Editing Bona Dea (section)

==== Festival rites ====
The house was ritually cleansed of all unauthorized male persons. Then the magistrate's wife and her assistants<ref>Possibly, her own female servants.</ref> made bowers of vine-leaves, and decorated the house's banqueting hall with "all manner of growing and blooming plants" except for [[Myrtus|myrtle]], whose presence and naming were expressly forbidden. A banquet table was prepared, with a couch (''pulvinar'') for the goddess and the image of a snake. The Vestals brought Bona Dea's cult image from her temple<ref>Presumably her Aventine Temple.</ref> and laid it upon her couch, as an honoured guest. The goddess' meal was prepared: the entrails ([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#exta|''exta'']]) of a sow, sacrificed to her on behalf of the [[Roman people]] (''pro populo Romano''), and a [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#libatio|libation]] of sacrificial wine.<ref>The sacrifice could have been offered by the Vestals or, according to Plutarch, by the hostess; see [[Bona Dea#Cult themes|Cult themes]] in this article.</ref> The festival continued through the night, a banquet with female musicians, fun and games (''ludere''), and wine; the last was euphemistically referred to as "milk", and its container as a "honey jar".<ref>Winter festival summary based on Brouwer (1989) as summarised in {{harvnb|Versnel|1992|p=32}}, and {{harvnb|Wildfang|2006|p=31}}. For Roman sources, cf. Plutarch, Lives: Life of Caesar, ix (711E), Life of Cicero, xix (870B); Juvenal, vi.339 (a satirical treatment); and Plutarch, Roman Questions, (Loeb), 20–35, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/A.html available via link to Bill Thayer's website]</ref> The rites sanctified the temporary removal of customary constraints imposed on Roman women of all classes by [[Mos maiorum|Roman tradition]], and underlined the pure and lawful sexual potency of virgins and matrons in a context that focused on female lust, instead of the lust of men.{{Sfn|Versnel|1992|p=44}} According to Cicero, any unauthorized man who caught even a glimpse of the rites could be punished by blinding, but he offers no example of this.<ref>Cicero, ''De Haruspicum Responsis'' XVII.37 – XVIII.38; cited in Brouwer, pp. 165–166.</ref> Later Roman writers assume that apart from their different dates and locations, Bona Dea's December and May 1 festivals were essentially the same.<ref>See W. Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the period of the Republic, MacMillan (New York, 1899): pp. 102–106. [https://www.questia.com/read/23313966?title=The%20Roman%20Festivals%20of%20the%20Period%20of%20the%20Republic%3a%20An%20Introduction%20to%20the%20Study%20of%20the%20Religion%20of%20the%20Romans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624005758/http://www.questia.com/read/23313966?title=The%20Roman%20Festivals%20of%20the%20Period%20of%20the%20Republic%3A%20An%20Introduction%20to%20the%20Study%20of%20the%20Religion%20of%20the%20Romans|date=2012-06-24}}</ref>