December (Roman month)

><h2 id="dates">Dates</h2>
The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first day through the last. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the <a href="/facts/Nones_(calendar)/RbyBpk9K">Nones</a> (5th or 7th), the <a href="/facts/Ides_(calendar)/RbyBpk9K">Ides</a> (13th or 15th), and the <a href="/facts/Kalends/Xf35dTjj">Kalends</a> (1st) of the following month. The Nones of December was the 5th, and the Ides the 13th. The last day of December was the pridie Kalendas Ianuarias,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a> "day before the Januarian Kalends". Roman counting was <a href="/facts/Inclusive_counting/DsRhH9RT">inclusive</a>; December 9 was ante diem V Idūs Decembrīs, "the 5th day before the Ides of December," usually abbreviated a.d. V Id. Dec. (or with the a.d. omitted altogether); December 24 was IX Kal. Ian., "the 9th day before the Kalends of Ianuarius," on the Julian calendar (VII Kal. Ian. on the pre-Julian calendar, when December had only 29 days).
On the calendar of the <a href="/facts/Roman_Republic/Han0FRLT">Roman Republic</a> and early <a href="/facts/Principate/v3Vh1aop">Principate</a>, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. Each day was marked with a letter such as:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>

<ul><li>F for <a href="/facts/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion/GTKkzEdB">dies fasti</a>, days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of <a href="/facts/Roman_law/m7peoAbG">civil law</a>.</li>
<li>C, for dies comitalis, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies (<a href="/facts/Comitia/Vmb9zASm">comitia</a>), elections, and certain kinds of judicial proceedings.</li>
<li>N for <a href="/facts/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion/GTKkzEdB">dies nefasti</a>, when these political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited.</li>
<li>NP, the meaning of which remains elusive, but which marked <a href="/facts/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion/GTKkzEdB">feriae</a>, public holidays.</li>
<li>EN for endotercissus, an <a href="/facts/Old_Latin/HU7I4za6">archaic form</a> of intercissus, "cut in half," meaning days that were nefasti in the morning, when <a href="/facts/Sacrifice_in_ancient_Roman_religion/QrNwmgPM">sacrifices</a> were being prepared, and in the evening, while sacrifices were being offered, but were fasti in the middle of the day.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a></li></ul>
By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer showed days marked with these letters, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by <a href="/facts/Marcus_Aurelius/b5uSRbqh">Marcus Aurelius</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> Days were also marked with <a href="/facts/Roman_calendar/RbyBpk9K">nundinal letters</a> in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>

<table><tbody><tr><th>Moderndate</th><th>Roman date</th><th>status</th><th>Observances</th></tr><tr><td>December 1</td><td>Kalendae Decembrīs</td><td>N</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>ante diem IV Nonas Decembrīs</td><td>N</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>III Non. Dec.</td><td>N</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Bona_Dea/1JS9w5AY">Bona Dea</a> rites for women only</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>pridie Nonas Decembrīs(abbrev. prid. Non. Dec.)</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Nonae Decembrīs</td><td>F</td><td>• A country festival for <a href="/facts/Faunus/KHx7fnCH">Faunus</a> held by the <a href="/facts/Pagus/4KBQ4Q23">pagi</a></td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>VIII Id. Dec.</td><td>F</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>VII Id. Dec.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>VI Id. Dec.</td><td>C</td><td>• Festival for <a href="/facts/Tiberinus_Pater/IRcFhKL4">Tiberinus Pater</a> and Gaia</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>V Id. Dec.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>IV Id. Dec.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>III Id. Dec.</td><td>NP</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Agonalia/9Nad0qQe">AGONALIA</a> for <a href="/facts/Indiges/yrAfJUma">Indiges</a>; also the (probably unrelated) <a href="/facts/Septimontium/q6E1SFJT">Septimontium</a></td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>pridie Idūs Decembrīs(abbrev. prid. Id. Dec.)</td><td>EN</td><td>• Ceremonies at the Temple of Consus on the Aventine</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Idūs Decembrīs</td><td>NP</td><td>• dies natalis of the Temple of Tellus, and associated <a href="/facts/Lectisternium/PAzXEz6a">lectisternium</a> for Ceres</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>XIX Kal. Ian.</td><td>F</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>XVIII Kal. Ian.</td><td>NP</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Consualia/dqPebQYL">CONSVALIA</a> or Feriae for Consus, the second of the year</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>XVII Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>XVI Kal. Ian.</td><td>NP</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Saturnalia/9PMblg6d">SATVRNALIA</a></td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>XV Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td>• EPONALIA in honor of <a href="/facts/Epona/naFPpTfj">Epona</a>• Saturnalia continues</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>XIV Kal. Ian.</td><td>NP</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Opalia/htKEVhIM">OPALIA</a> in honor of <a href="/facts/Ops/gFDjYwKo">Ops</a>• Saturnalia continues</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>XIII Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>21</td><td>XII Kal. Ian.</td><td>NP</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Divalia/auR1JGkn">DIVALIA</a> in honor of <a href="/facts/Angerona/nkhvCLyz">Angerona</a>; Hercules and Ceres also received a sacrifice</td></tr><tr><td>22</td><td>XI Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td>• Anniversary of the Temple of the Lares Permarini in the Porticus Minucia</td></tr><tr><td>23</td><td>X Kal. Ian.</td><td>NP</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Larentalia/229Bbycc">LARENTALIA</a>; commemorations for the temples of Diana and Juno Regina in the <a href="/facts/Circus_Flaminius/d8t5qDyV">Circus Flaminius</a>, and for the <a href="/facts/Tempestates/Lgvg8s0S">Tempestates</a>; <a href="/facts/Sigillaria_(ancient_Rome)/S3Adq82U">Sigillaria</a>, the last day of the Saturnalia, devoted to gift-giving</td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>IX Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>25</td><td>VIII Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td>• <a href="/facts/Dies_Natalis_Solis_Invicti/VaGty2lG">Dies Natalis Solis Invicti</a> ("Birthday of the Unconquered Sun"); <a href="/facts/Brumalia/mG35FKvL">Brumalia</a> (both Imperial)</td></tr><tr><td>26</td><td>VII Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>27</td><td>VI Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>28</td><td>V Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>29</td><td>IV Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>30</td><td>III Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>31</td><td>prid. Kal. Ian.</td><td>C</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/December/8WHgKn1S">December</a>, for the modern calendar month.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">The month name is construed as an adjective modifying the feminine plural Kalendae, Nonae or Idūs. <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" target="_blank">/wiki/Grammatical_gender</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies, pp. 44–45. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies, pp. 44–45. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 17, 122. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, translated by David M.B. Richardson (Blackwell, 2011, originally published 1995 in German), p. 6. <a href="/wiki/J%C3%B6rg_R%C3%BCpke" target="_blank">/wiki/J%C3%B6rg_R%C3%BCpke</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

December (Roman month) open-in-new

December (Roman month)