BONA DEA

(Latin: Good Goddess), in Roman religion, deity of fruitfulness, both in the earth and in women. She was identified with various goddesses who had similar functions. The dedication day of her temple on the Aventine was May 1. Her temple was cared for and attended by women only, and the same was the case at a second celebration, at the beginning of December, in the house of a sovereign magistrate. Wine and myrtle were taboo, and her victim was a sow (porca) called damium. The goddess herself was also known as Damia and her priestess as damiatrix. These names are almost certainly Greek, and it is highly probable that the Greek cult of Damia was grafted onto the original cult of the Roman goddess Bona Dea.