All these villages were politically sovereign, and each of them was self-governing. The closeness of descent and their common language not only pervaded all of them, but manifested itself in an important religious and political institution—the Latin League. The Latins were tied together by religious associations, including worship of Venus, Jupiter Latiaris, and of Diana at the Lake of Ariccia. So, by virtue of her proximity to the sanctuary of Jupiter, the village of Alba Longa held a position of religious primacy among the Latin villages. Originally, thirty villages were entitled to participate in the league, known as the Alban colonies. Only a few of the individual names of these villages are recorded. The ritual of this league was the "Latin festival" ("feriae Latinae"), at which, on the Mount of Alba, upon a day annually appointed by the chief magistrate for the purpose, an ox was sacrificed by the assembled Latin stock to the "Latin god" ("Jupiter Latiaris"). Each community taking part in the ceremony had to contribute to the sacrificial feast. However; the sacred grove of Aricia, the "Nemus Dianae", on the Lake of Aricia, was always among the most popular place of pilgrimage for the Latins.