April 21, 753 BC, is remembered as the date in which Rome was born but in reality, in those places it was the date of the feast of the Palilie.
That the birth of Rome is concomitant with a party, indeed perhaps propitiated by it, should not surprise us, on the other hand, in those places people celebrated often and willingly for various reasons.
But let’s get to the party in question; The ancient shepherds of Lazio celebrated, in honor of a dark divinity called Pale, protector of land and cattle (who lived on the Palatine Hill) the arrival of spring and with it the awakening of nature … in short, a green and naturalistic festival, today we would say green.
In ancient times, for these shepherds, every tree, hill, river, spring had a protector and before cutting it, changing it, diverting it, it was necessary to make a request with lavish sacrifices, a respectful way of safeguarding nature and also an explanation of the birth of bureaucratic procedures. that they were forming in that place and that will have repercussions on all humanity in the future.
April, after all, was the month of agricultural festivals, in fact before the Palilia, on April 15 there was the feast of Fordicidia and then after Palilia, on April 25 the Robigalia was celebrated.
Now, we are not here, too much to dwell on these festive traditions of the Lazio shepherds but it was good to tell them to make you understand in what context of exuberant joyfulness, of collective intoxication on 21 April 753 BC. ROME was born in these places.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The area was inhabited by shepherds divided into villages that practiced agriculture and livestock and only from 900 BC. the first artisans and merchants appeared.
Villages were also born along the Tiber river, whose name, we like to think, was so called because along its flow it was customary to offer tea, the real one, therefore it was called by the populations of the area “Te-vere”, which, in those days, it was traversable and represented an obligatory route between the unpleasant Etruscans in the north and the snobbish Greek colonies in the south.
A very dangerous crossroads because between the Etruscans and the Greek colonies it was difficult to think that there were friendships but, on the other hand, these crossroads were also a source of great inspiration.
Precisely in the place where the village of Rome was born there was the route of the salt road… this explains why that village from its origins could not be “insipid”, this too can be counted as a sign of destiny.
SMILE WITH HISTORY 