Solstitium
(Summer Solstice, Litha, c. June 21)
Gk. Hai Therinai Hêliou Tropai.
© 1995, Apollonius Sophistes
The month of June is under the guardianship of Mercury and is sacred
to Hercules and Fons Fortuna. The first half of the month is
ill-omened, and as little business as possible is conducted at this
time.
Pluntêria (Grk., mid-June; ancient: last week of Thargêlion [mid-May – mid-June], perhaps 25 Thargêlion).
This is the festival for washing (pluntêria hiera) the ancient statue of Athena Polias
(Guardian of the City); bathing sacred images was a common custom in
Greece and elsewhere. (Women have cleaned the temple a few days earlier
in a rite called the Kalluntêria, which means “to beautify by
sweeping.” At this time, the priestess also refills and relights
Athena’s eternal flame in the temple.) The day is considered unlucky (apophras)
because the Goddess is absent from the city; it begins a rupture of the
normal order, a void between the old year (which ends in a month) and
the new.
Women remove the peplos (robe) and jewelry from the ancient
image of Athena, which is then wrapped and carried in a procession to
the washing place. The procession is led by a woman carrying a basket
of fig pastries, for the fig is an ancient fertility symbol and was the
first cultivated food; the sweetmeats may be offered to the Goddess at
the shore. Mounted Ephêboi (young men) may also accompany
the (veiled) image. It is brought to the shore (for it should be
purified in running water, especially salt water), where it is bathed
by two girls, the Loutrides (Bathers); the peplos may be
cleaned at the same time (perhaps by a priest). That evening the
Goddess is returned to the temple in a torchlight procession and is
clothed with the clean peplos and adorned with Her jewels. Only the Loutrides and the women who dress and undress the Goddess are permitted to see Her naked.
The ancient statue was of human size or less, carved of olive wood, and
probably showed the Goddess seated without weapons. She wore a tall,
golden stephanê (crown) and She may have had a Gorgoneion (Medusa head) on her breast.
[BGR 228; PFA 152-5; SFA 46-8]
Arrhêphoria (Grk., mid-June; the
exact date is unknown, but it was near the beginning the month of
Skirophoriôn [mid-June - mid-July]).
Two young girls (perhaps seven years old), the Arrhêphoroi (perhaps “Carriers of Unspoken Things”) who are the ritual daughters of the Archôn Basileus (Priest-King), have spent the preceding year living by the temple of Athena Polias. Some say they have been weaving a new peplos (robe) for Athena, which they will bring to Her in the sacred procession (see Panathenaia, c. Aug. 14).
In a secret nocturnal rite, the Priestess gives the Arrhêphoroi
a package, the contents of which are hidden from all three. They take
the package by a secret path to the sanctuary of Aphrodite in the
Gardens, and bring back another secret package. Thereafter the Arrhêphoroi
are replaced by two new girls. This rite recalls when Athena gave the
casket containing Erichthonios to the daughters of King Kekrôps,
who acted as nurses. Two of them disobeyed Her order not to look in the
casket, and when they saw the serpent-man they jumped to their deaths
from the Acropolis. The name of the faithful nurse was Pandrosos
(All-dew), or, according to others, the two self-sacrificing daughters
were Pandrosos and Hersê (which also means Dew). (The festival’s
name might also be spelled Ersêphoria — Dew Carrying.)
The olive tree, which was Athena’s special gift to Athens, bears small
olives if there is not sufficient dew at this time of year. Aphrodite,
as Goddess of the Morning and Evening Star, was responsible for the
dew, and so Her cooperation was essential.
The Arrhêphoroi wear white robes and eat Anastatos (Made-to-rise), a special light bread.
[BGR 228-9; LSJ s.v. Arrhêphoroi; PFA 141-3; SFA 39-46]
Skirophoria (Grk., c. June 27; ancient: 12 Skirophoriôn, full moon).
The Skirophoria (also known as the Skira) occurs at the time of the
cutting and threshing of the grain. The Priestess of Athena, the Priest
of Poseidon and the Priest of Helios go to the Skiron, a place sacred
to Demeter, Korê, Athena Skiras and Poseidon Pater, for here
Athens and Eleusis were reconciled. Athena and Poseidon represent city
life, and Demeter and Kore represent agriculture; Helios witnesses
Their oaths (as He witnessed the abduction of Korê). The Skiron
is where, according to tradition, the first sowing took place. A large,
white canopy (called the skiron) is carried over the priests’ and priestesses’ heads during the procession.
The Skirophoria is celebrated mainly by women (as men dominate the City Dionysia,
Mar. 24–8). To bring fertility, they abstain from intercourse on this
day, and to this end they eat garlic to keep the men away. They also
throw offerings into the megara — sacred caves of Demeter: cakes shaped like snakes, phalluses and sucking pigs. (These become the Thesmoi
— things laid down — that are removed in the Thesmophoria, c. Oct. 26.)
This ceremony recalls the swineherd Eubouleus who was swallowed up with
his pigs when Persephone was abducted into the underworld by Hades.
The men have a race in which they carry vine-branches from the
sanctuary of Dionysos to the temple of Athena Skiras. The winner is
given the Pentaploa (Fivefold Cup), containing wine, honey,
cheese, some corn and olive oil. He alone is allowed to share this
drink with the Goddess, to whom a libation is poured so that She will
bless these fruits of the season.
[NFR 25; OCD s.v. Scirophoria; PFA
156-161; SFA 19, 22-4]
Minor Festivals
Festival for Fors Fortuna (Rom., June 24; ancient: VIII Kal. June).
Fors Fortuna (Fortune) was honored on this day, the Summer Solstice in
the old calendar. This is a time of happy and even drunken celebration;
rides on boats decorated with flowers are especially popular. Sellers
of flowers, vegetables, wool, bronze, etc. bring their goods to market,
which they sell with praises to Fortuna, or they dedicate them to the
Goddess. [OF VI.771-784; SFR 155-6]
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Last updated:
2006-02-05.