Editing Galli (section)

== Religious practices ==

The galli castrated themselves during an ecstatic celebration called the [[Dies sanguinis]], or "Day of Blood", which took place on March 24.<ref>Maarten J. Vermaseren, ''Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult'', translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.115: "The Day of Blood (''dies sanguinis'') is the name given to the ceremonies on 24 March. On this day the priests flagellated themselves until the blood came and with it they sprinkled the effigy and the altars in the temple."</ref> On this day of mourning for Attis, they ran around wildly and disheveled. They performed dances to the music of pipes and tambourines, and, in an ecstasy, flogged themselves until they bled.<ref name="Maarten J. Vermaseren 1977, p.97">Maarten J. Vermaseren, ''Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult'', translated by A. M. H. Lemmers,  London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.97.</ref> This was followed by a day of feasting and rest.

A sacred feast was part of the initiation ritual. [[Julius Firmicus Maternus|Firmicus Maternus]], a Christian who objected to other religions, revealed a possible password of the galli: "I have eaten from the timbrel; I have drunk from the cymbal; I am become an initiate of Attis." That password is cited in the book ''De errore profanarum religionum''. However, the password is written in Greek with a translation into Latin, which does not contain any reference to Attis.<ref name="Oster 2016">{{cite thesis | last=Oster | first=Richard Earl | title=Julius Firmicus Maternus: De errore profanarum religionum. Introduction, translation and commentary | website=Rice Scholarship Home | date=2016-04-22 | url=https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/89943 | access-date=2022-09-10 | page = 75| hdl=1911/89943 | type=Thesis }}</ref><ref name="Firmicus Maternus Forbes">{{cite book | last1=Firmicus Maternus | first1=Julius | last2=Forbes | first2=Clarence A. | title=Firmicus Maternus : the error of the pagan religions | publisher=Newman Press | publication-place=New York | date=1970 | isbn=0-8091-0039-8 | oclc=88488 | page = 81}}</ref> Some editions of the text also omit "Attis" in the Greek password.<ref name="The British Library">{{cite web | title=Iulij Firmici Materni V.C. de errore profanarum religionum ad Constantium & Constantem Augustos liber: nunquam antehac in lucem editus | website=The British Library | url=https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100031064402.0x000001 | language=la | access-date=2022-09-10}}</ref> The Eleusinian Mysteries, reported by [[Clement of Alexandria]], include a similar formula: "I fasted; I drank the ''kykeon'' [water with meal]; I took from the sacred chest; I wrought therewith and put it in the basket, and from the basket into the chest." Clement also reported (as paraphrased by a 20th-century historian) "carrying a vessel called a ''kernos''" and entering "the ''pastos'' or marriage-chamber".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rose|first=H. J.|title=Religion in Greece and Rome. [Originally published as Ancient Greek Religion (1946) and Ancient Roman Religion (1948) by Hutchinson and Co. in London.]|publisher=Harper and Row|year=1959|location=New York|pages=278}}</ref>

The signs of their office have been described as a type of crown, possibly a laurel wreath, as well as a golden bracelet known as the occabus.<ref name="Turcan51">''The cults of the Roman Empire'', The Great Mother and her Eunuchs, by Robert Turcan, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996 {{ISBN|0-631-20047-9}} p. 51</ref> They generally wore women's clothing (often yellow), and a turban, pendants, and earrings. They bleached their hair and wore it long, and they wore heavy makeup. They wandered around with followers, begging for charity, in return for which they were prepared to [[Divination|tell fortunes]].

In Rome, the head of the galli was known as the ''archigallus'', at least from the period of Claudius on. A number of archaeological finds depict the archigallus wearing luxurious and extravagant costumes. The archigallus was always a Roman citizen chosen by the [[quindecimviri sacris faciundis]], whose term of service lasted for life.<ref>''Dictionary of Roman religion'' by Lesley Adkins, Roy A. Adkins, Oxford University Press, 1996 {{ISBN|0-19-514233-0}} p. 91</ref> Along with the institution of the archigallus came the [[Temples of Cybele in Rome|Phrygianum sanctuary]] as well as the rite of the [[taurobolium]] as it pertains to the Magna Mater, two aspects of the Magna Mater's cultus that the archigallus held dominion over.<ref name="Turcan51" />