Goddess Ceres & Oak Branch Italy 20 Lire Authentic Coin Money for Jewelry and Craft Making

Goddess Ceres & Oak Branch Italy 20 Lire Authentic Coin Charm for Jewelry and Craft Making

The front of the coin bears the Goddess Ceres, head facing left with wheat sprigs in her curly hair, and the designer's name below.

The back of the coin bears an oak branch in the center with the denomination to the left as well as the mintmark below and the date to the right.

Features
Issuer Italy
Period Republic (1946-date)
Type Standard circulation coin
Years 1957-2001
Value 20 Lire (20 ITL)
Currency Lira (1861-2001)
Composition Bronzital
Weight 3.6 g
Diameter 21.25 mm
Thickness 1.67 mm
Shape Round
Orientation Coin alignment ↑↓
Demonetized 02-28-2002
Number N# 1113
References KM# 97, Schön# 94, Schön# 94a

Wikipedia:
In ancient Roman religion, Ceres (/ˈsɪəriːz/ SEER-eez, Latin: [ˈkɛreːs]) was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales (Ceres' games). She was also honoured in the May lustratio of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites.

Ceres is the only one of Rome's many agricultural deities to be listed among the Dii Consentes, Rome's equivalent to the Twelve Olympians of Greek mythology. The Romans saw her as the counterpart of the Greek goddess Demeter, whose mythology was reinterpreted for Ceres in Roman art and literature.

Ceres was credited with the discovery of spelt wheat (Latin far), the yoking of oxen and ploughing, the sowing, protection and nourishing of the young seed, and the gift of agriculture to humankind; before this, it was said, man had subsisted on acorns, and wandered without settlement or laws. She had the power to fertilize, multiply and fructify plant and animal seed, and her laws and rites protected all activities of the agricultural cycle. In January, Ceres was offered spelt wheat and a pregnant sow, along with the earth-goddess Tellus, at the movable Feriae Sementivae. This was almost certainly held before the annual sowing of grain. The divine portion of sacrifice was the entrails (exta) presented in an earthenware pot (olla). In a rural context, Cato the Elder describes the offer to Ceres of a porca praecidanea (a pig, offered before the sowing). Before the harvest, she was offered a propitiary grain sample (praemetium). Ovid tells that Ceres "is content with little, provided that her offerings are casta" (pure).

Ceres' main festival, Cerealia, was held from mid to late April. It was organised by her plebeian aediles and included circus games (ludi circenses). It opened with a horse-race in the Circus Maximus, whose starting point lay below and opposite to her Aventine Temple; the turning post at the far end of the Circus was sacred to Consus, a god of grain-storage. After the race, foxes were released into the Circus, their tails ablaze with lighted torches, perhaps to cleanse the growing crops and protect them from disease and vermin, or to add warmth and vitality to their growth. From c.175 BC, Cerealia included ludi scaenici (theatrical religious events) through April 12 to 18.

Wikipedia:
The oak is a common symbol of strength and endurance and has been chosen as the national tree of many countries. In 2004 the Arbor Day Foundation held a vote for the official National Tree of the United States of America. In November 2004, the United States Congress passed legislation designating the oak as America's National Tree. Other countries have also designated the oak as their national tree.

The prehistoric Indo-European tribes worshiped the oak and connected it with a thunder or lightning god, and this tradition descended to many classical cultures.

In Greek mythology, the oak is the tree sacred to Zeus, king of the gods. In Zeus's oracle in Dodona, Epirus, the sacred oak was the centerpiece of the precinct, and the priests would divine the pronouncements of the god by interpreting the rustling of the oak's leaves.

In Celtic polytheism, the name of the oak tree was part of the Proto-Celtic word for 'druid': *derwo-weyd- > *druwid-; however, Proto-Celtic *derwo- (and *dru-) can also be adjectives for 'strong' and 'firm', so Ranko Matasovic interprets that *druwid- may mean 'strong knowledge'. As in other Indo-European faiths, Taranis, being a thunder god, was associated with the oak tree.[61] "Tree" and drus may also be cognate with "Druid," the Celtic priest to whom the oak was sacred. There has even been a study that shows that oaks are more likely to be struck by lightning than any other tree of the same height.

In Norse mythology, the oak was sacred to the thunder god, Thor. Thor's Oak was a sacred tree of the Germanic Chatti tribe.

In Baltic and Slavic mythology, the oak was the sacred tree of Latvian god Pērkons, Lithuanian Perkūnas, Prussian Perkūns and Slavic Perun, the god of thunder and one of the most important deities.

The oak also appears in the Hebrew tradition. In the Bible, the oak tree at Shechem is the site where Jacob buries the foreign gods of his people (Gen. 35:4). Also, Joshua erects a stone under an oak tree as the first covenant of the Lord (Josh. 24.25–7). In Isaiah 61, the prophet refers to the Israelites as "Oaks of Righteousness". Absalom's long hair (2 Samuel 18:9) gets caught in an oak tree, and allows Joab to kill him.

Vereration of the oak survives in Serbian Orthodox Church tradition. Christmas celebrations include the badnjak, a branch taken from a young and straight oak ceremonially felled early on Christmas Eve morning, similar to a yule log. In recent times, only the branches are collected, brought home, and ceremoniously thrown into a stove or church bonfire. In another tradition, a zapis (lit. "inscription") is an old, isolated oak on a hilltop or promontory, often inscribed with a cross by a parish priest. Reverence for zapisi probably originated in pre-Christian times, and they long remained places of public gathering and even of Christian worship where churches were not available. For example, in 1815, at a zapis assembly in Takovo, knez Miloš Obrenović declared the start of the Second Serbian Uprising. Even in modern times, cutting down zapis oaks can result in public outcry, even for projects like road building.

In some traditions of Wicca, the Oak King is one of the two faces of the Sun God. He is born on Yule and rules from Ostara to Mabon.