December the 13th is one of the festivals for Tellus, the goddess of Earth. Also referred to as Terra Mater, Tellus is often mentioned in contrast with Jupiter, the god of heaven, and connected with Dis and the Manes. When an oath was taken by Tellus, or the gods of the nether world, people stretched their hands downward, just as they turned them upwards in swearing by Jupiter.
A festival was celebrated in honour of Tellus on the 15th of April, which was called Fordicidia or Hordicalia, from hordus or fordus, a bearing cow. However on December the 13thm, in honor of the anniversary of the Temple of Tellus a festival celebration was held along with a lectisternium (banquet) for Ceres, who embodied "growing power" and the productivity of the earth. Her temple on the Esquiline Hill dated from about 268 bc. 
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