Celia Concordia and the "White Ladies"

I would like to dedicate this post to Celia Concordia, probably the last Vestal Maxima about who we have historical information. Celia Concordia and the other Vestals were chased away from the Aedes of Vesta after the persecutions of Theodosius (IV-V century), the suppression of the traditional Cults and the extinction of the Sacred Fire.

The Vestals' dispersion  still remain a critical moment in History actually not well studied: similarly, the fate of other members of the traditional religious orders still remains poorly known.

In my opinion, it is quite difficult that Celia Concordia and the other Vestals, as expressions of an ancient tradition highly shared anong the Cultores, could be suddenly ignored and forgotten. Notwithstanding the violence and the ferocity of the new religion and its supporters, they should have a relevant prestige, importance and consideration for many women and men not only in Rome, but rather everywhere the traditional cults survived. .

I think about Celia Concordia and the Vestals and their escape from Rome where violence and intollerance prevailed, above all considering the simultaneous appearance of the so called "White Ladies" in many forests in Central Italy.  This is a very old tradition among rural communities in these areas: even in the region where I live (Tuscia, in the North of Rome) the memory of these female figures dressed in white living in the deepest zones of the Silve Cimina still resists. 

The White Ladies were identified by the rural communites as the "Fairies": then, after the propaganda of the christian priests they were identified as "witches". They appeared suddenly (usually near a Mother Oak), dressed in white and it was extremely difficult to see them and come close to them. They were consulted for their deep knowledge about medicine, herbs and poisons. They knew the "secrets" they handed down from mother to daughter. The White Ladies were acocmpanied by wild animals and they spoke the "Language of the Birds" (or the Language of the Nature or the Language of the Truth).

Still today, at the sunset,  someone says that it is possible to see them from a long distance, as ghosts, among the trees in the deepest parts of the woods.

It's clear enough that these are only legends but I like to think that the tradition of Celia Concordia and the Vestals can be still alive and survives through the "White Ladies", the Fairies of the Legends.