Suniberia

Suniberia, sometimes called the Cult of Suniberia, was an ancient Caphiric ecstatic cult that originated around the 1st century AD. The cult was strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols were the bull, the serpent, tigers, and wine. The cult is most notable for its usage of intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints, liberating the individual to return to a "natural state". It also provided some liberation for men and women marginalized by Caphirian society, among which were slaves, outlaws, and non-citizens. During the third century, the practitioners of Suniberia were driven into secrecy and persecuted as heretics as the rise of Christianity pushed the various local religious traditions out. As a result, many aspects of the Suniberia cult remain unknown and were lost; modern knowledge is derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies.

The first mentions of Suniberia come from a Caphirian trader in 125 AD; he was traveling in the southern provinces and stumbled upon an apparent secret gathering of women in a secluded forest. The women all wore purple cloth and drank from a large chalice, chanting and singing to Suniberyum, a god of fertility, insanity, religious ecstasy and festivity.