Festivals in ancient Greece

The ancient Greeks held numerous festivals, which accorded with the various gods, seasons, and other commemorations. Most of the festivals were closely related to agriculture and the seasons. With the great variety of festivals, some were more political, while others were social and economic. What follows is a brief description of the major Athenian festivals and the occasional mention of other well-known city-state festivals as they related to public celebrations. Major celebrations were in honor of Zeus, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Dionysus, and Hephaistos.

The summer months and new year began in July/August, during the month of Hekatombaion. Here, the festival to Aphrodite Pandemos was called the Aphrodisia. The festival took place in the sanctuary of Pandemos between the Asklepieion and the Propylaia, on the southwestern slope of the Acropolis. The sanctuary was purified by the offering of doves. It took place on the fourth of Hekatombaion at the beginning of the year. In fact the fourth day of each month was holy to Aphrodite. Also in this month was the festival Synoikia, to celebrate the unification of Attica.

The Panathenaia was celebrated on the twenty-eighth of Hekatombaion, Athena’s birthday. Although the festival was enlarged and made prominent by the Peisistratids, it was probably of ancient origin. The name of the month, 100 cows, was in reference to the offerings to Athena. A cult statue was presented to the temple and Athena’s glory celebrated.

Interestingly, the next month, Metageitnion or midsummer, August/September, did not have a major festival in Athens. The late summer, with the month Boedro- mion corresponding to September/October, had several important feasts. On the sixth of Boedromion, the festival of Charisteria, dedicated to the goddess Artemis, commemorated the victory at Marathon, which had been fought a few days later. This was a celebration to Artemis Agrotera, the goddess of hunting and prey, and to Enyalios, or Ares, the god of war. A total of 500 goats were sacrificed; originally the Athenians promised one goat for every Persian dead, but there were so many killed that the number 500 was settled on.

During the entire third week of Boedromion and into the next was the celebration to Demeter and the Great Mysteries, initially celebrated at Eleusis but moved to Athens. They are of ancient tradition and probably existed at least from the Neolithic period. There was extensive tradition dating them to the Mycenaean period.

The fall or autumn began with Pyanepsion in October/November, when the Stenia and Thesmophoria, two festivals to Demeter, took place. In other cities, this month was called Demetios, indicating the widespread celebration of the cult of Demeter. These festivals were celebrated only by women. On the ninth of Pyanepsion was the festival Stenia, also dedicated to Demeter. It was held at night, and the women insulted each other in order to distract Demeter from the loss of her daughter, Persephone. It appears that piglets were let loose during this festival, to be retrieved a few days later during the next festival.

On the seventh of Pyanepsion was Pyanopsia, celebrating the birthday of Apollo. In this celebration, a procession offering fruits and vegetables occurred as in the Thargelia. This time, a young boy with both parents living carried a laurel branch, the symbol of Apollo. It was put above the sanctuary’s doorway as a sign of fertility. On the same day, the Oschophoria, a celebration to Dionysus, was held. As at Delphi, where the two gods shared the oracle and shrine, so too at Athens did the two gods share a festival day. The god was beardless and carried a branch with grapes since the festival fell at the time of vintage and wine pressing.

The Chalkeia was a celebration in Athens held on the last day of Pyanepsion, a major celebration for the bronze makers taking its name from copper and bronze.

The celebration was for Athena Ergane, the goddess of handicraft, especially spinning and weaving. Every fourth year during this festival, nine months before the Panathenaia, a giant loom was set up and maidens weaved a peplos for the goddess, which was presented at her festival.

The Thesmophoria on the eleventh was an important festival lasting three days, and its rites were secret, part of Demeter and Persephone’s mysteries. It probably was related to the harvest. In Maimakterion, late November/early December, another rural festival associated with Zeus occurred, the Pompaia, which was probably related to the harvest festivals. Here, a ram was sacrificed.

The end of the fall was Poseideon, December/January. In the second half of Poseideon, the rural Dionysia was celebrated in the villages around Athens. There were contests of drama and dancing, and the main procession carried a large wooden phallus with the sacrificial victim, a billy goat. On the twenty-sixth of Poseideon, the Haloa, a winter festival to Demeter, was celebrated. Its name was associated with the circular threshing floor, which may have been used as a dance floor, as still used in rural areas. It was celebrated by women, at least in the first part of the festival, and then later by men in the second part.

The winter began with Gamelion, late January to mid-February. In the middle of Gamelion, near the end of January, was the festival Lenaia, dedicated to Dionysus Lenaios. The festival celebrated dramatic contests and dancing. The sacred wedding of Zeus and Hera was commemorated in the Theogamia, near the end of Gamelion.

In the second week of Anthesterion in February/March, from the eleventh to the thirteenth, was the festival of Anthesteria. It was the last of the Dionysiac festivals, which had begun with the Oschophoria. This festival celebrated the fruits of the earlier festival of wine pressing as the first drinking of the new wine. On the twenty-third of Anthesterion, the Diasia was held to celebrate Zeus. The festival existed at least from the seventh century but was probably older.

The festival celebrated Zeus Meilichios, not the Olympian Zeus but a god of the underworld who appeared as a large snake. From the evidence, it appears that he was a popular god in Athens. His altar was on the road to Eleusis. It is possible that he was a god related to the appeasement of society after bloodshed, and also fertility related to plowing and sowing. The late winter month of Elaphebolion, or March/April, saw Pisistratus create the City Dionysia, the great festival from the ninth to the thirteenth, where the city saw great performances in the theater.

A festival to Hephaistos was probably held in Mounichion (April/May) in early spring, celebrated with torch races commemorating his giving the gift of fire to humans. On the sixth of Mounichion was a celebration to Artemis called the Hik- eteria. The sixth day of each month was holy to the goddess. On the sixteenth of the month, the Mounychia festival was celebrated to honor Artemis at the Piraeus. As the time of the full moon, the sixteenth also held special meaning to Artemis, as she was originally the moon goddess.

This day also commemorated the victory at Salamis, although it was fought seven months earlier in Boedromion. The great festival to Zeus Olympios, the Olympieia, was inaugurated by the sons of Pisistra- tus on the nineteenth of Mounichion and appears to have been associated with sports and racing. They would gain popularity during the Roman Empire, when Hadrian built the great temple to Zeus Olympios.

In midspring, May/June, was Thargelion. Here, on the seventh, was the celebration of Apollo’s holy day, the Thargelia. An offering was presented to the god consisting of vegetables and grain. Beginning the day before with the ritual purification of Athens by expelling two scapegoats (men who took all of the evil out of the town), the festival allowed the harvest to ripen. In the last week of Thargelion, the festival of Plynteria was celebrated for Athena. It was a common Ionian festival, the feast of the bath. Here, the cult statue of Athena was washed in the sea a few days after her temple had been cleaned. Since Athena left the city to nearby Phaleron, it was an inauspicious day. This bathing custom was common to many cults for both females and males.

The end of the year, in June/July when summer began, was Skirophorion. On the twelfth was a festival to Demeter called the Skira, where grain was harvested and threshed. As in the other festivals to Demeter, piglets were often thrown into the goddess’s cave as her favorite offerings. The festival to Zeus Polias, a title given to Zeus to protect the city (Polias), called the Dipolieia, named for the father of the Athenian Athena Polias, was held in the last month of the year, Skiraphorion, on the fourteenth day. This would have corresponded to sometime in early- to-mid June.

This festival was also called the Bouphonia, named for the slaying of an ox, its main event. The temple to Zeus Polias was on the Acropolis, northeast of the Parthenon. Its origins date to at least the Mycenaean period. The main ritual was the killing of an ox with a double-headed ax, a Mycenaean symbol, whereupon the ax was brought to trial, convicted, and cursed, and then thrown into the sea. The festival may have been related to pre-historic hunting.

Also in the month of Skiraphorion, near the end of the year, was the festival Arrephoria, dedicated to Athena and Aphrodite. Like the mysteries of Demeter, this festival to Athena had secret rites. Two young girls would carry secret wrappings down from the Acropolis to the sanctuary of Aphrodite, deposit them, and bring two other secret wrappings to the area near the Erechtheion. It appears to have been a fertility rite. It was a festival not only to Athena but to Aphrodite.