Festival of Sementivae or Paganalia

January 24

(Roman) Ancient: a.d. IX. Kal. Feb. This was a movable feast, however.
This is the Festival of Sowing (Sementivae) after the seed has been sown and the land fertilized. There is a celebration in the villages (pagi) by which they are purified, and cakes are dedicated on the village hearths (pagani foci). Cakes of spelt and of the pork of the sow are offered to Tellus (Mother Earth), and to Ceres seven days later (Feb. 2). Ovid explains that Ceres gives the corn its vital power and Tellus gives it a place to grow. He observes that Ceres was nursed by Pax (Peace) and is Her foster child, and he thanks these Goddesses for permitting swords to be beaten into plough shares. Also at this time folk may hang oscilla (little swinging figures for protection) in the trees. (Ovid, Fasti, Loeb ed., tr. J. G. Frazer, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp657–700;)