Aries: Daedala – celebrated in Boeotia in honor of Hera. In the festival, a wooden statue was dressed completely as a bride, to present Hera’s protectiveness of marriages and brides. At the end of the festival the statue would be burned along with sacrificial animals and a wooden altar.
Taurus: Noumenia – celebrated on the first day of the lunar month, it was described as the holiest of all days. On that day everything exhausting or stressful was forbidden, government would shut down, along with everything else in the city. Everyone just stayed at home and relaxed. Later in the day they would go out and give their offerings to the gods.
Gemini: Hybristica – festival in honor of Aphrodite at which either sex appeared in the dress of the other. Women would insult their husbands and treated them with every mark of inferiority as they are for the rest part of the year and men were forced to just sit there in their dresses and stay quiet.
Cancer: Antesphoria – Flower festival celebrated on Sicily and Peloponnesus in honor of Persephone. It represented her gentle and soft side before she was taken to the Underworld. On this day everyone would pick the most beautiful flowers and make wreaths and leave them on the ground as an offering.
Leo: Pyanopsia – Athenian festival in Apollo’s honor. This festival included playing of rustic music and brining two offerings to Apollo’s temple. Hodgepodge of pulse (the first ripen fruits and edible seeds of previous harvest) and a branch of olive or laurel bound with wool, around which were fruits common in that season
Virgo: Brauronia – Festival of Artemis in Brauron, in which girls, aged between five and ten, dressed in saffron robes and played a game where everyone acted like they are bears. They danced, trying to appease to the goddess. Since she sent a plague to their city after her bear was killed..
Libra: Adonia – festival held annually for women to mourn the death of Adonis. It was not a state festival, but actually organized solely by women of Athens. From notable wives to prostitutes. During the festivals all the women danced. sang and drank on their rooftops before descending to the street and mimicking a funeral for Adonis.
Scorpio: Thargelia – festival in the honor of Apollo and Artemis. It was held in May on their birthdays. The festival included offerings of the first fruits of the earth that came after the winter, sacrificing sheep and swine + sacrificing two ugliest men they could find. One for the protection of men and one for the protection of women.
Sagittarius: Orgia – enraptured style festival. It is more of a cult worship than a festival. It was on Dionysus honor. Participants were heavily under influence of alcohol and would dance around with masks and torches in their hands and trying to sacrifice as many animals, that surrounded them, as they could.
Capricorn: Panathenaea – Athenian festival in honor of goddess Athena. It was held every 4 years in rivalry with Olympic games. It is one of the biggest and most important festivals. It consists of lots different games. Embroidering new robe for Athena, musical contests, sports and sacrificing of domestic animals.
Aquarius: Cotyttia – night orgiastic festival that celebrated sex. It was in honor of Kotys, goddess of sex, but it is actually believed that that is just an aspect of Persephone. They celebrated Persephone’s transfer to the Underworld and the fact that she gave into Hades and let him have her body.
Pisces: Dionysia – Athenian festival in honor of God Dionysus. It consists of theatrical performances of tragedies and comedies. It was also big part of Dionysian mysteries.
Signs as ancient Greek festivals
Published
Think Things 