Lemures

• I Lit.: Lemures animas dixere silentum, Ov. F. 5, 483.—
• • B Transf., in gen., ghosts, spectres: lemures larvae nocturnae et terrificationes imaginum et bestiarum, Non. 135, 15 sq.: somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 209: tunc nigri lemures ovoque pericula rupto, Pers. 5, 185.—Hence,
• II Lĕmū-rĭa, ōrum, n., a festival held on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May to appease the ghosts of the departed: nocturna, Ov. F. 5, 421 sq.

The spectres or spirits of the dead. Some writers describe Lemures as the common name for all the spirits of the dead, and divide them into two classes: the Lares, or the souls of good men, and the Larvae, or the souls of wicked men. But the common idea was that the Lemures and Larvae were the same. They were said to wander about at night as spectres, and to torment and frighten the living. In order to propitiate them, the Romans celebrated the festival of the Lemuralia or Lemuria in the month of May (the 9th, 11th, and 13th). It was said to have been originally instituted by Romulus to appease the spirit of Remus (Ovid, Fast, v. 473, etc.). At this festival it was the custom to appease or expel the evil spirits by walking barefoot and throwing black beans over the shoulder at night (Ovid, Fasti, v. 473 foll.). Because of this festival to the dead, the whole month of May was supposed to be unlucky for marriages, whence the proverb Mense Maio malae nubent. See Preller, Röm. Myth. 499.