Also called Picus Martius.
Their story
Picus was an early king of Latium, father of Faunus, who became a woodpecker, the bird sacred to Mars. Ovid tells how he loved the nymph Canens and rejected the enchantress Circe, who turned him into a bird. In the Fasti, Numa traps Picus and Faunus at a spring on the Aventine with wine, and they teach him how to draw down Jupiter to learn the rite of expiation for lightning. The woodpecker was an important bird in Roman augury.
Best times to give to them
- When seeking a sign
- Kalends of March, month of Mars
What they like being given
- Seeds
- Bird food
- Incense
How to honour them
- Put out food for woodland birds.
- Watch the flight of birds when making a decision.
- Listen for a woodpecker as a greeting.
How they can help you
- Omens and signs
- Protection of birds
- Foresight
Symbols
- woodpecker
- augur's staff
- purple cloak
Sources
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 14
- Ovid, Fasti 3
- Virgil, Aeneid 7
- Plutarch, Roman Questions 21
More Roman beings
- Lupa The she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus