Bona Dea

We know very little about this deity, because her name cannot be pronounced and she's only called with the epithet "good goddess." In reality, this is a way to evade her frightful power, because she is not always a friendly deity. She governs the most important aspects of human existence, birth and death, thus having her as an enemy can signify sterility, sickness, and ruin. The cult of Bona Dea is exclusively feminine. Only women have the right to know the true name of this deity and celebrate her rites. Nobody knows what she looks like, because men aren't even allowed to see her picture, and women don't reveal anything that relates to her. The only known fact about her is that snakes are sacred to her, and they roam freely in her temples. In some regions of Greek tradition (southern Italia, Asia, and obviously Achaia), this goddess is also called Damia, and for this reason her pirestess is known everywhere as "Damiatrix." In Italia she somtimes carries the name of Fatua, derived from Fate, because she is a powerful seer and predicts the future. The Empire recognizes the power of this goddess and therefore, despite the fact that her cult is almost secret, celebrates her with a public festival. Bona Dea is celebrated two times a year: when the earth dies in December and when it comes back to life in May. December's festival is private, celebrated in every home "pro salutem familae." The one in May has an official nature and is celebrated "pro salutem Imperii." For the public rite, the pirestess of the goddess, the Damiatrix, performs a sacrifice in the temple of the goddess on the Aventine Hill, and then all women and girls of Rome gather in the sacred wood surrounding the building for a collective, but secret, ceremony in which the Vestals participate as well. For the private rite, each mater familias takes the role of the Damiatrix and organizes a banquet and a ritual in her home. In Rome, the wife of the Pontifex Maximus, which is to say the Empress, holds a solemn banquet to which she invites the wives of consuls and praetors as well. In the provincial cities, the official banquet is usually held in the house of the eldest magistrate's wife.