HERMÆA, in Antiquity, ancient Greek festivals celebrated in honour of the god Hermes or Mercury. One of these was celebrated by the Pheneate in Arcadia; a second by the Cellenians in Elis; and a third by the Tanagreans, where Mercury was represented carrying a ram upon his shoulder, because he was said to have walked through the city in that manner in time of a plague, and to have cured the sick, in memory of which, it was customary at this festival for one of the most beautiful youths in the city to walk round the walls with a ram upon his shoulder. A fourth festival of the same name was observed in Crete, when it was usual for the servants to sit down at the table whilst their masters waited; a custom which was also observed at the Roman Saturnalia.