#libitina

Libitina.

Libitina met her sister out of town, her heart racing with panic. What could be the problem now? How much could happen in a matter of a couple of weeks? She took a deep breath as she carefully went up to Wisteria and sat down beside her, furrowing her brows. “So… uh… what’s the news? Where’s Lysandus? I’m surprised he didn’t call me out for reminiscing.” She joked half heartedly as she chuckled weakly, clearly nervous as she picked at her fingernails.

"Libitina, in Roman religion, goddess of funeral services. In their safe haven in a consecrated forest (perhaps on Esquiline Hill), a coin was saved whenever a death occurred."

"There the undertakers (libitarinaii) had their places of work and all their deaths were recorded for factual purposes. The word Libitina thus came to be used for the case of a funeral director, requirements for funeral services and, by artists, for death itself."

"She was also seen as the goddess of death and the left and was later related to Proserpina. By an antiquated statute, first credited to Servius Tullus, for every individual who died in Rome, a coin was kept in her shrine. There was kept everything that was essential for the internment and from it one had to buy or acquire."

"Libitina is the goddess of death, corpses and funerals. She is the Holy Death; her name has become synonymous with death itself. The Roman undertakers who can be understood as her priests were called libitinarii. It is theorized that she was originally a goddess of death and life force: her name may be related to libido. However, eventually, her associations with death became dominant."

"Libitina's shrines were in sacred groves, often located in the center of those gardens of death, the cemetery. Roman undertakers maintained offices in her temples. Her temple was where you would report a death and make funeral arrangements. Everything needed for a funeral was kept in her shrine. Offerings were made to her after a death in the family."

Libitina sat alone on an open park bench. She stared aimlessly off into oblivion. She kept flipping a coin between her fingers. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴. She couldn’t figure out why she was so lost in thought at the moment. 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴. Normally she’d be keeping herself busy as there’s always something to be done. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴. Maybe it was just a fog in her mind, but that’s the last thing she needs right now. 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴. She needs to remain vigilant. 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴. Libitina paused and looked down at the coin, it wasn’t tails, it shouldn’t be tails. She flipped the coin over and realized both side were the same. “Curious..” she said softly as she looked at the coin she previously flipped between her fingers.