Liberalia

[ lib-uh-rey-lee-uh, -reyl-yuh ]

noun

, (sometimes used with a plural verb)

1. an ancient Roman festival held annually in honor of Liber and Libera.

Example Sentences

“That’s right! I was at the river changing my clothes for my Liberalia. Rite of passage into manhood, you know. We did things properly back then. I’d taken off my childhood toga and was washing up to don the adult one. Suddenly, a pure-white chicken ran out of nowhere, dove into my loincloth, and ran off with it. I wasn’t wearing it at the time.”

From Literature

The most noted were the Greater and Lesser Dionysia, the Liberalia, and the Bacchanalia, where the wildest merrymaking and license were freely indulged in by all participants.

From Project Gutenberg

This ancient ceremony, evidently a remains of the feasts of Bacchus, called by the Greeks Dyonysiacs, and by the Romans Liberalia, existed as late as the commencement of the 18th century, when it was abolished by Joseph Davanzati, archbishop of that town.

From Project Gutenberg

The festival of Liber, called the Liberalia, was celebrated on the 17th of March.

From Project Gutenberg

Possibly another agricultural note is struck in the Liberalia of the 17th: though the cult of Liber was almost entirely overlaid by his subsequent identification with Dionysus, it seems right to recognise in him and his female counterpart, Libera, a general spirit of creativeness.

From Project Gutenberg