Ancient greek festivals / Праздники Древней Греции

ANCIENT GREEK

FESTIVALSStudent: M.A.Vinokurova

Group АОП-112Checked by: M.V.Maksimova

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

NORTH-EASTERN FEDERAL UNIVERSITYINSTITUTE OF FOREIGN PHILOLOGY AND REGIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PHILOLOGY AND REGIONAL STUDIES

YAKUTSK 2015

Plato, Laws, 8.828b: “that there are twelve feasts to the twelve gods who give their names to the several tribes: to each of these they shall perform monthly sacrifices and assign choirs and musical contests, and also gymnastic contests, as is suitable both to the gods themselves and to the several seasons of the year;”

processions

FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDED:

singing

dancing sacrifices

Banquets

Demeter - Persephone

- initiation ceremonies of greatest importance based at Eleusis, promoting a belief that there was a hope for life after death for those who were initiated.

THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES14th-23th boedromion

Cicero, Laws II, xiv, 36:«For among the many excellent and indeed divine institutions which your Athens has brought forth and contributed to human life, none, in my opinion, is better than those mysteries. For by their means we have been brought out of our barbarous and savage mode of life and educated and refined to a state of civilization; and as the rites are called "initiations," so in very truth we have learned from them the beginnings of life, and have gained the power not only to live happily, but also to die with a better hope.»

- women-only festival, promoting fertility and forming a union of women

THESMOPHORIA11th-13th pyanepsion

more about thesmophoria:→ «Thesmop

horiazusae», Aristophanes

sacrifice: pigs

name derives from thesmoi, or laws by which men must work the land

virgins were not permitted to take part

Aphrodite goddess of love, beauty and sexuality

an annual festival held in honor of the goddess Aphrodite, took place in several towns, but was especially important in Attica and on the Cyprus, where Aphrodite Pandemos was celebrated with a magnificent celebration

APHRODISIA4th-7th hekatombaion the first

ritual of the festival is purifying the temple with the blood from a dove

afterwards worshippers are carrying sacred images of the goddess in a procession to be washed

it was not permitted to make bloody sacrifices, since the altar could not be polluted with the blood of the sacrifice victims, which were usually white male goats, excluding the blood of the sacred dove

Zeus god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice OLYMPIC GAMES

every 4 years- religious and athletic festival held in Olympia. Competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. These Games featured athletic, combat sports, horse and chariot racing events. During the Games, all conflicts among

the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities was known as the Olympic peace. This peace did allow those religious pilgrims who were traveling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus.The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, featuring sporting events alongside ritual sacrifices honoring both Zeus and Pelops. Pelops was famous for his chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of the events were admired and immortalized in poems and statues.

Poseidon god of the sea, earthquakes, storms, and horses

held biennially in April or May, celebrated with a wreath of pine and later of dry celler, were named after the isthmus of Corinth, where they were held

ISTHMIAN GAMESevery 2 years

Flaminius restoring Liberty to Greece at the Isthmian Games

The Games of 196 BC were used by Titus Quinctius Flamininus to proclaim the freedom of the Greek states from Macedonian hegemony.

one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, held every four years during five days, which included religious ceremonies, large banquet, musical and athletic contests, horse races.The winners received a wreath of bay laurel, sacred to Apollo, from the city of Tempe, in Thessaly.

APOLLO god of music, healing, light, prophecy and enlightenment

THE STADIUM OF DELPHI FOR THE PYTHIAN GAMES

PYTHIAN GAMESevery 2 years

festival, at which two or four girls between the ages of 7 and 11, chosen by the basileus (archontes) to serve Athena Polias

ARRHEPHORIA3th skirophorion

Athena goddess of wisdom

"When I was just seven, I was arrephoros, then at ten, I was aletris for the archegetis, then I carried the orange robe as arkios (bear) at Brauronia, and finally, having become a beautiful girl, I was kanephoros, with a necklace of dried figs."

stages of the women during Arre(h)ephoria festival from Lysistrata, B.C. Aristophanes

The Arrephoroi during the Panathenaic procession from the east zoforos of the Parthenon

- the most important of all the festivals at Athens, inaugurated by the mythical king Erichthonius. There are three major parts of festival: Great Panathenaea, Lesser Panathenaea and Panathenaic Games.

PANATHENAEA28th hekatombaion

At sunrise of Athena's birth day - the torch-race started. The object was to bring the new fire from the grove of Academus, beyond the city walls, to the altar of Athena on the Acropolis. There followed a grand procession, in which the whole citizen population took part. Winner received as prize an amphora filled with olive oil, and was crowned with a branch of olive.

runners at the Panathenaic Games

Dionysus god of the wine, fertility and theatreANTHESTERIA11th -13th anthesterion

- festival of the vine flower, celebrated in Athens. This is  a feast of the dead as well.

women were excludednew wine

was broached and followed by a drinking contest, the second day was the Feast of Cups, the third the Feast of Pans

vases, filled with grain of all kinds, were borne in procession and dedicated to Hermes

wine vessel, that was given as gift during the Anthesteria

LENAIA12th-15th gamelion

- festival were the wine of the season was born. The theater was an integral part of Dionysus’s festival Lenaea. Many of the great Greek tragedies actually originated during this festival.

more about lenaia:→ «The

Acharnians», Aristophanes

DIONYSIA10th - 17th elaphebolion

- the second-most important festival after the Panathenaia, the central events of which were the theatrical performances, everyone was invited to be entertained in theatre. During the celebration business life stopped, prisoners were freed in order to participate. The Dionysia consisted of two festivals, the Rural Dionysia and the City Dionysia.

Festival opened with a phallic parade, in which the god's image was born through the streets of Athens and brought to the Temple of Dionysus. After completion of the sacrifices, the image was now born to the theatre dancing floor (the orchestra) accompanied by torch bearers - and there it stood throughout the presentation of the plays over the next several days but not before the komos, or revel, a night-long feast and celebration.

RESOURCES1. carnaval.com/greece/

festivals2. ime.gr3. rwaag.org4. thehouseofvines.com5. wikipedia.org