Fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Other Catholic Churches

[jsf]

About the color of the smoke, it seems that it was the same during the fire of the cathedral of Reims:

The heat of the fire boils the 400 tons of lead sheets that cover the roof, the molten lead spreads over the vaults and flows through the gargoyles, causing a spectacular golden yellow smoke",

"La chaleur de l’incendie met en ébullition les 400 tonnes de feuilles de plomb qui recouvrent la toiture. Le plomb fondu se répand alors sur les voûtes et coule par les gargouilles, provoquant une spectaculaire fumée couleur jaune d’or",

 

[Ca.]

From the land of confusion: MSM USA.

Police official: Short-circuit likely caused Notre Dame fire

Paris police investigators think an electrical short-circuit most likely caused the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, a police official said Thursday as France paid a daylong tribute to the firefighters who saved the world-renowned landmark.

www.ktvu.com

PARIS (AP) - Paris police investigators think an electrical short-circuit most likely caused the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, a police official said Thursday as France paid a daylong tribute to the firefighters who saved the world-renowned landmark.

A French judicial police official told The Associated Press that investigators made an initial assessment of the cathedral Wednesday but don't have a green light to search Notre Dame's charred interior because of ongoing safety hazards.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak by name about an ongoing investigation, said the cathedral's fragile walls were being shored up with wooden planks.

Earlier in the afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron held a ceremony at the Elysee Palace to thank the hundreds of firefighters who battled the fast-moving for nine hours starting Monday evening. Authorities have said Notre Dame, which dates from the 12th century, was in danger of going up in flames before fire crews stopped it from spreading into a tower belfry.

Fire responders also rescued many of the important relics and works of art inside the cathedral.

"We've seen before our eyes the right things perfectly organized in a few moments, with responsibility, courage, solidarity and a meticulous organization", Macron said. "The worst has been avoided."

Macron said the firefighters will receive an Honor Medal for their courage and devotion.

As the ceremony took place, investigators continued seeking clues to what sparked the fire. The huge cathedral, including the spire that was consumed by flames and collapsed, was in the initial stages of a lengthy restoration.

Investigators so far believe the fire was accidental, and are questioning both cathedral staff and workers who were carrying out renovations. Some 40 people had been questioned by Thursday, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.

Fire officials warned that the building remains unstable and extremely dangerous, including for the construction workers who rushed to secure an area above one of the rose-shaped windows and other vulnerable sections of the fire-damaged structure.

Workers using a crane were removing some statues to lessen the weight on the cathedral's fragile gables, or support walls, and to keep them from falling, since the section lacked the support of the massive timber roof that burned up in the devastating blaze.

Police, citing "important risks" of collapse and falling objects, officially closed Thursday a large swath of the island in the Seine River on which Notre Dame sits. The area had been unofficially blocked off since the fire.

Paris City Hall also was holding a ceremony in the firefighters' honor Monday afternoon, with a Bach violin concert, two giant banners strung from the monumental city headquarters and readings from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

Remarkably, no one was killed in the fire, which began during a Mass, after firefighters and church officials speedily evacuated those inside.

Among the firefighters honored Thursday was Paris fire brigade chaplain Jean-Marc Fournier, who says he was falsely credited with helping salvage the crown of thorns believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion.

The chaplain said a team of rescuers broke the relic's protective covering and an official who had the secret code to unlock the protection finished the job. Fournier told France Info on Thursday that his own team arrived on the heels of the salvaging and praised the action "to preserve this extraordinary relic, this patrimony of humanity."

However, Fournier told the daily Le Parisian that he himself was able to save the most precious thing for Catholics from the fire, the cathedral's consecrated hosts. The paper said he climbed on altars to remove large paintings, but that he felt especially proud of another personal salvaging operation: "to have removed Jesus" from the Cathedral.

For Catholics, consecrated hosts are the body of Christ.

Among others honored was Myriam Chudzinski, one of the first firefighters to reach the roof as the blaze raged. Loaded with gear, they climbed hundreds of steps up the cathedral's narrow spiral staircase to the top of one of the two towers. She had trained at the site for hours for just this moment.

"We knew that the roof was burning, but we didn't really know the intensity," she told reporters. "It was from upstairs that you understood that it was really dramatic. It was very hot and we had to retreat, retreat. It was spreading quickly."

The building would have burned to the ground in a "chain-reaction collapse" had firefighters not moved as rapidly as they did to battle the blaze racing through the building, José Vaz de Matos, a fire expert with France's Culture Ministry, said Wednesday.

An initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m., as a Mass was underway in the cathedral, but no fire was found. A second alarm went off at 6:43 p.m., and the blaze was discovered already consuming the roof.

Macron wants to rebuild the cathedral within five years - in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics that Paris is hosting - but experts say the vast scale of the work to be done could easily take 15 years, since it will take months, even years, just to figure out what should be done. Nearly $1 billion has been pledged for the cathedral's restoration.

Benedicte Contamin, who came to view the damaged cathedral from afar Thursday, said she's sad but grateful it's still there.

"It's a chance for France to bounce back, a chance to realize what unites us, because we have been too much divided over the past years," she said.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1118934753812598784

Investigators believe that an electrical short-circuit likely caused the fire that partially destroyed Paris’ iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, a French official has said. An earlier investigation too found no evidence of foul play.

Speaking to the Associated Press, the judicial police official said that investigators are still unable to search through rubble inside the cathedral for safety reasons.

The devastating blaze ravaged the centuries-old building on Monday, gutting the cathedral’s insides, completely destroying the spire and large sections of the roof.

A preliminary investigation of the scene on Tuesday found no immediate signs of arson, the city’s public prosecutor said. More than 50 people are still investigating the fire, which broke out while the landmark cathedral was under reconstruction.

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild Notre Dame within five years “even more beautiful than before.” Donations towards the church’s reconstruction have flowed in from the private sector too. French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault has pledged €100 million and fellow billionaire Bernard Arnault offered €200 million towards the restoration

https://twitter.com/x/status/1118936011822837768

Notre-Dame: regular intrusions occurred on the site
Translated from French by Microsoft
Hey Bé, BFM darkened in the most rancid plot and evokes a possible track linked to an intrusion....

Notre-Dame: des intrusions régulières ont eu lieu sur le chantier

Pour faire face aux intrusions que subissait le chantier de la cathédrale Notre-Dame, des barbelés et une alarme avaient été mis en place.

www.bfmtv.com

Meanwhile:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1118934546681159681

 

[goyacobol]

In "The Source of Measures", p. 172, Skinner says "Nork relates that the temple of Notre Dame in Paris, was formerly a temple of the goddess Isis, or the sign Virgo. On the temple was sculptured the zodiac with it's signs; that of Virgo (Isis) was left out, because the whole temple was dedicated to her".

If the ND site was really formerly "a temple of the goddess Isis" I wonder if maybe there was some energetic/esoteric reason for the fire there.

The Cs were asked "who is Isis?"

Session 16 September 1995:

Q: (RC) It has come to my attention that most of the places where the word for "God" is used in Zohar as well as in the Old Testament, it is used in its feminine form. Does this imply that the Queen of Heaven... who is Isis?

A: Isis is a vanguard.

Q: (RC) What is a vanguard?

A: A symbol of energy patterns that lead transformations of cultures during border periods.

 

[Scottie]

PARIS (AP) - Paris police investigators think an electrical short-circuit most likely caused the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, a police official said Thursday as France paid a daylong tribute to the firefighters who saved the world-renowned landmark.

A French judicial police official told The Associated Press that investigators made an initial assessment of the cathedral Wednesday but don't have a green light to search Notre Dame's charred interior because of ongoing safety hazards.

So this official claims they think they know what caused the fire, but they can't actually investigate inside ND yet because it's not safe.

Um...

For the record, I don't think it's over... Kinda seems like the other shoe hasn't dropped yet. And this Sunday is Easter.

Well, you can all just take that with a giant block of sea salt!

 

[caballero reyes]

Scottie said:
"So this official claims they think they know what caused the fire, but they can't actually investigate inside ND yet because it's not safe".


About security in what remains of Notre Dame, I wonder if they are protecting against the rains.
Rainwater is not common inside a cathedral, but if they do not make atemporary roof, this humidity could be fatal to the structure
general; the stone blocks, like certain minds, are porous for oblivion.

 

[jsf]

My guess and something I have suspected in the past - that the Chateau is in close proximity or is located on a sacred Ley-line?

Here is the meridian from Paris (but maybe a ley-line would be different) :

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/M%C3%A9ridienne_de_Paris.jpg

According to my former teacher, the main energy current going through Paris on this major axis, which probably went through the Louvre Palace toward the East before, is (since the 1980's) completely drained in this precise place, the inverted pyramid

Indeed, the vibration of this place is really unpleasant. Btw, the pyramid was built by Leoh Ming Pei, on the same meridian as Rennes-le-chateau. Feng shui has long been used to manipulate, capture, and emit energy in cities, which can (for example) profoundly alter a neighborhood.

I. M. Pei - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

NB : all these infos are from my former teacher (who went "mad"), so they should be checked/taken with a grain of salt.

Stephane Cardinaux did not give the geobiological plans of the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris in his books (only Chartres, Fribourg, Lausanne and some others). I don't have all the books by George Prat, maybe he talks about it.
Here is a link with some plans (but not very precise) : _geobiology.co.il/larchitecture-invisible

(and according to a dubious French author, Anton Parks, this Egyptian myth is in fact universal, similar story exists in other places like Sumer / Babylon... It's linked to Atlantis... and reptilians ! Probably a mix of disinfos and some truths.)

Off topic note:
In his lastest book, (Du plérôme à la matière), he says that Mont Saint Michel is important, because it's the place of a capital scene planned at the end of "L'Oracle de l'Oiseau Tonnerre" that follows the "Réveil du Phénix". So the story he's talking about is not only in ancient times, but also extends into the middle ages.
Btw, I would really love to know what percentage of info/disinfo the C's would give to the Anton Parks material.

I'm not sure about that, because the highest energy center of the cathedral was the location of the main altar / (destroyed) spire. The spire was a sort of menhir, that means an antenna for positive subtle energy (cf. my explanation supra). And it was higher than the stone towers... so the spire was the main target (in my understanding).

Yes, that's also what I understood.

 

[bianca etezete]

Did anyone already mention this? Simultaniously the al-aqsa mosque in jerusalem was in flames.

 

[Tuatha de Danaan]

If the ND site was really formerly "a temple of the goddess Isis" I wonder if maybe there was some energetic/esoteric reason for the fire there.

The Cs were asked "who is Isis?"

Session 16 September 1995:

Wow goyacobol, Are we in a border period?

 

[angelburst29]

I'm not sure about that, because the highest energy center of the cathedral was the location of the main altar / (destroyed) spire. The spire was a sort of menhir, that means an antenna for positive subtle energy (cf. my explanation supra). And it was higher than the stone towers... so the spire was the main target (in my understanding).

I suspect, the spire was the main target, also. This article may provide a clue?

Time-lapse shots of Notre-Dame spire may yield clues on blaze


A time lapse camera installed just hours before Monday's devastating blaze at Notre-Dame de Paris may contain vital clues as to what caused the inferno, a French scaffolding company working at the cathedral said on Thursday.

Europe Echafaudage was one of five companies contracted to restore Notre-Dame’s 90-metre (295-foot) spire, which collapsed in the blaze, crashing through the cathedral’s vaulted ceiling.

Footage from the camera, which was placed on the northern belltower and is now in the hands of investigators, shows the first smoke coming out of the spire’s base, Marc Eskenazi, a representative for Europe Echafaudage, told Reuters.

“Shots were taken every 10 minutes starting from Monday at 2 p.m.,” Eskenazi said. “Smoke can be seen on these images. It starts on the south side,” he said.

The catastrophic fire at one of France’s best loved monuments caused national heartbreak. At a reception for many of the 400 firefighters who extinguished Monday’s blaze, President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Pope Francis by phone and that the pontiff would visit France “at a time of his convenience”.

Earlier this week, Francis thanked rescuers who put their lives at risk to salvage the centuries-old cathedral and its priceless artefacts. The Vatican has said it is willing to offer restoration expertise to help rebuild the landmark.

So far the authorities have said the fire appears accidental, although they have not ruled out arson. Police sources say an electrical fault is one possibility. The office of Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz did not respond to a request for comment on the images.

Investigators have been able to access some areas of Notre-Dame, including its two bell towers, though parts of the historic nave remained too dangerous to enter more than 72 hours after the fire.

Scaffolding specialist Europe Echafaudage, a unit of Le Bras Freres, a family-owned business of 140 employees based in Lorraine in eastern France, had almost finished erecting the scaffolding around the spire, 14 months after starting.

The company’s 12-strong team was the only one working on site on the day of the blaze.

Europe Echafaudage, and a second company involved in the project, Pro Tech Foudre, have said they followed strict safety procedures.

Pro Tech Foudre, which was to start work removing the lightning rod that ran down from the spire’s top, described Europe Echafaudage as a reputable company with a strong safety record and experience working on prestigious sites, including the Pantheon and Louvre museum in Paris.

Two Alarms -
The scaffolders started leaving work at 5:20 p.m. on Monday evening and by 5:50 p.m. - half an hour before the first alarm sounded - all were gone, Eskenazi said.

“The procedure says that at the end of the day, electricity on the site is turned off. So we turn off the lifts and the scaffolding’s lights, and we hand over the keys to the sacristy’s concierge,” he said.

“That’s exactly what the workers did. They followed the procedure, and it was of course duly noted in the registers at the sacristy.” There was no welding machine or blowtorch on the site, he added. Police sources confirmed no welding was being done at this stage to the site.

The outside scaffolding had no sprinkler system, but was equipped with movement detectors which did not go off, Eskenazi said. The alarms that activated were the cathedral’s own, he added. That may also yield clues as to where the fire started.

Investigators are trying to understand why the fire was not detected when the first alarm rang at 6:20 p.m., prosecutor Heitz has said. A second alarm sounded at 6:43 p.m., at which point the fire was detected in the roof.

An hour later, the spire, engulfed in flames, collapsed to the gasps of hundreds of dumbstruck onlookers.

André Finot, Notre-Dame’s spokesman said, there were “smoke detectors everywhere” that were connected to the cathedral’s safety HQ at the presbytery, where a firefighter is posted 24 hours a day.

“If something goes off, there is an agent inside the cathedral who can go make checks,” Finot said. He said he was not able to comment on the checks that were carried out after the first alarm sounded.

If indeed the fire was not arson, an electrical source would almost certainly be to blame, one police source said.

Slideshow (3 Images)
Time-lapse shots of Notre-Dame spire may yield clues on blaze


Debate over future Notre-Dame spire fuels French divisions

President Emmanuel Macron might have hoped he was striking a note for modernity and openness in announcing an international competition to design a new spire for Notre-Dame cathedral, but he may have opened a can of worms instead.

“Since the spire wasn’t part of the original cathedral,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement late on Wednesday, “the President of the Republic hopes there will be some reflection and a contemporary architectural gesture might be envisaged.”

Computer-generated pictures online included ideas for a soaring glass needle to replace the 91-metre (300 foot) spire, which was added to the cathedral in the mid-1800s, replacing a Medieval one that was removed in 1786.

But that appears to be too much for many French, especially those with a traditional or Catholic bent.

“There are rules in France about protecting national heritage. The President of the Republic is not above the law. It’s not up to him to decide to build a modern spire.” ‼

Francois-Xavier Bellamy, a 33-year-old philosopher who will head the right-of-center Les Republicains party list in next month’s European Parliament elections, said Macron’s government lacked humility in suggesting a modernist rethink.

“We are the inheritors of patrimony, it doesn’t belong to us, and it’s important therefore that we hand it on in the way that we received it,” he told Reuters.

While Bellamy is a conservative Catholic and might be expected to campaign for returning the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece to exactly how it was before the fire, his views are shared by some architectural historians.

Patrick Demouy, an emeritus professor of medieval history who specializes in the Notre-Dame de Reims cathedral, said it would be difficult to imagine something starkly different to the 19th century spire, even if its architect, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, was himself quite inventive with his design.

“Personally, I’m in favor of restoring it to how it was because that’s the spire that has imposed itself on the collective memory,” he told Reuters. “It would be hard to perceive (a contemporary spire) because we wouldn’t really recognize it any longer as being Notre-Dame.”

Macron’s culture minister, Franck Riester, said it was important the nation debated the issue and generated ideas. There is likely to be months if not years of discussion before a design — contemporary or otherwise — is fixed upon.

“The masterpiece that Viollet-le-Duc left us is exceptional, but we must not dogmatically insist that we recreate an identical cathedral,” he told BFM TV. “We must let the debate take place, see what ideas are presented, and then decide.”

Paris has a track-record of being experimental with its architecture, whether via buildings such as the Pompidou Center, or the glass pyramid at the heart of the Louvre, which blends modernism with classical lines.

Other constructions, such as the 210-metre Montparnasse tower or the vast empty square of the Arche de la Defense, have come in for more criticism, even if they have fans, too.

For Jean-Michel Leniaud, an art historian at the National Institute of Art History, Notre-Dame is special because it is both a work of art and among the nation’s greatest monuments, a source of unity for citizens in times of strife.

“The restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris shouldn’t be the opportunity for creative architects to show off their inventive spark,” he told Reuters. “We should go back to the original, the spire of Viollet-le-Duc,” he said.

“The best way, the most consensual way to overcome this terrible disaster is to return it to the original state.”

France asks: should Notre-Dame's spire be rebuilt as it was?

France will open the redesign of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral's historic spire to international architects after Monday night's catastrophic blaze that gutted the centuries-old roof and sent the towering spire crashing through the vaulted ceiling.

Slideshow (14 Images)
France asks: should Notre-Dame's spire be rebuilt as it was?

 

[Adaryn]

Church attacks over the last 4 yrs.

It's ongoing:
A statue of the Virgin Mary has been vandalized (decapitated), probably with a mallet or a hammer, in Marlhes, in the Loire county.
Compared to the first 3 months of 2018, the first 3 months of 2019 have seen a rise by more than 53% in christianophobic acts in France!
L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie

https://twitter.com/x/status/1118742227264647168

 

[Ca.]

al-aqsa mosque in jerusalem was in flames.

Here's an article of the Incident dated On 4/15/19 at 4:58 PM EDT
Secound (4/17/19) article 4-5 minute read Snip:

Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque Catches Fire During Notre Dame Blaze

Fire broke out at Al-Aqsa mosque compound at the same time as firefighters were putting out Notre Dame's destructive fire.

www.archdaily.com

While French firefighters were putting out the destructive blaze at the Notre Dame Cathedral, another holistic site was also up in flames. Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is among the holiest sites in Islam and was built almost 1,300 years ago, was struck by blaze while the monumental Catholic Church was also devastated with fire.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1117850437573578754

Translated from Arabic by Microsoft
Firefighters extinguish fire on al-Aqsa mosque roof

The fire is said to have started in the Al-Marwani Prayer Hall - also known as Solomon's Stables - part of the same compound as Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Fortunately, firemen of the Islamic Waqf department of the city were able to control the fire before any harm was done to the individuals or the other prayer halls. While the cause remains unknown, sources claim that the fire could have been ignited accidentally by children who were near the prayer hall at the time.

 

[goyacobol]

I'm not sure about that, because the highest energy center of the cathedral was the location of the main altar / (destroyed) spire. The spire was a sort of menhir, that means an antenna for positive subtle energy (cf. my explanation supra). And it was higher than the stone towers... so the spire was the main target (in my understanding).

I had always wondered about the spiky little ornamentations on the spires. Now I can't help but think of antennas. It's like all these attacks on religious sites are an attack on man's spirituality whether Christian, Jewish, Moslem or whatever religion.

 

[angelburst29]

If the ND site was really formerly "a temple of the goddess Isis" I wonder if maybe there was some energetic/esoteric reason for the fire there.

The Cs were asked "who is Isis?"

Session 16 September 1995:
A: Isis is a vanguard.

Q: (RC) What is a vanguard?

A: A symbol of energy patterns that lead transformations of cultures during border periods.

On the order of energetic transformations - the Moon phase on Monday April 15 was Waxing Gibbous - building up energies towards a full Moon, this Friday April 19th. Monday is derived from Old English Mōnandæg and Middle English Monenday, originally a translation of Latin dies lunae "day of the Moon".

Sunday April 14 was Palm Sunday - the start of the most Holy week in Christian Calendars, with Friday April 19 - Good Friday (Full Moon) but also marks the beginning of Passover (at Sunset) in the Jewish Calendar. Sunday April 22nd is the Christian Easter Sunday - followed by Saturday April 27th, with Jewish Passover ending (at Sunset).

There are so many angles in trying to derive some kind of explanation/understanding for this fire, most all "symbolic" in one way or the other - that claiming it was an accident - is a total farce!

In my view, a Fire ritual of some sort was performed - to desecrate and revert the sacred creative energies - transforming the Notre Dame into a burnt offering? Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque is also a very sacred Holy site.

Connect the dots ... Did Macron sacrifice the Soul of France - to the State of Israel? America has already been highjacked and sacrificed!

Here's an article of the Incident dated On 4/15/19 at 4:58 PM EDT

While French firefighters were putting out the destructive blaze at the Notre Dame Cathedral, another holistic site was also up in flames. Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is among the holiest sites in Islam and was built almost 1,300 years ago, was struck by blaze while the monumental Catholic Church was also devastated with fire.

 

[jsf]

I had always wondered about the spiky little ornamentations on the spires. Now I can't help but think of antennas. It's like all these attacks on religious sites are an attack on man's spirituality whether Christian, Jewish, Moslem or whatever religion.

These decorations are called "crochets", they are usually leaf-shaped and are reminiscent of the Greek temples.

Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle/Crochet - Wikisource

fr.wikisource.org

This page in french says that some snakes amidst the decorations are depictions of energy.

Viollet-le-Duc architecte à Notre-Dame de Paris

hermetism.free.fr

M. Maurice Duvanel explique que pour les anciens ces foudres métalliques agissaient comme des leurres à l'égard des vrais foudres célestes qui, se croyant déja tombées là, iront tomber ailleurs. Ces leurres figurent sur d'autres cathédrales, soit sous formes de foudres métalliques, soit sous forme de serpents ondulants, descendants du sommet de la flêche, comme au sommet de la grande flêche de la cathédrale d'Amiens.

M. Maurice Duvanel explains that for the Ancients, these metal depictions of lightnings are acting like decoys for true heavenly lightnings which, having thought themselves that they already fall there, will fall elsewhere. The latter are on their cathedrals, either in the form of metal lightning, or in the form of undulating serpents, descendants from the top of the spire, as at the top of the great spire of the cathedral of Amiens.

 

[jsf]

In my view, a Fire ritual of some sort was performed - to desecrate and revert the sacred creative energies - transforming the Notre Dame into a burnt offering? Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque is also a very sacred Holy site.

Connect the dots ... Did Macron sacrifice the Soul of France - to the State of Israel? America has already been highjacked and sacrificed!

Maybe it's a bit far fetched, but here is something about that: Fordicidia - Wikipedia

In ancient Roman religion, the Fordicidia was a festival of fertility, held two days after the Ides of April (April 15), that pertained to farming and animal husbandry. It involved the sacrifice of a pregnant cow to Tellus, the ancient Roman goddess of the Earth, in proximity to the festival of Ceres (Cerealia) on April 19.[1]

On the Roman religious calendar, the month of April (Aprilis) was in general preoccupied with deities who were female or ambiguous in gender, opening with the Feast of Venus on the Kalends.[2] Several other festivals pertaining to farm life were held in April: the Parilia, a feast of shepherds, on April 21; the Robigalia on April 25, to protect crops from blight;[1] and the Vinalia, one of the two wine festivals on the calendar,[3] at the end of the month. Of these, the Fordicidia and Robigalia are likely to have been of greatest antiquity. William Warde Fowler, whose early 20th-century work on Roman festivals remains a standard reference, asserted that the Fordicidia was "beyond doubt one of the oldest sacrificial rites in Roman religion."[4]

The forms horda and Hordicalia are also found.[6] Like many other aspects of Roman law and religion,[7] the institution of the Fordicidia was attributed to Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome. The rustic god Faunus instructed Numa in a dream that a sacrifice to Tellus would mitigate the harsh agricultural conditions Rome was grappling with, but the oracular message required interpretation: "By the death of cattle, King, Tellus must be placated: two cows, that is. Let a single heifer yield two lives (animae) for the rites."[8] Numa solved the riddle by instituting the sacrifice of a pregnant cow.[9]

As with other rituals in which public cult was mirrored by private, or vice versa, one sacrifice was conducted on behalf of the state, in this case at the Capitol, and one in each of the thirty curiae, the most ancient divisions of the city made by Romulus from the original three tribes. This was the first of two festivals involving the curiae, the other being the Fornacalia on February 17, which differed in that there was no ritual of state corresponding to the local ceremonies[10] and its moveable date was fixed annually by the curio maximus.[11]

In the state sacrifice for the Fordicidia, the unborn calf was wrenched from its mother's womb by the attendants of the Virgo Vestalis Maxima, or Vestal Maxima, and burnt. Its ashes were preserved by the Vestals and used as one of the ingredients in the ritual substance suffimen, along with the dried blood of the October Horse from the previous year, and the stalks from which beans had been harvested.[12] The suffimen was sprinkled on the bonfires of the Parilia, the festival devoted to purifying shepherds and their sheep, and later celebrated also as the "birthday" of the city.[13] The sacrifice at the Fordicidia and preparation of the suffimen constituted the first public ceremony of the year in which the Vestals played an active role.[4]

The purpose of the sacrifice, as suggested by the Augustan poet Ovid in his elegiac calendar and by the 6th-century antiquarian John Lydus in his book On the Months,[14] was to assure the fertility of the planted grain already growing in the womb of Mother Earth in the guise of Tellus, to whom the sacrifice was offered. As with certain other rituals over which the Vestals presided, the unborn calf is a liminal or mediating being: not yet born, but living; not a full-fledged victim, but sacrificed. The role of the Vestals emphasizes their importance in linking through the ritual reuse of elements the Earth's fertility, the health and safety of the flocks, and the security of the city, including and especially its military security against invasion.[15]