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What you are dealing with is two distinct religions, badly integrated, with a smattering of other borrowed religions with varying staying power. Their is the original religion, which is a beautiful and fascinating Animist/Shintu looking thing that permeated Roman life. Over it is spread a thin veneer of Greek-style Gods with a very strict system of public worship. The image we have of Roman religion being lifeless and derivative comes from the second part.

The thing with Gods and Goddesses (Jupiter, Minerva, etc.) was adopted by the State for the good of the state. Ceremonies were public and had to be performed perfectly, since if you didn't do the "spell" right, the magic didn't work. It was performed for things like Divination and protection of the state and very formulaic. If you even messed up a little, you had to start over with another sacrificial animal. This was a kind of magic, borrowed in a time when Greece was the strongest power in Italy, and maintained as a prophylactic all the way into the time of Empire. New components were occasionally borrowed licitly or illicitly from other cultures over the centuries. Some stayed, others were put down harshly by the state, depending on circumstance. (This last deserves it's own essay.)

The ancient religion was very much alive and lively. It included a basic belief in small deities, which were called Daemoni. This was turned into "demons" by Christians, but that is misleading. These were a rich variety of small gods and spirits that lived in everything. The goddess of this field of spelt. The goddess of cutting grain. The god of gathering it up. The famous household gods that protected this kindred and their slaves and servants. To an ancient Roman, the world was full of small gods and spirits. This religion was full of festivals and interesting ceremonies. This is a lot of what ordinary people believed.

It had a second vital component in the worship of ancestors. Rich families maintained collections of realistically painted wax death masks, and favored family members would wear these on ceremonial occasions to represent deceased ancestors believed to watch over the family. Imagine for a minute a procession of the men of the family dressed up realistically as the pater familii stretching back through time.


It is an interesting point that a lot of our ceremonies around marriage and death are Roman. The throwing of food at the newlyweds, the carrying of the bride over the threshold, the exchange of rings, white for marriage and black for funerals, etc.. When the wife is carried over the threshold, we are still memorializing the Rape of the Sabine women.