Lustratio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lustratio was an ancient Roman purification ceremony, involving a procession and the sacrifice of a pig, a ram, and a bull (suovetaurilia). The procession traced a "magical boundary" around the area to be purified. The ceremony was designed to purify the area from all previous religious lapses as well as to protect it from all external dangers. It was the religious act that closed the Roman census every five years. The ceremony usually applied to a private estate, but there are also examples of purification ceremonies involving cities and households.
