GREEK FESTIVALS. Celebrations for the most part in honor of some god, and in their regular recurrence corresponding with the week ly rest-day of Jews and Christians. Offerings to the gods on the part of the State or individ uals were of almost daily occurrence, but of course caused no general cessation of labor. On the other hand at frequent intervals occurred great celebrations,duringwhich there seems to have been a general suspension of business, both public and private. These festivals were in general local, and their number naturally varied greatly in dif ferent places, and at different times. The Athe nians were famous for the number and splendor of their festivals, while, later, Tarentum was said to have more holidays than working days in her calendar. The tendency seems to have been to increase the number and duration of these oc casions, though it may well be doubted whether there was not a decrease in devotion. More and more the games, processions, and feasting at pub lic expense seem to have become the chief attrac tion. Sacrifices on the part of the State were of course a part of all such solemnities, and fre quently the image of the god was carried in solemn procession, but in the details there was a wide difference. Some festivals were attended with athletic contests, or recitations by the rhap sodists; some were the scene of musical or dra matic contests; while others were accompanied by rites which are obviously survivals of early popular superstitions. and for which analogies may be found in the folklore of other peoples. Thus at the Festival of Apollo, held in Attica during the month Pyanepsion, which theoreti cally begnn about the end of October, cooked beans as a symbol of the fruits of the autumn were offered to the god, and an olive branch, the so-called Eiresione, hung with figs, cakes, and small jars of oil, wine, and honey, was carried through the streets, and suspended from the temple by a boy whose parents were still living. Similar branches were borne by the attending worshipers. and afterwards hung at the doors of their houses. A complete list of the Greek festivals does not lie within the scope of this article, and may the more easily be omitted as many of them are mere names, about the cere monies connected with which we have no infor mation. The great national festivals were the Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean, for which see the articles OLYMPIAN GAMES; PYTHI AN GAMES; ISTHMUS; NEMEA. The great Atheni an festival in honor of Athena, which almost attained national rank, is treated under PANA THENYEA, and the Eleusinia in honor of Demeter are discussed under MYSTERIES. In the remain der of this article a few of the more prominent or interesting of the local festivals will be briefly described, and just those of Athens, for about them we are best informed.
The APATURIA occupied three days of Pyanep sion (October), and were not properly a State festival, as they were celebrated by the phra tries, in one of which every Athenian citi zen was enrolled. On the first day the phratry dined together, on the second sacrifices were of fered to Zeus phratries and Athena phratries, and on the third occurred the most important act of the festival, the reception into the phratry of the children born to its members in lawful wed lock during the previous year. Each father made oath as to the legitimacy of the child and fur nished an animal for sacrifice. Boys also seem to have shown their progress in their studies by recitations from the poets. At some time during the festival sacrifices were made to Apollo Patrons, HephTstus, and probably Dionysus of the black goatskin Cµeacivaryts). The celebration of the Apaturia is declared by Herodotus to have been characteristic of all true Ionians, but of the details of the celebration outside of Athens we are not informed. In the month Munychion (April) were celebrated the DEL PHINIA, in honor of Apollo. This festival was connected with the legend of Theseus's voyage to Crete, and as it occurred at the opening of navi gation, and was marked by a procession of maid ens bearing suppliants' branches of the Temple of Apollo to entreat his mercy, it seems to have been in the nature of a propitiation of the god, that he might grant favorable weather to sea men. A festival of the same name,•accompanied by athletic contests, was celebrated at YEgina, and as Delphinios is the name of a month in many Greek calendars, it is probable it was also celebrated elsewhere. Noteworthy for a curious ceremony were the DIPOLIA or DIPOLIEIA, cele brated in honor of Zeus in Scirophorion (June). On an altar on the Acropolis were placed barley and wheat, and an ox prepared for sacrifice was allowed to approach and eat. As soon as he
tasted the sacred food he was struck down with an axe by a priest, who at once dropped his axe and fled. The pursuit was only a form, but sub sequently all the participants were placed on trial, and finally the axe was condemned and cast over the borders of the country. The skin of the ox is said to have been stuffed and fastened to a plow. The whole ceremony seems to have originated at a time when the plow-ox was held sacred, and even his sacrifice to the gods needed atonement. In the Attic festivals a prominent place was occupied by the DioNvsiA, in honor of Dionysus. Four such festivals can be distin guished, though only two of them bear this name. In Poseideon (December) the Lesser or Country Dionysia were celebrated throughout the villages of Attica with every kind of merry making and mummery. A village procession led a goat for sacrifice to the altar of the god, and with the growth of the drama, plays, which had already been produced in the city, were per formed in the country theatres. In the next month (Gamelion) a similar festival, the LEN-EA, was celebrated in the city by the King Archon, at which plays were performed and sacri fices offered, so that they extended over several days. The next month, (February), was the time for the celebration of the ANTHES TEMA, which lasted three days. On the first day, the casks of new wine being opened, each family sacrificed, and rejoiced at the coming of the god of wine and spring. The second was the great day, on which the wife of the King Archon visited the ancient Temple of Dionysus in Limnm, and after various ceremonies returned to the Bouko leion, which she entered alone to be wedded to the god. The evening was one of wild revelry throughout the city, and seems to have ended in a great drinking bout at which he who first emptied his goblet received a prize. The third day was devoted to the gods of the lower world, and special offerings of the fruits of the earth were cooked for Hermes, the leader of the souls to the lower world. There are indications that during this festival the ghosts of the dead were believed to return to the world, and it is certain that the temples of the heavenly gods were closed during the whole festival. It seems therefore that the joyous revelry had been added to a celebration of quite a different character. Final ly in Elaphebolion (March) came the GREATER or CITY DIONYSIA, with the exception of the Panathemea, the most splendid of the Athenian festivals. On the eve of the first day a solemn procession escorted the statue of the god from his temple to the theatre. The first day was given up to the choral and lyric contests, and closed with a great procession of masqueraders. The three following days were filled with the per formances of the new tragedies and comedies, in the presence of an immense throng of citizens and strangers. Before this throng the sons of those. who had fallen in battle, on reaching their ma jority, were presented by the State with shield and spear. The importance of this festival for the development of Greek literature in its most finished and characteristic product, the Attie• drama, can scarcely be overestimated. The 7th of Thargelion (May) was the birthday of Apollo, and in preparation for its celebration a solemn purification was necessary on the 6th. The whole festival was the MARCELLA, and, like other Greek festivals, it was a union of the solemn and the glad. The first day saw solemn sacrifices to Demeter and the Mcera. or Fates, and there are indications that even in historical limes two human victims were sacrificed to• avert the wrath of the god, who sent the pestilence. In the fifth century B.C. these victims. seem to have been simply driven from the coun try. The second day saw the glad offering of the first fruits to Apollo, Helios the sun, and the• Harm, or Seasons, through whose care they had ripened. Last may be mentioned the solemn rites of Demeter and Persephone, celebrated by the women. at the THESMOPHORTA, from the 9th to the 13th of Pyanepsion (October). On the first day the women retired to a village near Athens, where on the second day secret rites, seemingly full of jests and mockery, were performed. On the third day they returned to the Thesmopho rion, a temple of the goddesses in Athens, where on the fourth day they fasted and offered propi tiatory or expiatory sacrifices. The fifth day was given up to dances and games, which were apparently of very doubtful propriety, and the celebration ended with banquets given by the wealthier women, and a solemn sacrifice.