On Jan. 1, under the later Republic, i. e. after the year 153 B.C., in and after which the consuls began their year of office on this day, it was the custom to give New Year presents by way of good omen, called _strenae_[1227]; a word which survives in the French _étrennes_. It is likely enough that the custom was much older than 153 B.C.: the word was said to be derived from a Sabine goddess Strenia, whose sacellum at the head of the Via Sacra is mentioned by Varro (_L. L._ v. 47[1228]), and from whose grove certain sacred twigs were carried to the arx (in procession along the Sacred Way?) at the beginning of each year[1229]. But we are not told whether this latter rite always took place on Jan. 1, or was transferred to that day from some other in 153 B.C. III NON. IAN.-NON. IAN. (JAN. 3-5). C. 3 LUDI } LUDI } 4 LUDI }(PHILOC.) LUDI COMPITALES } (SILV.) 5 LUDI } (COMITALIS, MS.) The Compitalia were not _feriae stativae_ until late in the Empire, and then perhaps only so by tradition[1230]. They took place at some date between the Saturnalia (Dec. 17) and Jan. 5; and we may infer from Philocalus and Silvius as quoted above that the tendency was to put them late in that period. Not being a great state-festival, they could be put between Kalends and Nones. The original meaning of _compitum_ is explained by the Scholiast on Persius, 4. 28[1231] ‘Compita sunt loca in quadriviis, quasi turres, ubi sacrificia, finita agricultura, rustici celebrabant.... Compita sunt non solum in urbe loca, sed etiam viae publicae ac diverticulae aliquorum confinium, ubi aediculae consecrantur patentes. In his fracta iuga ab agricolis ponuntur, velut emeriti et elaborati operis indicium[1232].’ From this we gather that where country cross-roads met, or where in the parcelling out of agricultural allotments one semita crossed another[1233], some kind of altar was erected and the spot held sacred. This is quite in keeping with the usage of other peoples: the ‘holiness’ of cross-roads is a well-known fact in folk-lore[1234]. It may be doubted, however, whether the Scholiast is right in his explanation of the ‘fracta iuga,’ which may rather have been used as a spell of some kind, than as ‘emeriti operis indicium.’ Thus Crooke[1235] mentions an Indian practice of fixing up a harrow perpendicularly where four roads met, apparently with the object of appeasing the rain-god.