WAS THERE AN ANCIENT ROMAN HALLOWEEN? MUNDUS PATET

The Mundus Patet is one of ancient Rome's most mysterious and misunderstood religious festivals. While details of the festival are vague, it seems to have marked the opening of the gate between the underworld and the world of the living.

Maria Anita Ronchini

In ancient Rome, the threshold separating the world of the living and the underworld was open three days a year, during which the spirits of the dead were free to roam the earth. The gate was inside a brick construction called mundus ('the world'), an underground pit covered by a vault. Some ancient authors identified the mundus with the trench Romulus dug when he founded Rome. Others linked it to the cult of Ceres, the goddess of wheat and harvest. Known as Mundus Patet ('the world is open'), the ghostly rite is one of the most mysterious and fascinating religious festivals celebrated by the ancient Romans. The Mundus Patet in the ancient sources According to Plutarch, when he founded the city, Romulus, following an Etruscan custom, dug a trench in…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 50

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