New Agitatores Video

By Alekso Minotaur

Introducing the ROMA Annales

As most of you know, the ROMA Scribae group has been busy over the last year documenting the history of ROMA and publishing the bi-weekly ACTA ROMA newsletter. Not many people know about the Scribae wiki which represents not only a growing repository of historical data about ROMA, but also a unique document regarding a venerable (in virtual terms) online community. You can access all of the pages on the Scribae wiki here: http://lingweenie.org/roma-scribae/index.php/Main_Page. The group and the wiki are managed by Citizen William Gide, and Citizen Spaciva Ivanova edits the ACTA. They are always looking for historians and reporters, so feel free to contact them in world about joining the group.

I would like to use this blog post to draw attention to a very important and very interesting feature of the Scribae wiki, the ROMA Annales. We have been focusing our attention on this aspect of the wiki for the last few months. The Annales are a listing of significant events in the life of ROMA and her community organized by year, month, and date. Often this also includes additional content such as the text from notices, links to photo albums, and notecard records. As well as this catalog, every festival day for the last four years has its own page where schedules, text, and photos are collected together to document what is probably one of the oldest, continual social celebrations in Second Life.

• Do you remember when ROMA opened to the public as its own estate? (15 October 2006)
  
• Do you remember when ROMA got chariots? (6 April 2008)
  
• Do you remember when Angelia first became estate manager? (18 January 2007)
  
• Do you remember when Achille updated the free togas in the Customs House? (10 March 2009)

The Annales contains a tremendous amount of information that should rekindle the memories of old timers and show newbies the long history and development of ROMA. You can start exploring the database here: http://lingweenie.org/roma-scribae/index.php/Annales

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Do you see something missing from the Annales, such as the date your Citizen-Run Group was founded? Just IM Torin Golding the information in world and he'll add it to the Annales. If you have a Flickr account, annotate festival images with your memories from the past events. If you are interested in helping to gather more data about the history of ROMA, including interviews with longtime Citizens and research into the vaults of the estate, contact William Gide or Spaciva Ivanova in world to be given an assignment.

Valete!

Lupercalia Festival Schedule

Saturday February 20th:

10am - Lupercalia Ritual and The Running of the Luperci
In celebration of this most ancient of festivals we will be performing a Roman ritual for Faunus Lupercus, the God of Wild Things and Lupa, the shewolf who nourished the founding fathers Romulus and Remus. After the rite, we will have the Running of The Luperci - half-naked youths who bless the young ladies of the city. The women will run ahead of the Luperci, who will lightly flog them with the goatskin floggers in hopes of fertility (both of mind and body). Following the ritual, we will have our traditional Lupercalia Feast - and clothing is optional!
Location: Lupercal Cave, ROMA Transtiberim sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/68/202/55)

12pm - Lupercalia Wolf Hunt
Time for another Hunt - ROMA's own version of hide and seek+tag with prizes! For Lupercalia, we will have cunning wolves for you to chase - how many can you tag in 1 hour? The Hunt begins in Transtiberim and will cover all sims except Maritima & Insula. A $L1000 Prize will be awarded to the one who has tagged the most wolves.
Location: Transtiberim Path, ROMA Transtiberim sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/58/32/45)

2pm - Love Poetry & Prose hosted by Venus
Our lovely Goddess, Venus, will host for us a literary gathering where we will tell short stories and poetry with a romantic theme. Bring your favourite poetry and prose to share with your fellow ROMA Citizens, or just come and enjoy the storytelling and poetry reading in the romantic atmosphere!
Location: Field of Mars, ROMA Transtiberim sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/160/101/21)

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Sunday February 21st:

9:30am - Equirria Legion Blessing Ritual & Venus Honour Guard
The Legio, in a time honored military display, will present arms and come to be blessed for the new year. This presentation will be attended by the lovely Goddess Venus, who will offer Her own blessing as well. After the blessing, She will be escorted by a Legion Honour Guard to the baths where citizens may consult Her. Don't miss your chance to see our beautiful Goddess and our proud Legion!
Location: Fort, ROMA sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA/75/57/26)

10am-ish - Ask Venus
Our lovely Goddess Venus will hold court in the Baths of Caracalla for those who seek council about matters of love and romance! Please join us with your questions, or just to hang out and hear what others wish to know. No question is too personal or trivial - Venus will answer them all!
Location: The Baths of Caracalla, ROMA sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA/154/48/27)

1pm - Cupid Archery Tournament hosted by Legion XIII
As Venus is the Goddess of Erotic Love, Her son Cupid is the God of Romantic Love - and in His honour, ROMA and the Legion are hosting an archery contest - prizes will be given to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners - based on total accumulated points in each of our 3 contests. Can you hit the mark as well as Cupid? Come prove it!
Location: Legion Archery Range, ROMA Transtiberim sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/125/233/404)

4pm - Lupercalia Grand Feast
To top off this festival weekend, we have The Grand Feast of Lupercalia! Join us for an evening of feasting, dancing, and good company, as well as our Lupercalia Costume Contest! Our costume theme this time around is Historical or Fictional Lovers. So come as Romeo & Juliet, Tarzan & Jane, Cleopatra & Antony - whatever takes your fancy! We will vote for best male and female costume - the winners will recieve $L1000! (You don't have to have a partner to enter the contest - you can enter as one half of a couple.)
Location: Throne Room, ROMA sim (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA/180/183/53)