Have you ever noticed just how many holidays there are?

Not just the major ones, but all the smaller annual celebrations that seem to fill up the

year.

I'm not complaining, per se, but it does seem like there are more of them than there were

in my childhood, and it's honestly hard to keep them all straight.

But before we go and assume that this is a problem unique to our modern culture, let

me point out how history has a way of repeating itself.

Because if you were to climb into a time machine, zip back to 1st century Rome, and ask

around, you might discover the same sort of confusion.

Take for example, the festival of Lucaria.

It took place around the 20th of July each year, at a specific location on a wooded hill

just outside of the city.

But who the festival was meant to honor, and why, are answers that are lost to history.

And even the Romans weren't too sure.

But modern historians have been trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together,

and they're closer to the full picture.

It seems that deeper in Rome's past, it was believed that people shouldn't just clear

a forest for farming without first asking permission.

Between about 2,200 years ago, Roman historian Kato described how it was important to sacrifice

a pig inside the woods, and then prey to whatever spirit ruled over that place.

In doing so, they sort of bought the rights to develop the land.

Over time, that occasional tradition turned into an annual festival.

...