Summer Solstice Deities and Festivities
Summer Solstice/Καλοκαίρι/Θέρος/ Litha Blessings to my Northern Hemisphere friends! 🌞
Today also happens to be Arrephoria (Ἀρρηφόρια), a festival in honour of Athena. More on that later in the post!
Some info about the summer-related deities in the graphic:
☀️Auxo (Αὔξω) is one of the Horae (Ὧραι), and the goddess and personification of summer. She is also a protectoress of vegetation, growth, and fertility.
☀️Theros (Θέρος) is another personification of summer and is usually depicted as a winged boy holding an ear of grain in one hand and a sickle in the other. Theros is the word for summer in Ancient Greek.
☀️Athena (Ἀθηνᾶ) is the Olympian goddess of wisdom and warfare. Her main festival is the Panathenaia, which was celebrated during Hekatombaion in midsummer. The solstice also starts off with Arrephoria. Sinoika is yet another celebration during the summertime that honours her.
☀️Apollo (Ἀπόλλων) is the Olympian god of sunlight, healing, music, and poetry.
☀️Helios ( Ἥλιος) is the Titan god and personification of the sun. He is also the god of eyesight and oaths.
I decorated my altar for the solstice and featured summer deities on the center of it.
I ate a (mostly) Mediterranean meal outside in the sunshine: kalamata olive spread, anaheim peppers, & extra virgin olive oil on gluten-free toast, gigantes beans with feta, and Persian cucumbers sprinkled with Greek oregano and paprika. 😋
I also did a lot of research to put together this post. That honestly took up most of my day. 😆
And now onward to Arrephoria!
Arrephoria (Ἀρρηφόρια) stems from the words "ἀρρητον" (mystery) and "φέρω" (I carry/bring). It is a midsummer fertility festival that honours Athena and takes place on the first day of the Estival Solstice.
In Ancient Athens, two young girls from aristocratic families were elected to reside as arrephoroi (άρρήφοροι: virgin acolytes of Athena Polias) at the Arrephorion on the Acropolis for a year at a time. Their main responsibilities included maintaining Athena's sacred olive tree and with the aid of other women, weaving Athena's new peplos.
On the evening of Arrephoria, the girls donned in white clothing placed what Athena's priestess gave them (a mystery item in closed chests) atop their heads. Then, they both carried the chests down (without looking at the items) to the temenos (τέμενος: holy grove) of Aphrodite via a concealed stairway inside the north wall and proceeded to carry something else (possibly dew from the spring) back up to the Acropolis.
With Hekatombaion (the 1st is the Athenian New Year) around the corner, Arrephoria also served as a "tying up" of the old year, ensuring nothing was carried over into the new one.
What you can do for Arrephoria:
📑finish any unfinished projects
👕declutter (i.e. donate clothing you no longer need)
🧹if you didn't clean your altar(s) for Kallynteria, now is the time to do it
💧pour a libation of dew or water for Athena
🍱have a hearty feast and offer some to Athena
*Kallynteria and Plynteria were two rituals that prepared for Arrhephoria.
The myth the ritual itself is based on:
Kekrops (Κέκροψ), the first mythical king of Athens, had three daughters named Aglauros (Ἄγλαυρος), Erse (Ἕρση), and Pandrosos (Πάνδροσος) - each name referring to dew. One night, Athena gave them a closed basket. While she forbade them to open it, Aglauros' and Herse's curiosity got the better of them, so they took a peek, only to see a baby (Ericthonios, Hephaestus' mysterious son).
Seeing as they broke her trust, Athena punished them by making snakes appear out of the basket, merely to scare them. Startled, the two girls jumped off the Acropolis and met their untimely demise.
Pandrosos didn't partake and was spared. Eventually, a shrine was errected in her name (located next to the sacred olive tree). Therefore, on Arrephoria, Pandrosos (in addition to Athena) were commemorated, and the two arrephoroi fulfilled the unfinished duty of the other two.
Sources: "Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion" by Matthew Dillon, Hellenion.com: Arrephoria, Archaeology.org: Acropolis Arrephorion Restoration
