness for the coming year.


Surya-Pongal
The second day, of Pongal is Surya-Pongal, dedicated to the Sun god, Surya. On this day, pongal (rice cooked in milk and jaggery) is boiled by women who offer it to the Sun.


Amun
In the ancient Egyptian Calendar, this is the first day of the month of Pamenot, sacred to Amun, the primordial water Neter who embodies the potential of all living things. As this month is opposite on the zodiac wheel to what we call July, the month when the annual inundation of the Nile always used to begin on July 26, the month of Pamenot has always represented the seminal ingathering of energy and its concentration toward release in the surge of summer.