Download Festivals associated with Goddesses and Women Participants

Festivals associated with Goddesses and Women Participants
Daedala (Daidala) dedicated to Hera at Plataea. Held every seven years.
The Great Daedala was held every 59 years, all over Boeotia. The festival involved in a
procession of the wooden bride (daidala), before this image was burned in a sacrificial fire.
This was meant to be a festival of reconciliation. The myth surrounding this festival was
when Hera left her husband, because she was fed up with his frequent infidelities. They were
reconciled when Zeus pretended that he had a new bride and she discovered that her so-called
rival was only a wooden statue of a woman, when she ripped off the veil.
Heraean Games dedicated to Hera at Olympia. Held every four years in Olympic years but
at a different time from the Olympic Games.
The Heraean Games were running races in honour of Hera, where the competitors were
young women or girls. It was said to be first introduced by Hippodameia, the wife of Pelops.
Like the Olympics, the victor was awarded with a crown of wild olive. Historically, the
Heraean Games may well be older than the Olympics. The temple of Hera at Olympia was
older than the last temple of Zeus.
Panathenaea (also Great Panathenaea) dedicated to Athena at Athens. Held in mid-August.
The Panathenaea was a festival where they sacrificed animals to the goddess Athena, their
great patron goddess and protectress. At first, the festival was held annually, but around the
mid-C5th, a larger festival was held every four years, like the Olympic Games. The larger
festival was called Great Panathenaea, where the celebration lasted for five days, while the
smaller festivals held in the other years, lasted for only two days. The festival usually began
with a procession, with people bringing in sacrificial animals. After the sacrifices, there were
recitals of parts of epic poems, but this was later replaced by music contests at the time of the
statesman Pericles (mid-C5th). There were also painting and drama competitions.
Commemoration was also held for those who had fought in the Battle of Marathon (490 BC).
There were versions of the athletic competitions at Olympia open to all Greeks and some
others exclusively for Athenians. At night, there was a procession in which the people bore
torches as they moved towards the temples on the Acropolis.
Chloia dedicated to Demeter Chloë at Eleusis. Held in Anthesterion (March)
A spring festival held around the time that grains begin to sprout.
Scirophoria dedicated to Demeter and her daughter Kore (Persephone) at Athens. Held on
12th of Skirophorion (June/July).
It was at this time of the year when the threshing is done. Priests and priestesses from the
temples of Athena, Poseidon and Helios marched to the place known as the Skiron, under the
large, white umbrella. The umbrella symbolised protection of the soil from the sun.
Proerosia dedicated to Demeter at Eleusis. Held in September.
A festival which involved praying for good harvest, before they begin ploughing and sowing.
Eleusinia dedicated to Demeter at Eleusis. Held every two years, probably in the month of
Metageitnion (August-September).
A Thanksgiving festival held to thank Demeter for the new crops. Although it was held at
Eleusis it may not have had anything to do with Eleusinian Mysteries. It was a festival which
involved sacrifices to Demeter and athletic contests. Every second festival had a particularly
elaborate observance and was known as the Great Eleusinia.
Thalysia dedicated to Demeter at Cos. Held in the autumn.
This festival was held after harvest on the island of Cos and was a festival of Thanksgiving.
Thesmophoria dedicated to Demeter in various parts of Greece. Held on 12-14 Pyanopsion
(October).
An annual three-day festival which was held in honour of Demeter Thesmophoros. The rites
were carried out by women, and the purpose was to ensure the fertility of the land, so that a
good crop would be harvested. The women participating in the rituals had to fast and observe
their chastity for several days. The rite was supposed to symbolise the abduction of Kore
(Persephone), daughter of Demeter, and of the time she must spend on the surface and in the
Underworld. So on the first day, pigs were thrown into a pit or underground chamber. What
remains that were left and not eaten by snakes, and before they had time to rot, were brought
back up by women and placed on the altar. The second day involved the women fasting in
remembrance of the time that Demeter was wandering and mourning over the loss of her
daughter. On the third day the women spent the day giving gifts to children and praying for
blessings on their families. They also prayed for good crops. This day was to commemorate
Demeter’s reunion with her daughter, ending the famine and failed crops.
Haloa dedicated to Demeter at Eleusis and Athens. Held in Poseideon (December).
The festival involved a procession from Athens to Eleusis. It celebrated Triptolemus
Demeter's one time lover and first priest, whom she taught how to use the threshing floor.
Adonia dedicated to Adonis (lover of Aphrodite) at various places. Held annually.
A festival held in honour of Adonis, the young hunter whom Aphrodite loved, but who died
tragically by a wild boar. Mostly young women celebrated his death and rebirth by planting
seeds in shallow soil growing flowers that grew fast but died young.
Bendidea dedicated to Thracian Bendis (associated with Artemis) at Athens. Held annually.
An annual festival had its origin in Thrace. It involved a night horse-race, where riders
carried torches.
Daphnephoria dedicated to Apollo Ismenius or Apollo Chalazius at Thebes. Held every nine
years.
The Daphnephoria festival involved a procession where one boy of good family held an olive
branch, with laurel flowers and bronze balls tied to the branch. He was followed by a chorus
of women. It doesn't seem to have had anything to do with Daphne, the nymph who had
escaped Apollo by transforming into a laurel tree. According to the legend, it was established
in honour of Apollo when the Thebans won the victory in a war against the Pelasgians and
the Aeolians.
Aiora dedicated to Icarius and Erigone at Athens. Held at grape harvest.
The Aiora (Swinging) commemorated the death of Erigone and her father Icarius. Erigone
had hanged herself when she discovered her father's body. Icarius was a follower of Dionysus
killed by drunken shepherds who thought they had been poisoned. Dionysus punished
Athens by causing young Athenian girls to go mad, where they too hanged themselves, until
the murderers were punished. Athens instituted the festival during the grape harvest, where
girls swung on ropes.
Anthesteria dedicated to Dionysus at Athens. Held annually from the 11th to 13th of the
month of Anthesterion, around the time of the January or February full moon.
One of four Athenian festivals in honor of Dionysus. The three days of the feast were called
Pithoigia, Choës, and Chytroi. It celebrated the beginning of spring, and the death of the
children, particularly the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage, whose pithoi
were ceremoniously opened. During the feast, social order was interrupted or inverted, the
slaves being allowed to participate, uniting the household in ancient fashion. The Anthesteria
also had aspects of a festival of the dead: either the Keres or the Carians were entertained,
freely roaming the city until they were expelled after the festival. Athens's ritual queen, the
basilinna, underwent a ceremony of marriage to the god which may have involved
intercourse. She was assisted by the gerarai, 14 Athenian matrons chosen by her husband the
archon basileus, who were sworn to secrecy.
Hyacinthia dedicated to Apollo and Hyacinthus at Amyclae near Sparta. Held annually and
lasted for three days.
The first day was given over to mourning for the death of the hero: sacrifices were offered to
the dead, banquets were stark and without pomp or decoration, the sacrificial breads were
very plain. The second day was one of celebration for his rebirth. The young people played
the cithara and the aulos, and sang of the glory of Apollo. Others participated in horse races.
Numerous choirs competed in town, singing country songs and dancing. Amyclae was also
the location of parades of carts decorated by the girls and women of Sparta. Numerous
sacrifices were offered, exclusively goats, with the occasion of the kopis, banquets where the
citizens invited their friends and relatives. The helots had the right to participate in the
celebrations, as did any foreigners. The kopis took place under special tents known as skēnaí,
a characteristic trait of ancient country festivals. The third day is not described in detail, it is
possible that it was more solemn, or that mysteries were held. It is also known that for this
holiday, the Spartan women wove a chiton which was then offered to the god — a tradition
similar to the peplos offered to Athena at Athens upon the occasion of the Panathenaic
Games. Women may also have participated in a similar festival called the Gymnopaideia.