March 17 is Liberalia, the feast of Roman wine god Liber. He predates Bacchus and later becomes identified with him. Early historians see Liber as a different god, the first deity of viniculture and wine, from whom all other wine mythologies arose. Also known as Liber Pater or the Free Father, Liber is part of the Aventine Triad of Gods, together with Ceres and Libera.
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A Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres rules grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. The third of the triad is another Roman fertility goddess, Libera.
A consort of Liber, she reigns as patroness of the annual festival Liberalia, together with parton Liber. She later evolves into Prosperina and identifies with Greek Persephone as Queen of the Underworld, goddess of female and agricultural fertility, and springtime growth.
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The cult of the three deities occupied a temple in the Aventine, one of the seven hills of Rome. On March 17 people celebrate Liberalia, the festival of Liber and the Aventine fertility trinity.
Liberalia revels include sacrifices, processions, bawdy songs, and masks hung on trees. It was a time of freedom and sexuality. Words such as libertine, liberty, libation and liberal come from the name of the wine god Liber.
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Archaeological evidence shows the Greek cult of Dionysus active from about 1200 BCE. The earliest sign of Bacchus is 400 BCE. Dionysus was at first an agriculture deity; later, he was more closely associated with wine, and also ecstasy, the theater and madness.
Modeled on Dionysus and Liber, Bacchus also embodies these themes. The Bacchanalia was a harvest festival in early September, which could also occur at other important lunar or solar events such as spring planting; or, in warmer zones, harvest of the winter crop.
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Liber's rustic festivals such as Liberalia correspond to springtime awakening, renewal and fertility in the agricultural cycle. The Liberalia on March 17 also marks the coming into manhood of boys. Nine days after a baby's birth, the child was given a hollow amulet, or bulla, to wear around the neck as protection from evil spirits.
Part of the Liberalia ritual is removal of the amulet, signifying the young man's independence. He puts a lock of his hair or ideally, growth of his first beard, inside the amulet and places it on the altar dedicated to the Lares, gods of household and family.
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Often the young man's mother retrieves the bulla and keeps it herself. Later, if her son achieves fame or glory, she waves it to dispel envy from enemies. At Liberelia the young man also discards his boyhood toga, with a purple trim, for the toga virilis, the all-white toga of the Roman man. With this he becomes a full citizen of Rome and eligible voter.
The priestesses of Liber are older women, the Sacerdos Liberi. They wear wreaths of ivy and make honey cakes, or libia. Those who buy the cakes will have a sacrifice made on their behalf. Liberalia soon evolves to include the goddess Libera as a consort of Liber. As fertility deities the God governs the male seed and the Goddess the female.
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The Romans are proud of their members. During the feast of Liberalia, processions of large phalluses wind around the countryside, blessing the crops and farms. At the end of a parade the phallus receives a sacred wreath from a holy woman.
On March 16 and 17, adherents celebrate an older feast, honoring the Argei, 27 sacred shrines created by the Numina (sing. Numen), a race of gods corresponding to absolute divinity.
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Numen is also used in ancient Rome to refer to the guardian-spirit or divine power of a living emperor. It was a way to worship an emperor without specifically calling him a god. Similar god-powers appear in Japanese, Inuit, Hindu and other religions and mythology.
During the feast, people make figures of bullrushes, and toss them into the river as offerings. Thirty such offerings are ritually created. Ancient scholars suggest these vegetation icons were intended to dissuade human sacrifice, part of the festivities of agriculture god Saturn.
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