The Romans called the feasts of Bacchus, Bacchanalia and Liberalia,
because Bacchus and Liber were the names for the same god, although the
festivals were celebrated at different times and in a somewhat different
manner. The latter, according to Payne Knight, was celebrated on the
17th of March, with the most licentious gaiety, when an image of the
Phallus was carried openly in triumph. These festivities were more
particularly celebrated among the rural or agricultural population, who,
when the preparatory labour of the agriculturist was over, celebrated
with joyful activity Nature’s reproductive powers, which in due time was
to bring forth the fruits. During the festival a car containing a huge
Phallus was drawn along accompanied by its worshippers, who indulged in
obscene songs and dances of wild and extravagant character. The gravest
and proudest matrons suddenly laid aside their decency and ran screaming
among the woods and hills half-naked, with dishevelled hair, interwoven
with which were pieces of ivy or vine. The Bacchanalian feasts were
celebrated in the latter part of October when the harvest was completed.
Wine and figs were carried in the procession of the Bacchants, and
lastly came the Phalli, followed by honourable virgins, called
_canephorœ_, who carried baskets of fruit. These were followed by a
company of men who carried poles, at the end of which were figures
representing the organ of generation. The men sung the Phallica and were
crowned with violets and ivy, and had their faces covered with other
kinds of herbs. These were followed by some dressed in women’s apparel,
striped with white, reaching to their ancles, with garlands on their
heads, and wreaths of flowers in their hands, imitating by their
gestures the state of inebriety. The priestesses ran in every direction
shouting and screaming, each with a thyrsus in their hands. Men and
women all intermingled, dancing and frolicking with suggestive
gesticulations. Deodorus says the festivals were carried into the night,
and it was then frenzy reached its height. He says, “In performing the
solemnity virgins carry the thyrsus, and run about frantic, halloing
‘Evoe’ in honour of the god; then the women in a body offer the
sacrifices, and roar out the praises of Bacchus in song as if he were
present, in imitation of the ancient Mænades, who accompanied him.”
These festivities were carried into the night, and as the celebrators
became heated with wine, they degenerated into extreme licentiousness.
Similar enthusiastic frenzy was exhibited at the Lupercalian Feasts
instituted in honour of the god Pan (under the shape of a Goat) whose
priests, according to Owen in his _Worship of Serpents_, on the morning
of the Feast ran naked through the streets, striking the married women
they met on the hands and belly, which was held as an omen promising
fruitfulness. The nymphs performing the same ostentatious display as the
Bacchants at the festival of Bacchanalia.
The festival of Venus was celebrated towards the beginning of April, and
the Phallus was again drawn in a car, followed by a procession of Roman
women to the temple of Venus. Says a writer, “The loose women of the
town and its neighbourhood, called together by the sounding of horns,
mixed with the multitude in perfect nakedness, and excited their
passions with obscene motions and language until the festival ended in a
scene of mad revelry, in which all restraint was laid aside.”
It is said that these festivals took their rise from Egypt, from whence
they were brought into Greece by Metampus, where the triumph of Osiris
was celebrated with secret rites, and from thence the Bacchanals drew
their original; and from the feasts instituted by Isis came the orgies
of Bacchus.