The Romans celebrated a festival of Ceres (Greek Demeter) at around this time each year. The final day and greatest celebration was on the 19th of April, according to "Curiosities of Popular Customs And of Rites, Ceremonies, Observances, and Miscellaneous Antiquities," by William S. Walsh, which goes on to describe the events:

"They crowded in the Circus or race-course, where nuts and other trifles were thrown among them; and, besides the horse-races, it was the practice to set foxes loose in the Circus with lighted torches tied to their tails ... [symbolic] it is thought, of the red blight or rust that burns up the corn."

• Ceres
• This Day in History

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