Mythes, fêtes et rites. De la déraison dans la Rome antique
Myths, Holidays, and Rites in Ancient Rome

Summary/Abstract: Daily life, in Rome, during Antiquity, was punctuated by very numerous feasts and games, which often had a commemorative function. But, as the event which founded the commemorative act had come out of the collective memory, the rite which preserved the recollection appeared as having lost all meaning. So it is necessary to trace back to the founding event of the feast or game, in order to discover, under the apparent nonsense (anoètos) the mythic affabulation (mythos) giving a sense (logos) or restoring a meaning, to incongruous ritual gestures. Three cases are here considered: Lupercalia, Bacchanalia (with their particular prolongation, Matralia) and Saturnalia.

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