The fourth annual Floralia was hosted by the Classics Society on the Quad on Saturday, April 27th. Floralia, or the Festival of the Flora, is an ancient Roman festival held to celebrate the spring. For the past four years, the Classics society has put on a reenactment of this festival that includes games and foods from the ancient times.
“The Classics Society used to do a Saturnalia festival, which happens in the winter, but four years ago decided to switch it up (it had been running for many years before I came here) and go with the festival to Flora instead in the spring!” said Classics Society President, Kristin Harper ’13.
The event began with the Pompa, or the Chariot Parade, during which the chariots lead the athletes and actors around the chariot course.
“The Romans would have done this as well before their own chariot races. We then have the chariot races themselves. We set up a course on the quad and have four teams: Albata (white), Russata (red), Veneta (blue), and Prasina (green). These are based on the Roman tradition of team colors,” said Harper. There are four teams who compete in the races, and each team has three members. Merike Youngs, Ethan Lawrence, and Zach Gregoric won the chariot race this year
The races are followed by a Greek Pentathlon. For this event, there were four people per team and six teams total: three male and female. The games included in the Pentathlon are the discus, high jump, sprint, and a relay. Medals are given out to the winners of each event. They are given to the winning male team and winning female team. The winning men’s team was Greg Donahue, Shane Matthews, Kane Molleo, Matt Cowell, and the winners in the women’s division were Halle Kent, Jessica Galiczewski, Lindsey Brown, Sabrina Ianetti.
Harper commented, “I think most of the students like the chariot races and the pentathlon. We always have a good turnout for audiences there as well as many students who sign up to participate. Last year we had a good turnout for the play as well.”
After the Pentathlon, the play “Theseus and the Minotaur” was performed by several students, including Susan Watkins, Jon Daigle, Thomas Hickey, Luke Robins, Talia Jalette, Katelyn Preble, Jeremy Munro, Kelsey Latsha, Nicolette Kafasis, Meaghan Hickey, and Kristin Harper.
During Floralia, there were also poetry readings, Greek dancing, and fortunes by the Oracle of Delphi. The first year they had the festival, the oracle walked around handing out fortunes, but this year, the Classics Society decided that students can decide to go up to the oracle and had their fortunes told
“We always work really hard to put on the best Roman banquet around!” noted Harper, “One of our alumni, Scott Campbell, comes and roasts the pig with his special bbq sauce. We also have traditional recipes that have been taken from original texts. We make Pompeiian bread, Pliny the Elder’s pear butter, and many more. The students of the Classics make the dishes and they come out well!” Every year, the Classics Society picks out a pig to roast weeks in advance, and then, on the day of Floralia, they start roasting the pig at 5:30 am so that it will be ready to be eaten by midafternoon.
Harper’s final comment was, “We always put a lot of effort into [Floralia]. I hope that it continues after I graduate this year, as I believe it to be one of the best and most unique events that our college has to offer!”