Lares often linked to the Penates. were household spirits in origin who. in the community could bring prosperity and happiness to the farmer and his farm. This agricultural agricultural origin remained visible for centuries in the festival of the Compitalia (crossroads festival). a winter feast celebrated when the labor on the farm had been completed. A communities. was regularty the meeting point of the boundaries of crowoad. in the primitive four farms. The Lares honored at the Compitalia were the protecting sprits of the farms. corresponding to each propery At each crosroad was a shrine. wih one opening whose boundary was there. At the festival the farmer would hang in the shrine a doll for each free member of his household and a ball of wool for each slave. Although it is easy to explain this ritual as an offering of substitutes for the lives of members of the household, it has been much more plausibly suggested that this is a purification ritual al the end of the farmers labor where the substitutes for the human beings are hung up to be purified by the air Transferre fom The Lares. then are basicaly kindy spirits. protecting the household. farm to city, they kept this function: each house had its Lar famWaris to whom oMérings of incense and wine and garlands would be made. Just as each household had its Lar, so the city had its Lares (called the Lares praestites or guardian Lares). who were worshiped on May 1. Finaly. Lares were worshiped as protectors of different activities -for example. marching or making a sea voyage