Sacer Flamen publishes annual speech for the Regifugia

The Sacer Flamen of the Collegium Sacerdotum, the Honourable Sôgmô Gaius Soergel Publicola of the State of Sandus, has published the annual speech for the Regifugia, the Sancta New Year. The speech is traditionally given in the third official, or “cultural,” language of the State of Sandus, which is Latin. Ante Ianuarium MMXIV (prior to January 2015), however, the third official language was Sancta, a constructed language unique to Sandus based off of Latin, French, and English.

Click here for the text of the speech in the three official languages of Latin, English, and French.

The Sacer Flamen will give the speech and its associated rite at þess private residence in Kremlum Sandus Province later this evening.

The Sancta New Year is I Martii mensis (1 March) in imitation of the ancient Roman calendar established by the second legendary king Numa. The Regifugia marks the last day of the Sancta year, when the Sôgmô gives the speech on Sandum activity in the last year in Latin. The Matronalia, which is held on I Martio, is a festival dedicated to Juno Lucina and to mothers, a holiday similar to Mother’s Day celebrations in Sandus, and also marks the beginning of the new Sancta year. Both festivals are based off of Roman festivals but, like all imitation, are uniquely Sandum. They speak more to Sandum values and concerns than to Roman history, exempli gratia the date of the Sancta Regifugia has been moved ab XXIV Februario (from 24 February) ad XXVIII Februarium (to 28 February).

New Sodality, the Ecclesia, is established

The Sacer Flamen, the Honourable Sôgmô Gaius Soergel Publicola, has announced the creation of a new sodality in the Collegium Sacerdotum (College of Priests) which is intended to represent and to serve Christians in the State of Sandus. The new sodality, the Sandum Ecclesia (ἡ Ἐκκλησία Σανδῆς), will be led by Sandum citizen Sisenna Melville as bishop, who has been charged with creating a synod for the Church in Sandus and with officiating major Christian holidays in the Sancta calendar.

The Sacer Flamen has appointed her on the Feast of the Epiphany in recognition of her charitable service to Sandus and in recognition of her acceptance to Princeton Theological Seminary, which she intends to pursue in the coming academic year. She has been granted access to major State media, including the Sacerdotium, with the hope of sharing news about Christian holidays in Sandus and commentaries on the Christian faith. Melville has become the fifth member of the College and has been granted the rank of flamen.

The Ecclesia has been charged with being an ecumenical church in the State of Sandus. The Bishop, though a Presbyterian, will execute functions related to all Christian faiths and sects. The Ecclesia will lead services in recognition of Lent, Easter, and Christmas, as well as other Sandum Christian holidays such as Pioneer Day and the feast day of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who is the patron saint of Sandus.

Sodalities, as confraternal groups, were established in a by-law adopted by the Sacer Flamen on XIX Iunii MMXIV (19 June 2014). They are organisational groups which meet within the structure of the Collegium and which are charged “with a focus.” The Ecclesia’s focus is Christianity in the State of Sandus.

Buddhist Holy Days added to Calendar

The Sacer Flamen, Sôgmô Gaius Soergel Publicola, has added the monthly Tibetan Buddhist holy days to the calendar of the Collegium Sacerdotum. The addition means that, to a certain extent, a fourth calendar will be exercised in the State structure of the State of Sandus, in addition to the Gregorian, Sancta, and Administrative calendars. The holy days are numbered by the day following the New Moon. So, as the Full Moon for Ianuarius MMXVI (January 2017) falls on XXVII Ianuarii (27 January), then XXVIII Ianuarii (28 January) will begin the last month in the Tibetan calendar. This practice is the opposite of the Administrative Calendar’s reckoning, since the Administrative Calendar begins instead on the Full Moon.

The holy days are:

• 8th: Medicine Buddha Day, dedicated to Sangye Menla
• 10th: Guru Rinpoche Day, dedicated to Padmasambhava who introduced Buddhism to Tibet
• 15th: Amitabha Day (Full Moon), dedicated to the Buddha of longevity and awareness of the emptiness of phenomena
• 25th: Dakini’s Day, dedicated to the feminine spirits of the Dharma
• 29th: Dharmapalas Day, dedicated to the protectors of the Dharma
• 30th: Buddha Shakyamuni Day (New Moon), dedicated to Siddhartha Guatama

In addition to these holy days, the Collegium already celebrates the four major Tibetan Buddhist holidays of Lösar, Saga Dawa Düchen, Chökhor Düchen, and Lhabab Düchen. In amending the Tibetan Buddhist calendar practised by the Collegium Sacerdotum, það has added a fifth Tibetan Buddhist holiday to the calendar which has been so far neglected: Chotrul Düchen, or the Festival of Miracles, held on the fifteenth day of the New Tibetan Year. Lösar, or Tibetan New Year, will be held on XXVII Februarii MMXVI (27 February 2017) this year. Chotrul Düchen then will be held on XII Martii (12 March).

This year, ahead of the New Tibetan Year, the Sacer Flamen will release the projected calendar of Buddhist holidays, including all Tibetan Buddhist monthly holy days.

Sacer Flamen gives the Sancta Oration — in Latin

The Sôgmô Gaius Soergel Publicola, Sacer Flamen of the Collegium Sacerdotium, has given the Sancta Oration for the Regifugia MMXV (2016), completing the annual tradition of the Sandum people. The Sancta Oration was so named since it was previously the only formal speech given in the constructed language of Sancta, on the occasion of the Regifugia. The speech this year was given in the Latin, following the State of Sandus’s decision to remove the Sancta language as the third official language of Sandus, the so-called “cultural language,” and to restore it with Latin.

The Regifugia is a Sancta cultural holiday derived from the Roman festival of the Regifugium. Though the two holidays hardly overlap, either in purpose or in date, the name has been used to refer to the fleeing of the old Sancta year in a view similar to modern Anglophone views about “Father Time” and “Baby New Year.” The Regifugia commemorates the Sancta New Year with another festival, the Matronalia, which commemorates Juno Lucina — Juno of the Light — who is the matron of mothers, child-birth, and child-rearing. In a pop cultural sense, she is the one who gives birth to the Sancta “Baby New Year.”

Read the Sancta Speech in Latin, English, and French, here: Sancta Speech 2016

 

First Major Calendrical Reform in Years Completed

The Sacer Flamen of the Collegium Sacerdotium, Gaius Soergel Publicola, has concluded the most extensive calendrical reforms to the Sancta calendar in years, ahead of the new Calendar year on I Martius (1 March). The last changes done to the calendar were in 2012, when new holidays were established. In 2015, the State of Sandus restored the primacy of the Gregorian calendar as the dating basis for the State of Sandus’s administrative calendar, though the Sancta calendar still serves an important function as the basis for administrative weeks.

In total, fifteen new Sancta holidays have been added, the dates fixed for two new festivals — the Sementivae and the Feriae Micronationum, and the dates have been changed for fourteen holidays. Of Sancta holidays which were ludi under the Roman Empire and Republic, they have now been either significantly reduced or have been completely removed from the calendar, in line with the Party’s November 2015 Party Congress decision to institute ludi in Sandus on a monthly basis.

Most of the festivals that were added concern minor deities, while some noticeable holidays have now been added. For example, on the Ides of September (Idus Septembres), a new festival has been established to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, or Jupiter the Best and Greatest, marking the first Sancta holiday for the king of the gods. In addition, the first fast on the Sancta calendar has been declared, the Fast of Ceres, on IV October (4 October).

The names and titulary deities of the kalendae, nonae, and idus have been added to the calendar — and the names of each of them for their respective months have been translated into Latin, following the previous administrative year’s decision to replace the third and cultural official language of Sandus from Sancta to Latin.

Reference was made by the Sacer Flamen of the Collegium to several seminal texts in the study of the history of Roman religion in order to add, rectify dates, and change dates for the calendar’s Sancta holidays.
John Schied, “The division of time: calendars, rituals, regular festivals,” in An Introduction to Roman Religion, translated by Janet Lloyd (Indianapolis, IN, USA: Indiana University Press, 2003), 41-56.
H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University Press, 1981).
Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price, “The calendar,” in Religions of Rome: Volume 2 — A Sourcebook (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 60-77.

In the future, work might be done to expand on the work done by the Sacer Flamen in his role as custodian of the calendar and with powers inspired by the comitia calata, particularly looking towards Greek poleis and the Roman Imperial period: of which only two festivals are celebrated currently in Sandus, the Dies Natalis Soli Invicti and Athena’s Day (Khalkeia). As well, pursuant to the Sacer Flamen’s sovereign power to recognise the civic deities of the Collegium Sacerdotium, some holidays were abandoned and removed from the calendar.

This reform comes after the Sacer Flamen added a series of new Christian holidays to the Sancta calendar. Work still needs to be done, however, on adding Tibetan Buddhist holidays to the calendar. Reforms done to the calendar need to be completed by XXIX Februarius (29 February) of this year MMXV.

Collegium to add Tibetan, Christian holidays

The Collegium Sacerdotium, under the direction of the Sôgmô Gaius Soergel Publicola as Sacer Flamen, will place the annual and monthly cultural holidays of Tibetan Buddhism onto the calendar of the Collegium for the next Sancta year, such as the Guru Rinpoche and Tara days. Several Christian holidays will also be added to the calendar. In addition, efforts will be made to compare the Sancta calendar’s cultural holidays with extant calendars from the Roman period to ensure the accuracy of the Collegium’s calendar.

This is the first large-scale addition to the Sancta calendar since February 2012.

The Tibetan lunar calendar has several days which are monthly held to be significant and auspicious. Of these, Amitabha, Guru Rinpoche, and Tara Days are monthly Tibetan Buddhist holy days held on certain days each month in the Tibetan lunar calendar, in a manner similar to the College’s already established Kalends, Nones, and Ides. On the 8th day, Tara and Medicine Buddha Days are celebrated; on the 10th, Guru Rinpoche and Daka Days; on the 15th, Buddha Amitabha Days; on the 25th, Dakhini’s Days; on the 29th, Dharmapala’s Days; and on the 30th, Buddha Shakyamuni’s Days. All of these holidays will be added to the Collegium’s calendar.

In addition, the Sacer Flamen has directed five new Christian holidays to be added to the Sancta cultural calendar. These are: Lent, Holy Week, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Pioneer Day, and the feast day of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Lent, the penitential season preparing for Easter, will be celebrated in the College with Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Ash Wednesday; the Holy Week preceding Easter, which is already on the calendar, will culminate the Lenten season.

In addition, the three other Christian holidays have been chosen to reflect Sandus’s diverse cultural background. The Assumption of the Virgin Mary will be celebrated in reflection of Sandus’s history as a micronation founded in Maryland, a former English proprietary colony established as a haven for English Catholics. Pioneer Day, a holiday celebrating the arrival of the first Mormon settlers to Utah, is to be commemorated in recognition of Sandus’s relationship with Überstadt, whose king is Mormon, and of the minority of Sandum citizens from there who are Mormon. Finally, the feast day of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha — the first Native American to be beatified and recognised as a saint by the Catholic church — will be celebrated in Sandus in accordance with Church tradition in the United States of America; in other words, Sandus will celebrate her feast day on 14 July, not on 17 April as in Canada.

Finally, the Sacer Flamen has also announced an effort to ensure the academic and calendrical accuracy of the Collegium’s records for Roman holidays. Sancta holidays which are Roman-inspired will be compared to extant fasti and other literary evidence and will be moved to match the records if in error and inconsistent with the calendars.

These eleven new Sancta holidays increase the Collegium’s total cultural holidays to 138.

In Veritate Doctrina Trium Gemmarum et Benedictionibus Totorum Deorum

Armilustrium to be celebrated a Day Earlier

The Sacer Flamen of the Collegium Sacerdotum has announced that the Collegium and State of Sandus will celebrate the Armilustrium a day earlier than normal, on XVIII Octobro, in order to hold festivities that coincide with the schedules of Sandum citizens and other people. This decision does not change the date of the holiday but rather establishes plans to celebrate it a day earlier, so as to coincide with the Gregorian weekend.