Wikipedia
The Hilaria (, Latin "the cheerful ones", a term derived from the borrowed adjective "cheerful, merry") were ancient Roman religious festivals celebrated on the March equinox to honor Cybele.
The Romans took this feast originally from the Greeks, who called it Ἀνάβασις, Latin Ascensus: the eve of that day they spent in tears and lamentations, calling it Κατάβασις (Latin Dēscensus). Greek writers later borrowed the Latin name as Ἱλάρια, as appears from Photios I of Constantinople's Bibliotheca in his codex of the life of the philosopher Isidore of Alexandria.
The term seems originally to have been a name which was given to any day or season of rejoicing. The hilaria were, therefore, according to Maximus the Confessor either private or public. Among the former, he thinks it the day on which a person married, and on which a son was born; among the latter, those days of public rejoicings appointed by a new emperor. Such days were devoted to general rejoicings and public sacrifices, and no one was allowed to show any symptoms of grief or sorrow.
But the Romans also celebrated hilaria, as a feria stativa, on March 25, the eighth day before the Calends of April, in honor of Cybele, the mother of the gods; and it is probably to distinguish these hilaria from those mentioned above, that the Augustan History calls them Hilaria Matris Deûm. The day of its celebration was the first after the vernal equinox, or the first day of the year which was longer than the night. The winter with its gloom had died, and the first day of a better season was spent in rejoicings. The manner of its celebration during the time of the republic is unknown, except that Valerius Maximus mentions games in honour of the mother of the gods. Respecting its celebration at the time of the empire, Herodian writes that, among other things, there was a solemn procession, in which the statue of the goddess was carried, and before this statue were carried the most costly specimens of template and works of art belonging either to wealthy Romans or to the emperors themselves. All kinds of games and amusements were allowed on this day; masquerades were the most prominent among them, and everyone might, in his disguise, imitate whomsoever he liked, and even magistrates.
Hilaria is a genus of North American plants in the grass family. Members of the genus are commonly known as curly mesquite. It is found in the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and Guatemala.
The generic name honors French naturalist Augustin Saint-Hilaire (1779–1853).
Species- Hilaria annua Reeder & C.Reeder - Colima
- Hilaria belangeri ( Steud.) Nash USA ( AZ NM TX) south to Oaxaca
- Hilaria cenchroides Kunth - from Chihuahua to Guatemala; naturalized in Arizona ( Pima + Cochise Counties)
- Hilaria ciliata (Scribn.) Sohns - from Chihuahua to Oaxaca
- Hilaria hintonii Sohns - Guerrero, Morelos, Querétaro, México State
- Hilaria jamesii (Torr.) Benth. - United States ( CA NV AZ NM TX UT CO WY KS OK)
- Hilaria mutica (Buckley) Benth. - USA ( AZ NM TX OK), Mexico ( Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, Zacatecas, Sonora, Baja California Sur)
- Hilaria rigida (Thurb.) Benth. ex Scribn. - United States ( CA NV AZ UT NM), Mexico ( Chihuahua, Sonora, Baja California)
- Hilaria semplei Sohns - Michoacán
- Hilaria swallenii Cory - United States ( NM TX), Mexico ( Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas)
Usage examples of "hilaria".
It began in a Catholic high school in San Antonio, where an English teacher named Sister Hilaria befriended Helen Henderson, a young student teacher.
But over the next few years, Sister Hilaria began to think wistfully about living a quieter, more prayerful life.
Obviously, Sister Hilaria had gotten permission to do what she wanted because nobody in the order believed she could actually do it.
Sister Hilaria was praying, and when Sister Hilaria prayed, God listened.
With her practical eye, Sister Hilaria observed the tillable acreage along the Yucca River and the river itself, which could be partially diverted for irrigation.
Mother Hilaria encouraged us to design our own Rule, write our own liturgy, choose our own dress.
Helen Laney and Mother Hilaria had been determined women, and neither of them had trusted the Church.
Mother Hilaria had filled her kettle from the water tap, put it on the hot plate, and got out a tin of cocoa mix.
The poisonous letters to Perpetua, to Anne, to Dominica and Miriam, and the letter to Mother Hilaria, missing and presumed destroyed.
I had settled it in my mind by the time breakfast was over and I found the truck Mother Hilaria had promised me, a rusty green Dodge four-on-the-floor that steered like a World War II tank and roared like a 727 under full throttle.
At one point, she even threatened to give the land outright to Hilaria, screw the order.
And Mother Hilaria, dying in such a cruel way, and Sister Perpetua being taken.
I had learned from the journal, including the fact that Mother Hilaria herself had received a letter.
Was Hilaria speaking of the little community of nuns, or of humankind?
Hanna reached the uppermost ledge, Sister Hilaria had already conducted the first arrivals within the safety of the convent walls.