libationer

noun

1. A priest or religious official who conducts a libation ritual, in which a drink is poured as an offering to a divinity or ancestor.

   “That the libation was the all-important element at this ceremony is further illustrated by the fact that a regular attribute of Isis as the chief officiant thereat is ḳbḥ∙ t “the (female) libationer” (id., pp. 13, 55, 56).”

   “However, on special occasions there may be an elaborate and complex ritual and more than one libationer, usually a leading or chief libationer and an assistant or a number of assistants.”

   “The “libationer” may also solicit the spiritual presence of humans who are alive although not physically present at that particular enactment of the ritual—people who are known to share the aims of the librartioner and would therefore support the petition(s).”

2. A Taoist religious office analogous to that of parish priest.

   “Harming other people or bullying them because the libationer is in a position of power or has connexions with people in power is also proscribed (60, 92).”

   “Its primary office, that of the "libationer" (chi-chiu), was open to women and men alike, though scholars today have begun to question whether that office was actually clerical or simply a term for lay leaders.”

   “At that time, accession to the office of libationer already involved the conferral of sacred texts.”

3. The head of the Chinese Imperial College (Han dynasty through the Qing dynasty), and, by extension, any of the most highly respected scholars during that time period.

   “Take the libationer of the Imperial College, for instance, who is my tutor.”

   “From the Han and Wei Dynasties onwards, this became an official title, like libationer of the imperial academy, libationer of the imperial college, etc.”

   “Similarly, at the capital the libationer (or chancellor) of the Imperial College should lead a discussion each month on important questions, with the emperor and his ministers attending in the role of students.”