| From primitive to modern times, man has always stood | | | | Another significant month in the Athenian year was |
| in some awe of nature. The rising and setting of the | | | | Boedromeion, which coincided approximately with our |
| sun, alternating light and darkness, the miracle of | | | | September. A feast was held to commemorate those |
| vegetation, all are awe-inspiring, cyclical events. Many | | | | fallen in battle for their homeland, particularly after the |
| peoples worshipped nature by building temples and | | | | battle of Marathon which had taken place that month. |
| holding ceremonies and sacrifices to appease it. The | | | | But the greatest event of the season was the |
| Greeks, however, brought the unknown divinity closer, | | | | Eleusinian Mysteries which were organised annually by |
| and fashioned it in their own human image. They gave | | | | the Archon and carried out by the Hierophant. This high |
| it a voice, passions, jealousies and kindnesses; they | | | | priest had to be a member of the ancient ruling family |
| filled their surroundings with multitudes of both gods | | | | of Eleusis, the Eumolpidae, the only hereditary priests in |
| and demons, each of which had their own | | | | all of Attica. Two days before the ceremonies were |
| responsibilities and demands. | | | | to begin, the sacred objects were transferred from |
| In the myths of other countries, one encounters fierce, | | | | Eleusis to Athens in sea led cases, called kystes, |
| remote gods representing fundamental values in the | | | | carried by the priests. The celebrations lasted for a |
| society, reflecting its needs and structure. For the | | | | week and all but foreigners were accepted for |
| Greeks, mythology was the story of everyday life. | | | | initiation, although during Roman rule, this ban fell into |
| The gods loved and hated, fell in love and lusted after | | | | disuse. |
| other people's wives, with mortals watching events | | | | The ceremonies started with the "Alade mystai" (To |
| curiously like well-intentioned neighbours, with perhaps | | | | the sea, initiates!), the symbolic purification of all those |
| an ordinary man's affection and admiration for a | | | | who wished to be initiated. They were required to |
| special friend. In the diaphanous light of Greece, the | | | | have a piglet with them which they would offer for |
| gods couldn't really have been different, and this was | | | | sacrifice the next day. This was followed by a day of |
| why in the 4th century AD a special law had to be | | | | meditation before the faithful returned to Eleusis, |
| passed to compel the people to convert to Christianity | | | | crowned with myrtle and strands of wool, with the |
| on pain of death. In Greece, it was very difficult to | | | | priestesses holding the kystes in front of them. Along |
| impose worship of a patient god who suffered insults | | | | the way, they would stop at certain bridges and |
| and humiliations, went barefoot and refused the | | | | exchange gefyrismous, i.e. obscene jests. Those who |
| pleasures of the flesh that allow one to forget the | | | | followed the procession in carts were likewise free to |
| day's tribulations. It was very difficult for such a God to | | | | utter whatever imprecation they wished, the |
| replace proud Apollo, who was always dressed in the | | | | well-known "ex amaxis", a term still current today! |
| light of the sun, or Aphrodite who promised so much, | | | | During the next two days the actual Mysteries took |
| not in some unknown future life but right now, or even | | | | place in the Eleusinian Telesterion (initiation hall); these |
| Dionysus who urged his followers to express what | | | | included secret rituals, rites and a revelation. Perhaps |
| they saw in their unconfessed solitary dreams. | | | | the initiates were witnesses to a recreation of the |
| But behind this airy view of myths addressed to the | | | | myth of Persephone and Pluto, but the secret was |
| many, there were some serious reflections and insights | | | | kept well up to the end of the 4th century A.D. when |
| into life, together with a judicious classification of the | | | | these rituals were banned and the sacred precinct of |
| divine among the human. All these familiar gods had | | | | Demeter was abandoned. |
| one special feature: they were immortal. And perhaps | | | | The fourth month of the Athenian year, which |
| all their stories represented the eternal longing on the | | | | corresponded to present-day October, was called |
| part of mortals to learn the mystery of life and death, | | | | Pyanepsion after Pyanepsia. This feast formally |
| the desire for immortality, because myth is the product | | | | commemorated the myth of Theseus' return from |
| of the imagination, like the dreams without which we | | | | Crete, when the fruits left over from the journey were |
| cannot live. | | | | baked for the common meal of the comrades; it was |
| Thus Greek mythology became a source of inspiration | | | | in essence, however, an act related to the preparation |
| for art. It helped build dreams out of stone, it dressed | | | | of the fields. Something similar can be seen in the |
| feelings with words, laying down the principles of | | | | present day autumn custom in Greek villages, |
| universal order with morality and moderation; the | | | | especially in Crete, where the seeds are first blessed |
| violation of these principles revealed hybris, and | | | | all together in the church before the sowing of the |
| brought inescapable punishment. Myths thus brought | | | | crops begins. On the same day as the Pyanepsia, the |
| ideals and values, but mainly freedom of thought and | | | | Oschophoria was celebrated: this was the procession |
| choice, because one is truly free when one can | | | | of young men of noble birth who, dressed in women's |
| approach a god, look him straight in the eye without | | | | clothing, brought the oschous, i.e. branches of vines |
| fear and then in admiration, attempt to emulate him. It | | | | loaded with grapes, to Phaleron. This feast, too, was |
| was for this reason that Greek temples were such | | | | related to Theseus, as we know that he dressed two |
| marvels of simplicity and beauty: open to the light and | | | | young Athenian men in women's clothes to take the |
| rain and the souls of the faithful who would go in and | | | | place of two girls on the mission to eliminate the |
| out offering sweets and fruit from their harvest, | | | | Minotaur. |
| meeting their friends and acquaintances and taking | | | | But if the above original ceremony had aristocratic |
| part in ceremonies and processions, while the | | | | roots, the Thesmophoria which followed was broadly |
| philosophers regarded all of this with some | | | | popular. It was a three-day feast exclusively for |
| condescension. Pericles, in his Epitaph, the speech | | | | married women devoted to their protecting goddesses |
| paying homage to those Athenians who were killed in | | | | Demeter and Persephone. The first day the women |
| the war, mentioned how lucky they had been when | | | | would "take to the streets", which meant that they left |
| they were alive to belong to a state which had so | | | | their homes and families for worship in the open air, |
| many religious feasts and celebrations. In his play | | | | and to sleep in huts built especially for the occasion. On |
| Clouds, Aristophanes used his caustic pen to satirize | | | | the second day they fasted, seated upon the ground, |
| his fellow citizens for the same reason. But the people | | | | exactly as Demeter had done when she arrived in |
| enjoyed these feasts and attended them | | | | Eleusis looking for her daughter, and refused all |
| enthusiastically all year round. | | | | nourishment. Even the licentious language which |
| The first month of the Athenian yearwas | | | | women used on these days was an allusion to the |
| Hekatombaion, i.e. that of the hekatombes (sacrifices | | | | myth of Demeter, and to the slave Iambe who, by her |
| of many animals), which began with the new moon | | | | immodest but humorous discourse, managed to make |
| preceding the summer solstice, during the last ten days | | | | the frowning goddess smile. The third day of the |
| of what is now June. No significance whatever was | | | | Thesmophoria, was called Kalligeneia (good birth), |
| attached to the first day of the year, although three | | | | showing clearly that the rituals had to do both with the |
| important feasts followed soon after: the Kronia, | | | | fertility of the women and with the desired good |
| Synoikia and Panathenaia. The first was dedicated to | | | | harvest of the earth. |
| Kronos, a local festival associated with the wheat | | | | During the month of Maimakterion (November) there |
| harvest. TheSynoikia, as reported by Thucydides, | | | | was one ceremony, to Zeus Meilichiios, obviously to |
| reminded the residents of some older tribal | | | | secure good weather in the period of early winter |
| ceremonies. | | | | storms. For the same reason, the following month, the |
| But the greatest of all festivals was the Panathenaia: | | | | season of stormy seas, was dedicated to Poseidon. |
| the Minor annual feasts celebrating the anniversary of | | | | Towards the end of the month came two feasts |
| the birth of Athena, the city's protectress, and the | | | | which characterise the absence of false modesty in |
| Major Panathenaia held during the third year after | | | | the ancients' attitude. The first was called Aloa and |
| every Olympiad, i.e. every four years, to celebrate the | | | | featured a women's ritual supper accompanied by |
| founding of the city when Theseus formed a | | | | saucy talk and phallus-shaped sweets which may later |
| confederation of all the demes (municipalities). The | | | | have been buried in the fields, rather like an exhortation |
| Major Panathenaia was the most important event in | | | | to the frozen earth to awaken. This was followed by |
| the life of the city, which lived the remaining period in | | | | the feast of the Minor Dionysia en agrois (in the fields), |
| preparation for its magnificent ceremonies. | | | | with drunkenness, lewd symbols and vulgar songs |
| The first person to organise the Panathenaia is | | | | sung by villagers. There is no better source of |
| believed to have been a man named Hippokleides, | | | | information about this rural feast than Aristophanes' |
| who served as Archon in the year 566-565 BC. His | | | | play The Acharnians. In it, an overwrought villager |
| name is chiefly known to us through the story of the | | | | named Dikaiopolis tries to keep order in a parade of |
| time he went to Sikyon as a prospective groom to win | | | | enormous phalluses, giving instructions to his friends, his |
| the lovely Agariste, daughter of the local archon. | | | | daughter, and his wife before he himself sings a |
| Absolutely certain of his success, the arrogant | | | | coarse hymn to Dionysus. |
| Athenian got drunk and began to do silly things. When | | | | The month which roughly corresponds to present day |
| his host remarked that these actions were | | | | January, the month of weddings in ancient Athens, |
| "unmannerly", he replied "¿Å | | | | was dedicated to the goddess Hera and called |
| circ; | | | | Gameleion. In addition to weddings, however, there |
| acr;´·" (don't worry about Hippokleides), a | | | | was also the Lenaia, another feast dedicated to |
| phrase which lost him the bride and made his name | | | | Dionysus which featured a public symposium, |
| synonymous with frivolity. | | | | performances and the inevitable drinking of wine with |
| Peisistratos was the man who made the festival | | | | all it entails. The name was derived either from the |
| famous throughout the land of the Hellenes, enhancing | | | | lenoi (wine-presses) or from the lenes (maenads) who |
| it with a brilliant procession and various contests, | | | | were always identified with the fun-loving god. |
| where the prizes were especially-produced amphoras | | | | The month of Anthesterion was the beginning of |
| full of oil from the sacred olives of the goddess. We | | | | spring, around February and early March, when the |
| can see examples of such Panathenaic amphoras in | | | | almond trees were in bloom. This was the time of one |
| museums all over the world today; on one side they | | | | of the Athenians' major feasts, the Anthesteria, during |
| depict the goddess Athena fully armed and on the | | | | which parents would crown their three-year-old |
| other a scene from the contest in question. Being an | | | | children with blossoms; perhaps because they had |
| admirer of Homer, Peisistratos instituted music and | | | | survived the first, most dangerous years of their life. |
| song competitions, which later obliged Pericles to build | | | | The main festivities lasted for three days, starting with |
| an odeion in which to hold them. There were also | | | | the Pithoigia, which was the opening and testing of the |
| dancing contests for boys, youths and men in which | | | | jars containing the new wine which would then be |
| the Pyrrichios was presented, a military dance | | | | ready, to the enjoyment of all. The second day was |
| performed in full war dress, in remembrance of the | | | | the Choes, re-enacting the sacred wedding of |
| Dorians who first danced it in Crete. From Xenophon | | | | Dionysus. The god was played by the annual |
| we learn about the contest called Evandreia, a unique | | | | priest-king while his wife, the Basilina, had the role of |
| innovation instituted by the Athenians, with their fanatic | | | | the priestess assisted by women selected for the |
| devotion to beauty, in which the handsomest and | | | | occasion: the Gerares. The following day was the |
| strongest man would win a prize of 100 drachmas and | | | | Hytres, a feast of the dead; at that time, an offering |
| a plump calf. | | | | was made to Hermes the conveyor of souls, of pots |
| In addition to the contests of the classical Olympic | | | | in which all types of seeds, fruits and vegetables, the |
| events, the Panathenaic festival also included chariot | | | | panspermia, had been cooked. This custom has |
| races and an individual torch race, in which the winner | | | | survived down to our days as the boiled wheat on |
| was the first person to carry in the torch with the | | | | Psychosawato (Soul-Saturday on which the souls of |
| flame from the sacrificial fire, having managed to keep | | | | the dead are remembered), in mid-spring at exactly the |
| it alight. The runners started out from the altar of Eros, | | | | same time of year. |
| in the Academy outside the walls, and finished at the | | | | A particularly significant feast was the Elaphebolaion, |
| altar of Athena within the city. In this way, the eternal | | | | dedicated to the goddess Artemis, whose symbol |
| adversary goddesses, Athena-reason and | | | | was the deer. In spring, the most important religious |
| Aphroditepassion, co-existed in a harmonious duality. | | | | event was the Great Dionysia which, as of the |
| The highlight of the festival was the magnificent | | | | mid-sixth century BC, took place in town and was |
| procession which set out from the city gates and | | | | celebrated with a procession of the Dionysian Thiasos |
| ascended to the sacred Rock of the Acropolis, | | | | (troupe) and with performances for the public. The |
| carrying on the sails of the sacred vessel the richly | | | | feasting lasted for six days, on three of which there |
| embroidered robe of the goddess which had been | | | | were performances of new plays, after a long |
| woven by selected noble maidens, the Ergastines. As | | | | process of selection and preparation. These |
| Pausanias tells us, the vessel was kept near the | | | | presentations were open to foreigners as well, since at |
| Areopagus and was shown to strangers like a tourist | | | | precisely that time of year, shipping that had stopped |
| attraction. | | | | during the winter would begin again. |
| On the day of the great procession, all the people in | | | | During the next few months, there were no major |
| the city would flock into the streets to watch as | | | | feasts, perhaps because the people were busy with |
| selected citizens, noble maidens and distinguished | | | | agriculture, trade or with skirmishes against |
| young men took active part. It was likewise an | | | | neighbouring cities. The feast of Plynteria was held |
| opportunity to demonstrate the preparedness of the | | | | during the month of Thargelion; it was dedicated to the |
| Athenian army, with troops of horse-soldiers, well-drilled | | | | statue of Athena which was taken to the sea for a |
| young men and acrobat-charioteers who with | | | | ritual cleansing. On that day no Athenian would begin |
| consummate skill would jump on and off the swiftly | | | | doing anything important, since the goddess was |
| moving chariots, showing the harmony of their | | | | absent from her position and could not monitor what |
| exuberant young bodies. That was also the only day | | | | was happening; it was a bad luck day. And in the last |
| on which the ladies of Athens and their daughters | | | | month of the Athenian year, Skiraforion-May or June - |
| could look freely upon the young men and perhaps | | | | the Bouphonia was celebrated, with the sacrifice of an |
| select from among them. The Panathenaic festivals | | | | ox which took upon itself all the sins of the people; a |
| ended with sacrifices of carefully chosen animals and | | | | scapegoat calling to mind very ancient totemic rituals. |
| with feasting, dancing and singing. | | | | |