- Anthesphoria
Anthesphoria, in antiquity, was a flower-
festival celebrated inSicily , and to a lesser extentPeloponnesus , in honor ofProserpine (orPersephone inGreek 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 .
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