DEMETRIA, an obscure festival or rite of Demeter, prob ably Athenian, in which the participants beat each other with whips of twisted bark, a well-known fertility charm (Pollux. i. 37, Hesych. s.v. µoporrov). Also a name given to the Attic Dionysia in compliment to Demetrius Poliorcetes (Plut., De metrius, 12) .
See Stengel in Realencyk., iv. 2,764.