Vestal Virgins and the Roman Project

Vestal virgins spend 30 years as priestesses in the temple of vesta. The goddess at whose temple they worship is the goddess of the hearth. In a roman household, it's the daughter who tends the hearth and keeps sure that the fire doesn't go out. I think women played a more complicated and mixed role in those great civic festivals than we might imagine from modern religions such as christianity and judaism.