Februarius

Ianuarius and Februarius were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year.

In his treatise on farming, Varro divides the agricultural year into eight phases, with Spring beginning officially on February 7, when Favonius the west wind was thought to start blowing favorably and it was time to ready the fields.

The agricultural writer Columella says that meadows and grain fields are "purged" (purguntur), probably both in the practical sense of clearing away old debris and by means of ritual.

[9] The Fornacalia ("Oven Festival") was celebrated by the thirty ancient divisions of the Roman people known as curiae.

On the calendar under the Republic, a dies natalis was an anniversary such as a temple founding or rededication, sometimes thought of as the "birthday" of a deity.

During the Imperial period, some of the traditional festivals localized at Rome became less important, and the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays.

On the calendar of military religious observances known as the Feriale Duranum, sacrifices pertaining to Imperial cult outnumber the older festivals.

Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp.