Inancient Roman religion, theLucaria was afestival of thegrove (Latinlucus) held 19 and 21 July. The original meaning of the ritual was obscure by the time ofVarro (mid-1st century BC), who omits it in his list of festivals.[1] Thedeity for whom it was celebrated is unknown;[2] if a ritual for grove-clearing recorded byCato pertains to this festival, theinvocation was deliberately anonymous(Si deus, si dea).[3] The dates of the Lucaria are recorded in theFasti Amiterni, acalendar dating from the reign ofTiberius found atAmiternum (nowS. Vittorino) inSabine territory.[4]
TheAugustan grammarianVerrius Flaccus[5] connected the Lucaria to the disastrous defeat of the Romans by theGauls at theBattle of the Allia, which was fought on 18 July. The festival, he says, was celebrated in the large grove between theVia Salaria and theTiber river, where the Romans who survived the battle had hidden. The Via Salaria crossed the battlefield about 10 miles north of Rome.[6] Thelucus thus would have been located on thePincian Hill, which was later cultivated asgardens and leisure parks byLucullus,Pompeius,Sallust and others.[7] This explanatory story has been compared to that of thePoplifugia, which also involved the Gallic sack of Rome.[8] The story may be moreaetiological than historical.[9] The Lucaria suggests that grove veneration was a practice which the early Romans had in common with the Gauls.[10]
Like other "fixed holidays" (dies nefasti publici) on theRoman calendar, the Lucaria took place on days of uneven number, with an intervening day that was "non-festive".[11] A mention byMacrobius[12] seems to imply that the festival began at night and continued the following day.[13]Georg Wissowa thought that it may have been connected to theNeptunalia on 23 July, when leafy huts, called umbrae, were built as shelters to protect against the hot summer sun and bulls were sacrificed.[14]Neptune embodied fresh as well as salt water among the Romans, and the collocation of festivals in July, including also theFurrinalia on 25 May express concerns for drought.[15]