Anna Perenna

Roman An ancient fertility goddess, worshiped in a sacred woods north of Rome. Anna Perenna is the central deity in several stories from Roman mythology. In the earliest stories, Anna Perenna took on the form of an old woman who made and sold cakes to starving Romans who had fled to the country to avoid political strife in the city. When they returned home, these people paid homage to Anna and celebrated in her honor. In another story, she is the sister of Dido, Queen of Carthage, whom the Trojan hero Aeneas had loved but left on his journey from Troy to Italy. Some time after Aeneas had married Lavinia and founded a city in her name, Anna Perenna arrived. Lavinia was jealous of the newcomer and threatened to kill her. Anna fled into the woods where she met Numicius, a Roman river god, who carried her off as his wife and transformed her into a Nymph. Her name means both the new year, Anna, and the whole year, Perenna, and Romans paid her honor in the great New Year's festival on March 15, the first day of the new year in the ancient Roman calendar.