Any Port in a Storm

Fri 23 August 2013

Any Port in a Storm

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 10:00

The 17th of August was Portumnalia, the feast day of the god Portunes in the ancient Roman religion.

Portunes was the god of keys, doors and livestock. Over time, presumably because of his connection to doors and gates (porta), he was conflated with Palaemon and became the god of ports and harbours.

Portunes on Wikipedia

His festival, celebrated on August 17, the seventeenth day before the Kalends of September, was the Portumnalia, a minor occasion in the Roman year. On this day, keys were thrown into a fire for good luck in a very solemn and lugubrious manner. His attribute was a key and his main temple in the city of Rome, the Temple of Portunus, was to be found in the Forum Boarium.

The Latin adjective importunus comes from his name, referring to untimely waves and weathers and contrary winds. This is still reflected in English with opportune as in well timed. This means that Portunus is also the god of opportunities.

We celebrated the 17th of August by throwing our cameras and smart phones into the fire for good lu… no, no, that’s not right. We celebrated by creating beautiful photographs, taking advantages of opportunities to share our corner of the planet with the rest of the world: