One of the most important term in the
Traditional Roman Religion is the verb colere
(to cultivate) from which derives the expression: Colere Deos/Deas. It resumes a particular feeling and a way of
living still very shared among the modern Cultores.
Not accidentally, terms like cultura
(culture) and cultus (cult) derive
from this verb.
Cultores do not "pray" in conventional terms:
Gods/Goddesses must be "cultivated". Colere actually describes also the act of farming, taking care of a
field according to the inner Nature’s laws (agri-culture).
Cultivating a field and cultivating Gods/Goddesses state an active relation of taking care with a spiritual disposition
and concrete actions inspired by the perception of the immutable laws on the
Nature and the Universe.
Colere Deos/Deas,
Colere Agros
describe the same modality to approach the Divine Sphere which coincides with
the modality to approach Nature based on “respect” evidencing our limits and
our right place in the natural order.
Colere Deos/Deas is firstly a spiritual attitude
involving a constant personal commitment through the practice of Virtus and Pietas, fundamental principles to undertake the Roman Via and to maintain its course. This
attitude can be materialized in rituals and ceremonies but above all it
presupposes the adoption of some basic values. For example Fides, describing the reciprocal religious duties between
mankind and Deities and among humans, is embedded in loyalty, honesty, fairness
in actions and expressions. Constantia, the coherence and
firmness in principles and purposes, appears in everyday life through the
firmness and perseverance in behaviours. Gravitas, a peaceful and
sound force deriving from personal ethic values, can be manifested by dignity
and composure in actions and expressions.
Cultivating plants and cultivating Deities are
forms of respecting the natural course,
practicing a virtue, a spiritual discipline, an ancient knowledge linked to the
Ancestors. Acknowledging the living presence of the Deities in Nature, any action
of cultivating represents a way to improve and cultivate the individual
material and spiritual life. This explains why any activity related to Earth
and Nature (i.e. agriculture itself) is considered sacred because fundamentally
seen as a rite.
As a good farmer, a modern Cultor, as in the past, practices a conscious attention towards
signs and signals coming from Gods/Goddess also as energies of Nature: he/she makes
all considered necessary to live in harmony with those energies and forces
giving life to reality (Pax Deorum).
Religion and agriculture are thus very similar
spheres because both dimensions imply a (re)connection with Nature, her
energies, time and rhythms where physical and spiritual elements are (re)joined
together.
This living flow is sacralised in several Divine
expressions as manifestations of rhythms of life, signs and values coming from
a living environment speaking not only a biological and physical language but
also a spiritual one.
Today the concept of Colere Deos/Deas is likely to have therefore greater importance: it
implies, among others, an opportunity to understand again the language of
Nature and the Universe to communicate again with our Mother Earth.
This sound feeling in honouring Nature as
expression and manifestation of honouring Deities was broken down by
Christianity: according to Augustine of Hippo, Nature is “massa
As consequence of this, agriculture for example
today is a totally de-sacralized activity, just a profane act based only on
land exploitation for economic goals. Deprived of its religious meaning,
agriculture is often a highly polluting non-sense job: the same can be
evidenced in all the human activities deprived of this sacred dimension. Anything
is thus polluted at environmental, health and psychological level.
Colere Deos/Deas describes therefore a “rejoining path”,
a Via to become again in harmony with
the Earth and Nature which today are likely to be completely separated from us
by a high wall only partially solved by the illusion of science and technology.
When one can feel to be again integral part of the Nature, with no claims to
dominate her and consequently to dominate Deities, this wall will disappear and
the Nature and the reality around us won’t be no longer sources of anxiety,
fear and anger.
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