The Liberalia (March 17) is the festival of Liber Pater and his consort Libera.[1] The Romans celebrated Liberalia with sacrifices, processions, ribald and gauche songs, and masks which were hung on trees.[citation needed]


The celebration on March 17 was meant to honor Liber Pater, an ancient god of fertility and wine (like Bacchus, the Roman version of the Greek god Dionysus). Liber Pater is also a vegetation god, responsible for protecting seed. Liber, again like Dionysus, had female priests although Liber's priests were older women. Wearing wreaths of ivy, the priestesses made special cakes, or libia, of oil and honey which passing devotees would have them sacrifice on their behalf. Over time this feast evolved and included the goddess Libera, Liber Pater's consort, and the feast divided so that Liber governed the male seed and Libera the female. Ovid in his almanac entry for the festival identifies Libera as the celestial manifestation of Ariadne.[2]



While Liberalia is a relatively unknown event in modern times, references to Liberalia and the Roman goddess Libera are still found today online and in astrology.


  1. ^ T.P. Wiseman, Remus: a Roman myth, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p.133.
  2. ^ Fasti 3.459-516.

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