#hellenic festival

[just-helpol-things]

I’ve been celebrating Hyakintha the last few days and have felt so much closer to Lord Apollo and it has been motivating me to offer more to him and build our relationship!!

thanks @hyakinthou-naos for the Temple’s celebration of Hyakintha, it actually feels like I’m in a temple doing this

[khaire-traveler]

In honor of Lady Artemis 💜🩵🦌🧸🏹🌙

Happy birthday

The pitter-patter of tiny feet,

The quiet solace of a night in the woods,

The thrill of dancing with friends,

The beauty of a flame,

The majesty of seeing an animal in the wild,

The twinkle in a child's eyes,

The creak of pulling back a bow's string,

The crunch of the forest floor,

The sounds of crickets chirping in the night,

The freedom of staying true to yourself,

The nostalgia of sweet childhood memories,

The love between a dog and their owner,

The fury when a loved one is mistreated,

The need to care for another who is hurting,

The wonder of seeing fireflies rise in a field,

The comfort of stargazing or cloud watching,

The bond between wolves in a pack,

The heartfelt music of the night...

~

Goddess Artemis,

The Darting, The Fierce, The Compassionate,

The Lethal Huntress With Impeccable Aim,

The Light Bringer With A Thousand Names,

The One Who Shall Never Be Tamed,

You are all of these things and more.

You are limitless, boundless, free.

You are the inspiration of many,

By simply being who You are.

May You run free in the woods, in the wild,

With Your loyal band of nymphs,

Dancing and hunting and laughing,

For all of Your immortal life.

I wish You nothing but joy,

And I thank You for the times You've wished me,

All the same.

You are blessed, Glorious Goddess,

In so many ways,

And I am graced by Your presence.

You allow me to connect with nature,

To ground myself, to find joy, to embrace who I am.

You instill courage, give comfort, provide aid,

Even when You receive nothing or little in return.

You are so generous,

You are so kind,

And You are forever changing.

And throughout the many challenges,

That I have faced these past few years,

You've supported me.

Even when I did not believe in myself,

You believed in me,

And I am forever grateful for that.

Thank You, Kindly Artemis,

For everything.

You are a blessing to the world,

And all living things,

Big and small, prey and predator, plant and animal.

I will always have love in my heart for You.

Happy Thargelia; Happy Birthday.

[thequeerofdelphi]

My lovely altar on this the first day of Anthesteria 2023

[asterias-fallen-star]

Day 2 of Parapleustia and I’ve moved my altar (it’s yet to find a permanent home due to a lack of space), rearranged my book collection and other random things in my room, I was planning on going through things and donating some items but I didn’t get round to it (but hopefully I can look tomorrow)

Fairly successful in preparing for the new year in my own way, and hopefully this will give me new ideas of how to prepare next year

[kallisto-aglaia]

It's that time of year again!! Kala Anthestíria!

On Anthesteria

Anthesteria was one of the four major Athenian festivals dedicated to Dionysôs–the son of Zevs and either Semelê, Dionê, or Selênê and the Olympian God of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, and wild frenzy. Anthesteria was celebrated on the eleventh through thirteenth days of the Attikan lunar month of Anthesterion, which would be understood today as the lunar cycle spanning the late January/early February full moon. This festival celebrated the beginnings of Spring, fertility, and also gave homage to the Cult of the Dead throughout its three day span.

Each day of Anthesteria has a separate name with different themes of praxis. The first day of Anthesteria is referred to as Pithoigia, or literally “the Jar-Opening.” On this day, children under the age of three were adorned with wreaths made out of the first flowers of the year and the jars of wine from the year prior were opened and libations to Dionysôs were aptly performed. It was tradition for the entire household–including slaves–to join in the festivities of Anthesteria beginning on the day of Pithoigia. This is one of the biggest instances in ancient Greek culture of social order being interrupted for certain festivals. There is an alternate argument proposed by Jane Ellen Harrison that the jars being referred to during Pithoigia were not meant to be understood as wine-jars, but instead urns used in burial rites, making Pithoigia being the day of “opening the graves.” Personally, I feel that Pithoigia could be in reference to both the opening of jars and urns, considering the multitudes of use pithoi had. It would not be too off-base to make an educated assumption that the opening of wine-jars and burial urns would initiate both the festivities of Anthesteria and likewise the invitation of the dead amongst the living.

The second day of Anthesteria was referred to as Khoës, or literally “The Pouring.” The general drinking festivities of Anthesteria continued on this day, but there is also a very large implication that Khoës was a day with more of an erotic undertone. Outside of previously mentioned eroticism, festival-observers would play drinking games and pour wine onto the graves of their deceased loved ones. A very popular Anthesteria drinking game was simply gathering a group of people and seeing who was able to empty their cup of wine the quickest. Khoës appears to have been a day of friendship and connection, it would seem.

While on the topic of Khoës, I wanted to speak on an aspect that many people don’t reference when discussing the historical praxis involved in Anthesteria. This would be the divine marriage ceremony between the ritual Queen of Athens and that of Dionysôs. This particular ceremony involved an array of characters. First, we have the Archon Basileus who plays the role of Dionysôs. The Archon Basileus was the last remnant of an Athenian monarch and held a similarly high position to the Archon Eponymos and Polemarchos. The role of the Archon Basileus was basically to oversee the organization of religious festivals, ceremonies, and trials of homicide. Next we have the Basilinna, who was the wife of the Archon Basileus, The Basilinna was the ritual Queen of Athens, and her role was to be the bride of Dionysôs in the ceremony. This particular position was seen as immensely important to the well-being of the city considering this particular marriage ceremony was enacted as a method of keeping the city safe from various threats to the city. And finally we have the elected Gerarai–a group of fourteen priestesses chosen by the Archon Basileus to tend to the Basilinna and later for her to swear an oath to them prior to the procession.

Ludwig Deubner has proposed a theoretical reconstruction of the events of this ceremony, but we must understand that the ceremony in and of itself was very secretive and wrapped in the confines of Athenian mystery rites. Deubner proposes the ceremony begins with Dionysôs (played by the Archon Basileus) being taken to the sanctuary at Limnai where he was then married to the Basilinna. After their marriage ceremony, the Basilinna would swear an oath to the Gerarai and the newly-wedded Ritual Queen of Athens was taken in procession with her Divine Husband to the Boukoleion where their marriage was consummated. It is heavily suggested that the consummation of marriage between the Basilinna and Dionysôs was erotic in origin, and could have even involved ritual intercourse within the inner-chamber of the sanctuary. Walter Burkert, a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult, has speculated that this ceremonial union is a recreation of the yielding of Ariadne to Dionysôs by Theseus during their escape from Minoan Crete.

The last day of Anthesteria is called Khytroi, or “The Pots.” This day was the festival for the Cult of the Dead. On this day, there were to be no offerings for any non-chthonic Gods, and theaters were closed from performing any shows. Citizens of Athens would prepare separate food to be given as an offering to both Hermês Psykhopompos (in his aspect of Chthonic Psychopomp) and to the dead, which no mortal was supposed to taste. After these offerings were given the dead were begged to leave the city, with the proverb “Out of doors, Keres! It is no longer Anthesteria!” After the banishment of the spirits, the Athenians would continue their general Anthesteria festivities of drinking and merriment.

I want to note that both Pithoigia and Khoës, while accepted as the more light-hearted days of Anthesteria, were known to be both “unlucky,” and “defiled.” While spirits of the dead were invited to festivities, there were also precautions taken to keep them from coming too close. Temples were roped off, pitch was smeared on doors of homes, and people chewed leaves of hawthorn and buckthorn.

I recognize that modern celebration of Anthesteria cannot be as intricate as its ancient Athenian counterpart, but there are ways now that it can still be celebrated. You can celebrate through ancestral veneration and opening up new bottles of wine and performing libations to Dionysôs. If you are unable to drink wine, non-alcoholic drinks work just as well. You could also leave offerings and read the Orphic and Homeric Hymns to Dionysôs and maybe even read some plays about him. It is simply a time to reflect on deceased loved ones, the oncoming of spring, and the celebration of Dionysôs.

Below is a link to a web-published version of this essay that includes my sources in footnotes. Unfortunately, it has no photos because I am boring.

[countrydionysia]

2024 Rural Dionysia Announcement

Io! The time of the year has come again for the Rural Dionysia!

How to participate

The Rural Dionysia is meant to be a smaller competition than its urban counterpart, as such, we have selected only 3 categories:

Freestyle poetry

Modern hymns

“Complete the fragment”

Freestyle poetry

Your poem can be about any chosen topic (myth, personal experience etc.) in any written format. It doesn't have to be religious in nature.

Modern hymn

An hymn must sing the praises of a deity of your choice. Unlike the "freestyle poetry", your work must be of religious nature to fit in this category.

Complete the Fragment

Each year, we choose a fragment from an Ancient Greek poet to work with. The challenge is that the initial fragment must be included somewhere in your piece in its original order. This means you can fill the gaps however you want, but you can’t switch the order of the words in your piece or remove words from the original fragment.

Here is the fragment selected for this 2024 edition:

Fragment 113 by Alcaeus (trans. David A. Campbell; Loeb 142)

…kiss…(they) began…knowledge…sits…are…mortal

Here is the Greek text for reference. Note that because the word "they" is implied, it will be acceptable to keep or modify this word.

If in doubt for any of these categories, remember that you can check submissions from the previous years to get an idea of how others have done before.

Submitting your piece

Please submit your piece through submissions on this blog. All entries must be tagged for the category they are being submitted to. but you can only choose 1 category per piece and each person may only submit 1 entry per category each year.

Entries must also be tagged for potentially triggering content and squicks. If your entry needs a trigger warning, kindly add them at the end of your submission and we will take care of adding them in. Check the rules below for further information about submissions.

Calendar of the event

Nov. 16: Official announcement and opening of submissions. Dec. 17: Final submission day. Dec. 18: Vote opening. Dec. 25: Vote closing. Dec. 25-26: Announcement of the winners!

No worries though! We will be posting reminders about each step when the time comes.

General rules

Roleplay and fanfic are not acceptable submissions. This is a religious festival, please respect our faith and do not submit an entry if you are roleplaying or writing fanfiction.

Unlike with the City Dionysia, entries do not necessarily have to be about specific deities or Hellenic polytheism except for the “Modern Hymn” category, which has to be dedicated to one or many gods of your choice.

There are no meter restrictions. This is up to the writer.

All stories, myths, and poems must be entered using the submissions button.

All entries must be tagged for the category they are being submitted to. Entries must also be tagged for potentially triggering content and squicks.

An entry may only be submitted to a single category.

Each person may only submit one entry per category each year.

Winners for each category will be decided by popular vote.

Admins of this blog cannot participate, for obvious reasons. As for now, this includes @thegrapeandthefig @verdantlyviolet

Questions about the rules? Check the blog for past answers, your answer might be in there. And if it's not, simply submit an ask. We'll answer in the best delays possible.

[teawiththegods]

Reminder that you don’t need to celebrate festivals on their exact or estimated day(s). Unlike the ancient worshipers our society does not revolve around our religion so regardless of when our festivals are supposed to be held we may still have work, appointments, personal engagements, and other responsibilities. If moving the festival to a different day allows you to not only celebrate the way you wish but actually celebrate it then why not do that?

Think of it this way, if the choice was celebrate on a different day or not celebrate at all, which do you think the gods would choose???

This also applies to those days where you do plan to do xyz but for whatever reason (chronic illness, disabilities, mental health issues, have a bad/off day, or just life in general happens) don’t have the energy or focus to do it. You can push it back and plan to do it another day. That is not only allowed but completely appropriate. You don’t need to fall on your knees and beg the gods for forgiveness or punish yourself for it. It’s okay. You’re okay. 💕

[whim513]

Happy Aphrodisia!! to all who celebrate 🫶🏼🫶🏼 may Aphrodite be with you all 🌊🐚🌸🌷🎀💄🩷🩰 I’d love to hear what yall are doing to celebrate if anything! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the celebration (i didn’t know about it till yesterday 💀) heres as a link : ) and a post about it!

also i got this ^ image from @whispersinthewaters post, not sure if they made it but wanted to give credit just in case!! 🫶🏼🫶🏼

[dionysianfreak]

Happy Rural Dionysia my friends ! this year, I've sewn a hand-made patch of Dionysos onto my battle jacket <3 I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season, regardless of what you celebrate 🪻🍇🍷

[sag-dab-sar]

🔥 Festival of The First & Last 🔥

Happy New Years 🎉

December 31st 2023- January 1st 2024

Festival to Hestia

Along side her I placed the Oikos Theoi [Household Gods]. On the right: Zeus Ktesios (jar), Zeus Herkeios, Hera Oikos. On the left: Hekate, Apollo Argyieus, Hermes.

I'm only able to preform the low spoon version of this festival but still wanted to set this up. I hope I can complete the other half tomorrow. I'll use this for the jar candle bit I mention in the low spoon version.

I only had to get out 2 small boxes & Hestia's idol to set all this up.... except her candle I had no idea where her candle was so looking for that took up most energy. I had a feeling she really wouldn't like any candle except for hers.

I'm glad I set this up. My last drop of energy of 2023 went to the Theoi 🤍🔥

[khaire-traveler]

Happy Anthesteria!!!

I hope those who celebrate have a wonderful holiday! On my server, we came up with some good ways to celebrate in the modern day:

Make origami flowers for your deities

Offer Dionysus wine (or grape juice) and flowers

Watch a movie with Dionysus

Listen to devotional music

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday and the coming of spring (for those experiencing spring)! 💜❤️

[princesmeadow]

Happy Theogamia Lord Zeus and Lady Hera!

[ivycrownedpanther]

🍇💘 happy rural dionysia! 💘🍇

This is my altar for today! Theres a candle for Dionysus in the middle (back), bracelet I made for him on the left, fluorite hearts carving on the right, and a peen shaped cookie in the middle (front)

As for dionysia activities, today I’ve prayed to him and accidentally fell asleep, made sugar cookies (with vanilla frosting & sprinkles), read hymns, prayed again, and now I’m probably gonna play some video games and maybe later watch a movie :3

[hestiashearthfire]

Haloa 2024 was a smashing success! We offered prayers and libations to Demeter, Poseidon, and Dionysus, and then held a cookie decorating contest in their honor. In the spirit of Haloa, cookies were phallus-shaped, and all attendees got a mini crystal phallus to take home.

[countrydionysia]

Submit your vote!

Submissions are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted a piece for this edition of the Rural Dionysia! Are listed below this year's entries. Enjoy the read!

Freestyle Poetry

Nymphs by @junipersplace

Curious Light by @agressivepoet

QUALMS ABOUT UNANSWERING(?) GODS by @hellyeahmfwitchcrafttime

In wine, truth. by @piristephes

2 Makes 1 by @froggyart

Helene / Klytemnestra by @apiswitchcraft

Distance by @khaire-traveler

Modern Hymn

To Apollo of Parnassus by M. Rutilia Laeta @apis-vergilii

Minor Hymn to Love (Eros) by @piristephes

Hymn to Persephone by @apiswitchcraft

Complete the fragment

Selene's wisdom by @piristephes

For We Are Only Mortal - By Aön Re of @hyakinthou-naos

(alcaeus) muses on sappho's triumph by @imperturbitude

To vote:

Voting takes place via poll. You will be asked to vote for 1 entry per category. You have until Dec. 25th to vote and we will be announcing the winners on Dec. 26-27th latest.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

[hyakinthou-naos]

2025 Ritual Calendar

There is still work to be done, and some graphics on the mobile version that need adjustment. Currently, the website is best viewed on a laptop or desktop, but the mobile version is functional!

Just in time for the new year - our 2025 Ritual Calendar is here! Add it to your Google Calendar for ease of use and remembrance. Every Monthly Observances and Lunar-Solar Festival listed in the Google Calendar has a link to its corresponding page on our website.

Every festival’s historical basis and modern adaptations are listed and described on their corresponding webpages, with links and citations to all sources!

Prefer to have something physical? Free downloads of our minimalistic calendar are available via Google Drive! A PDF version of the entire calendar, as well as PNG images of each month.

ΑΓΑΠΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΓΑΠΗΣΟY: Love and Be Loved