Festival of the Handmaidens

In ancient Rome on July 7th, the Feria Ancillarum or Festival of Handmaids was held. This was the maids’ day out, when the maids of Rome were beyond the control of their mistresses.

Also known as the Caprotinae, when free and slave women made offerings to her beneath wild fig trees outside Rome’s city limits, this feast day was in honor of Juno Caprotina, Juno of the Wild Figs. Fig trees were venerated, with feasting beneath them in honor of Caprotina, an aspect of the Goddess Juno.

In this aspect of the goddess, Juno is seen as dressed in goatskins and driving a chariot pulled by goats. Enslaved women made up a large proportion of her devotees.