LECTISTERNIUM

(from Latin lectum sternere, to spread a couch), ancient Greek and Roman rite in which a meal was offered to gods and goddesses whose representations were laid upon a couch positioned in the open street. On the first occasion of the rite, which originated in Greece, couches were prepared for three pairs of gods: Apollo and Latona, Hercules and Diana, Mercury and Neptune. The feast, lasting for seven or eight days, was also celebrated by private individuals; the citizens kept open house, debtors and prisoners were released, and everything was done to banish sorrow. In later times, similar honours were paid to other divinities. The rite largely replaced the old Roman epulum and daps, in which the god was not visibly represented. In Christian times, the word was used for a feast in memory of the dead.