Simple rituals for starters

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Your first prayer to the gods

There is no special initiation into Roman religion like Christian baptism. You can start honoring Roman deities at any moment with any prayer. But if you want some advice or a little help with your first Roman prayer, we suggest that you start with offering libations at occasions when you feel appropriate.

If you are going to commit yourself to regular practice of the Roman religion, it is a good idea to set up a home altar, a lararium. It was part of every pious Roman's house which was large enough to include one, but people living in smaller apartments could also keep a corner in their homes for statuettes of their household and family deities.

Libation

If you want to show your respect towards a deity, or if you want to assure they keep you in their continuous favor, you can offer a libation. This is the simplest formula you can use at any occasion, for example, during your meal, or while drinking at a party, or at home, when you feel like it.

Libation of wine to a male divinity

• Take some wine.
• Pray the following words aloud:

• Then pour the libation to fire, or to the ground, and drink the rest of the wine.

Libation of wine to more male deities

• Take some wine.
• Pray the following words aloud:

• Then pour the libation to fire, or to the ground, and drink the rest of the wine.

Libation of milk to a female divinity

• Take some milk.
• Pray the following words aloud:

• Then pour the libation to fire, or to the ground, and drink the rest of the milk.

Libation of milk to more female deities

• Take some milk.
• Pray the following words aloud:

• Then pour the libation to fire, or to the ground, and drink the rest of the milk.

Ancestral and household worship

Worship of deceased ancestors and household deities is the core of Roman religious life. If you want to be a pious Roman, which must be the most important goal of all true Romans, you have to start to honor your ancestors, the Manes, and your household deities, the Lares and Penates by prayers and sacrificial offerings. Read more about Roman household worship...

As for now, we will offer you here some very basic and simple rites just to get started with it.

Make a lararium

The lararium is the sacred place of the home where offerings and prayers are made to the gods. The easiest way to set up a lararium is to reserve a small one-tier wall shelf, or a table or cabinet as an altar. A trip to a hardware store, a department store or an antique shop will usually yield something workable. A lararium may be decorated to taste in classical style if one wishes, but it need not be any special style or color. Read more about making a Roman lararium...

Offering sacrifice to the Manes, Lares and Penates

• You may offer many things, but typical offerings are: incense, wine, milk, sacrificial cakes, flower.
• Approach the lararium, perform a simple adoratio by kissing your right hand and touching the lararium.
• Cover your head, preferably with your toga or palla, but anything will do it and will be acceptable.
• You can pray to the Manes, Lares and Penates at once, or separately. You can also invoke any of them personally, by on his or her name. If you wish, invoke your deceased ancestors, parents or relatives using their names. Invoke your personal household Lar by using the words "Lar familiaris". Invoke your personal god of the penates by using the god's name, e.g. Apollo, Minerva, Furrina etc.
• Pray the following words aloud:

• Then pour the libation and put the sacrifices into the fire of the lararium, or if you can not burn them, place the items on a plate on your lararium for that day, and when you can, bury or place them under an arbor felix.

Simple request from a deity

Since you are a starter and probably don't know Latin, you can formulate your special request to a deity in your own native language. Ideally, it should be in Latin, and we encourage you to learn this wonderful language of our spiritual ancestors, but it is not forbidden to use another language when you pray and you don't know Latin.

Such prayers consist of two main parts: the formulation of your request, and the offering of sacrifice in order to convince the deity to fulfill your request. It may contain a third part, a vow, in which you offer another sacrifice in the case if the god completes your request.

• Invoke the god or gods whom you want to ask something. An effective invocation is to chant the divine name(s) three times aloud.
• Formulate your request in your native language if you don't know Latin. Make sure that your prayer is essentially short, concise, very precise and accurate, and use synonyms and repetitions (e.g.: "I ask you, I pray you, I beseech you...", "...give me, lend me, allow me that..."; "...save me from any harm, any damage, any danger...").
• When you finished the prayer with your request, use the following Latin formula to offer your sacrifice:

• Then pour the libation and put the sacrifices into the fire of the lararium, or if you can not burn them, place the items on a plate on your lararium for that day, and when you can, bury or place them under an arbor felix.

Daily rituals

You can find longer and shorter variants of daily rituals for each morning and evening (or standalone midday or daily ritual) that you can offer to your household and family deities every day:

• Collection of daily rituals

Rituals for the Kalends, Nones and Ides

The Kalends, Nones and Ides are special holidays of every month in Roman religion which you should celebrate. Sample rituals for these days are available here:

• Kalends ritual
• Nones ritual
• Ides ritual

Rituals for special occasions

There are some simple rituals collected in or website for special occasions:

• Ritual for Saturnalia
• Ritual for New Year

More information and details

You can learn more about how to perform Roman rituals in this article:

• Guide to Sacrifice