Pagan Festival Shout Out! Festival Of Carna

June 1st is the Festival Of Carna! She is Goddess of protection, and of health and well-being of humans, especially small children. She presided over the intestines, heart, and other human organs. Some scholars have described Carna as being a Goddess of good digestion. When parents appealed to Carna, this Goddess would enter the home and perform certain rites to bar a strix from entering the house. The strix was sort of a supernatual screech owl. If this evil creature could, it would fly in at night and eat a sleeping child's intestines so the child would not get good nourishment and waste away. Romans traditionally gathered with their family on this day, offering Carna beans and pork to thank her for continued good health. To symbolize this I am doing a small meal of ham and beans (probably add a rice dish in there too).

Eating this dish on this day was said to protect one's internal organs and bring health for the following year. The poet Ovid, though he confuses Her with the Goddess Cardea, says that the association of these simple foods with this Goddess proves Her great antiquity. These offerings were made in a sacred grove in which Carna was said to live, down by the Tiber river, and which was dedicated to the otherwise unknown God Alernus (or Helernus). [Read the rest of the article here]

Offerings to Carna:
Remove any unwanted or unnecessary keys from your key-ring, placing them as an offering to Carna, thus closing the door on those areas of your life that no longer serve you. For each key given to her, you may ask of her a blessing, that she may open new opportunities for you.