Hey! I'm Edward Morgan, and I'm trying my best! I'm a Classics and HIstory student, and this is my space for posting and reblogging religious musings (recon Hellenic polytheist who needs a new blog name)
I'm a re-constructionist Hellenic Polytheist, and I'm trying my best to get back into a consistent religious practice :D
I've been dabbling (read: researching) hero worship, and am working on creating an info post on worship (both in antiquity and today) of Alexander the Great. Most of my practice currently is focused on Apollon, Aphrodite, and Hestia (and a bit of Zeus!), with a general worship of the Olympians.
I am currently studying Classics and History, and I have a blog where I post more silly/non-religious things about those subjects :) (@dear-old-pal-of-mine)
Please feel free to talk to me or ask questions! My non-pagan friends are tired of hearing me talk
Yesterday I "reconstructed" a recipe for popanon* and then baked it for Thargelia :)
Finding offering cake recipes is actually So Difficult and took me days; I've put my "recipe" and the sources I based it on under the cut (if you want a more extensive post on offering cakes, lemme know I've done Too Much research)
"Thus the burglars sacrifice, / bringing a basket, a wine-jar, not because of the gods, but themselves. The pious frankincense, and the god took the popanon all being set upon the fire ..."
Happy Thargelia! Here's a brief overview of this festival and the way I plan on observing it this year :) I encourage y'all to do your own research, as usual
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A Brief Overview in History
The Thargelia is a festival centered around Apollo, and is also a festival of seasonal renewal and "purification." It takes place on the 6th and 7th of Thargelion (around late April early May), with the 6th being Artemis' birthday, and the 7th Apollo's. "On Thargeilion 6, bad things are driven out, while on Thargelion 7, good things are carried in."
The first day of the festival is focused on purification of the city, both the populace and the crops/agriculture. Part of this "purification" is the selection of two "ugly" or older citizens as pharmakoi (lit. "drugs"), who are driven out of the city after a ritual of adorning the two with fig necklaces, and in some sources whipping with fig branches. These "scapegoats" are supposed to symbolically take on the city's problems, and therefore have those problems be driven out.
On the second day, there is a procession to the sanctuary, feats, and singing competitions. The main sacrifice on this second day is a "first-fruits" meal, some sources saying a loaf of bread, others saying a "stew." In any case, the intention is a sacrifice and feast of the first harvests of the season. There's also a procession to the sanctuary involving the carrying of eiresione, or laurel branch. Erika Simon claims that "the Athenians also seem to have put Eireionai above the doors of their houses."
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My practice:
Decorate with a (fake) laurel branch attached above the door
Specific offerings to Apollo Pythios, and readings of Homeric Hymn #3 and Orphic Hymn #34 during ritual
On the first day, during evening ritual, write things I want to remove or "purify" from my space and life on a piece of paper, fold and tear the paper up, and ask for them to be recognized as being "driven out" (dispose of as see fit)
On the second day, bake bread or offering cakes for Apollo, go on a walk and muse/think about Apollo as a stand-in for a procession; during evening ritual, ask for Apollo to help guide good things into my space/life, write these things on a piece of paper and leave on the shrine overnight
Χαίρετε φίλοι!!
Sources under the cut
Bremmer, Jan. “Scapegoat Rituals in Ancient Greece.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 87 (1983): 299. https://doi.org/10.2307/311262.
Hedrick, Charles W. “The Temple and Cult of Apollo Patroos in Athens.” American Journal of Archaeology 92, no. 2 (April 1988): 185. https://doi.org/10.2307/505629.
Simon, Erika. Festivals of Attica: An Archaeological Commentary. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983.
just found out about an online database powered by the university of Liège (and others) fully focused on Greek ritual norms (either leges sacrae or ritual calendars, but technically all normative inscriptions with ritual purpose) which is SO SEXY because now i can just search for particular gods in particular regions or centuries or with particular epithets or festivals and it will only give me documentation from that actual time and place instead of also textual sources which tend to distort the rites practiced or the capacity or identity of the deity worshipped. DOCUMENCE
it's the Collection of Greek Ritual Norms, and i highly recommend taking a look! It's not comprehensive (as a living publication it's always a work-in-progress) but it's super helpful. it follows modern editions of the inscriptions and presents translations and commentary as well.
I *finally* printed out a small version of the Attic festival calendar with the idea of marking off my morning and nightly prayers. Maybe it'll finally help keep me consistent!!
Persephone and Hades tending the soil after a harvest in order to ensure the bounty of the following year's harvest, maintaining the cycle of death and rebirth.
