Anthesphoria

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Anthesphoria, in antiquity, was a flower-festival celebrated in Sicily, and to a lesser extent Peloponnesus, in honor of Proserpine (or Persephone in Greek mythology).

The word is derived from the Greek ἅνθος ("flower") and φέρὰ ("I carry"), in regard the goddess was forced away by Pluto (Hades) when she was gathering flowers in the fields. However, Festus does not ascribe the celebration to Proserpine, but says it was thus called because ears of corn were carried on this day to the temples.

Anthesphoria seems to be the same thing as the Florisertum of the Latins.

This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.