Mercuralia (id. mai. = May 15): Ritual in Honour of Mercurius, the Psychopomp

Mercurius is Roman a deity that is associated with and depicted similarly to the Greek Hermes (ΕΡΜΗΣ). He is the messenger or herald of His Father Iuppiter and the caduceus (herald’s staff) He usually carries in His left hand symbolises this. 

Fig. ❶ Photographs by WolfgangRieger and Ángel M. Felicísimo.

Fig.❷ Roman bronze statuette of Mercurius and a rooster, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (Germany)  Photograph by TIMOTHEVS.

The wings on His sandals and His Head (or sometimes on top of His hat) indicate He is able to go from one place to another quickly.

Mercurius is often shown in the company of these three animals: 

Fig. ❸ Photograph by Jastrow.

Ⅰ　The rooster is a reference to this function as One who announces.

Ⅱ　The tortoise refers to the myth where Mercurius fashioned the world’s first lyre out of a tortoise shell. He later gave it to His fellow God Apollo and He’s been carrying it around ever since.

Ⅲ The goat or ram show Him as a bringer of fertility.

Fig. ❹ Drawing by unknown artist, photograph of tintinnabulum by Sailko.

This function is sometimes emphasized by adding phallic elements to depictions of Mercurius.

Apart from this, Mercurius is also the God of thievery and trade, as suggested by His money bag. It is this aspect that is most prominent in the Mercuralia ritual that was described by Ovidius in the early 1^st century. [I]

According to Ovidius, merchants would offer Mercurius some incense on the Mercuralia.

They would also go and fetch some water from a spring (or some body of water in any case) that was located near the Porta Capena and considered sacred to Mercurius.

Then, the merchants would wet some laurel and use it sprinkle some of the water on their merchandise as well as on their own heads, hoping this would bring them success in business.

When you read the merchant’s Mercuralia prayer written by Ovidius, it is clear how little difference he believes there to be between tradesmen and thieves.

This mosaic from Roman North-Africa depicts the month of May and a worshipper throwing some incense or some other kind of offering on an altar in front a cult statue of Mercurius.

But why did the Romans honour Mercurius particularly on May 15?

Apparently, the Senate had once founded a temple dedicated to Mercurius on the Ides of May, but that’s not all. In ancient Rome, the month of May was associated with death. Throughout this month, several death-related rituals took place and it was therefore considered to be a very inauspicious time to get married.

But what’s the link between death and Mercurius? That brings us to another one of His functions, the function of psychopompus. A psychopompus (psychopomp in English) is an entity that guides the spirits of the dead to the next world.

 

On this Greek vase you can see the brothers Hypnos and Thanatos (or as the Romans called them Somnus and Mors, meaning Sleep and Death) carrying a dead body under the supervision of Hermes. The spirit of the deceased would then be guided to the bank of the river Stys. From there, He would board the ferry that would bring him to the netherworld, after paying a small fee to the boatman Charon (Χάρων) that is.

 

Fig. ❺ Replica of a Roman statuette of Mercurius enshrined in a sacellum with a rooster figurine, some laurel and two lucernae (oil lamps).

For this year’s Mercuralia, I am enshrining this (Fig.❺) beautiful statuette I happened upon online. It is an exact replica of a Roman statuette of the 1^st or 2^nd century that is currently kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Here is a link to some pictures and some information on the original. Just like the original in the museum, my replica did not have a caduceus, so I fashioned one myself.

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Reference: 
Ovidius. Fasti. Book V: May 15.