a festival observed annually by the ancient Romans on March 17, in honor of Liber or Bacchus. A procession of priests and priestesses, wearing ivy garlands, marched through the city, bearing wine, honey, cakes, and sweetmeats, along with a portable altar, having in the middle of it a fire- pan, ill which the sacrifices were burned. On this occasion the Roman youths who had reached the age of sixteen were invested with the toga virilis or dress of manhood. The Liberalia were much more innocent in their character than the Bacchanalia (q.v.), and continued to be celebrated in Rome after that festival was suppressed.