🛡️ Subtle Athena Worship 🗡️

The Attic Calendar

I’ve been wanting to make a post on the Attic Calendar, which was the lunisolar of Athens. Despite the numerous resources available, our knowledge of it still remains patchy due to the fact that since it wasn’t used outside of Athens, no one really bothered to make an extensive examination of it. I’ll try to explain the calendar as best as I can, and in a future post, I’ll try to cover every festival I can (Including Roman and non-Athenian festivals).

New Moon, Hekate’s Deipnon, & Noumenia

Before we discuss the months, it is quintessential to learn these three very important dates. Despite what I’ve seen from others, the new moon does not correlate with Noumenia. The Noumenia takes place 2 days after the new moon. This is because the Noumenia was marked when the first sliver of the moon was able to be seen.

“Ok, but why should we know about the Noumenia and Hekate’s Deipnon?”

Well, the Noumenia was the start of an Attic month. Hekate’s Deipnon was the end of the Attic month. I’ll explain the importance of these dates.

Hekate’s Deipnon

The day right after the new moon, Hekate’s Deipnon, also simply just called the Deipnon, was a meal served to Hekate. It was believed that on this day, Hekate called upon the restless spirits of the Underworld to roam the living world for a night. Because of this, it was incredibly unlucky to leave the house during the night hours.

To appease them, the Athenians would lay out a meal at a crossroads (typically in front of the doorway), as the crossroad is sacred to Hekate. This was done to purify the household of misdeeds and to return favor with Hekate. The Athenian would not look back on the offering, due to believing the spirits would be angry with them doing so. This meal typically consisted of raw eggs, cakes, loaves, fish, garlic, leeks, and/or onions. Incense was also lit.

This also had a secondary purpose, of which was feeding the poor. It was believed that Hekate encouraged the poor to eat the food laid out by the rich Athenians:

“From her (Hekate) one may learn whether it is better to be rich or to go hungry. For she says that those who have and who are wealthy should send her a dinner each month, but that the poor among mankind should snatch it before they put it down.’ For it was customary for the rich to offer loaves and other things to Hekate each month, and for the poor to take from them.“  -  Aristophanes in the Suda,(Suda Epsilon 363, C10th CE, trans. W. Hutton)

If the household felt they were polluted, each member would touch a dog and put all their misdeeds onto it, and they would sacrifice the dog to Hekate. This is unfathomable nowadays, and in modern practice the sweeping and cleaning of the house should work just fine. (This is also when you should clean out the kathiskos made in honor of Zeus Ktesios)

In summary, the day was used to appease restless spirits and to purify the house before the new month begins.

Noumenia

The Noumenia was the first day of the Attic month, and the second day after the new moon. Household deities were honored and worshiped on this day, but also including Selene and Apollo Noumenios.

This was a day of relaxation and no work, considered the “holiest of days” by Plutarch. No festivals were allowed to take place during the Noumenia. Frankincense, wine, flower garlands, and barley cakes were common offerings during the Noumenia.

Holy Days

You got the Noumenia and Hekate’s Deipnon down? Good, because there’s actually more. The first couple days of each month was holy to a specific God. The 1st day was for the Noumenia, 2nd day was for the Agathos Daimon, 3rd day was for Athena, 4th day was for Aphrodite, Herakles, Eros, and Hermes, 5th day was considered very unlucky so no Gods had a holy day there (except for the Erinyes and Eris), 6th day was for Artemis, 7th day was for Apollo, 8th day was for Poseidon and Theseus, and the 9th day was for Rhea, Helios, and the Muses.

The Years

The final thing we need to talk about before we even get to the months is the years. Every 4 years completed an Olympiad, which was used to determine the Olympic games. Each different year in a Olympiad was generally the same, though some festivals could only be on a specific year. Some years also had an additional month (it was unclear which month would be duplicated, but nowadays we always duplicate the month of Poseidon) in order to keep the lunar dates in line with the solar dates. For example, this year (2020 before the Athenian New Year) is the 3rd year of the 699th Olympiad. This means in 2021, it will be the 700th Olympiad, which is quite rare since every 100 Olympiads is 400 years!

Whew. Time to finally talk about the months!

Hekatombaion

Hekatombaion was the first month in the Attic calendar. It always took place after the first new moon of the summer solstice. (This was how they kept the calendar in tune with the seasons; it was necessary to do so since Greece has very pronounced seasons). It generally correlates to July and August.

Hekatombaion 1st was the Athenian New Year, but unlike in the modern day, it was of very little importance to the regular Athenian. The actual new year festivities would take place during the Panathenaea, which took place later in the month. 

This month would also host the Kronia and Synoikia.

Metageitnion

Metageitnion was the second month. It generally correlates to August and September.

This month hosted the Eleusinia (NOT related to the Eleusinian Mysteries) and the Herakleia.

Boedromion

Boedromion was the third month. It generally correlates to September and October.

This month hosted the Niketeria, Genesia, the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries.

Pyanepsion

Pyanepsion was the fourth month. It generally correlates to October and November.

This month hosted the Proerosia, Pyanepsia, Oskhophoria, Theseia, Stenia, Thesmophoria, Apatouria, and Khalkeia.

Maimakterion

Maimakterion was the fifth month. It generally correlates to November and December.

This month hosted the Pompaia.

Poseideon

Poseidon was the sixth month. It was also the month duplicated if need be, resulting in the month Poseidon-2, but it is unclear if any festivals were repeated or if there was any new festivals for it. It generally correlates to December and January.

This month hosted the Poseidea, Plerosia, Lesser Dionysia, and Haloa.

Gamelion

Gamelion was the seventh month. It generally correlates to January and February. 

This month hosted the Lenaia and the Theogamia.

Anthesterion

Anthesterion was the eighth month. It generally correlates to February and March.

This month hosted the Anthesteria, the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, and the Diasia.

Elaphebolion

Elaphebolion was the ninth month. It generally correlates to March and April.

This month hosted the Elaphebolia, Asklepia, Greater Dionysia, and Pandia.

Mounukhion

Mounukhion was the tenth month. It generally correlates to April and May.

This month hosted the Delphinia, Mounukhia,and the Olympeia.

Thargelion

Thargelion was the eleventh month. It generally correlates to May and June.

This month hosted the Thargelia, Bendideia, Kallynteria, and Plynteria.

Skirophorion

Skirophorion was the twelfth and final month. It generally correlates to June and July.

This month hosted the Arrephoria, Skira, and Dipolieia/Bouphonia.

Where can I check these dates?

Hellenion is pretty amazing for this, here is 2020. It has links to each festival with further explanations too. HMEPA is also great as you can go through really every year. Here’s the link to it.

Hope you enjoyed! On the Athenian New Year I plan to release a wave of posts for each month (in the Gregorian months) for all festivals (including Roman and non-Athenian) with details and how to do them. Thanks for reading!

Thanking the Theoi (in Ancient Greek)

ever since I learned how to say “thank you” in ancient greek it’s felt so much more FUN and natural to thank the Theoi. In everyday life, in prayer, etc.

From my pieced together knowledge (thank you @piristephes ):

χάριν / χᾰ́ρῐτᾰς - (trans.: KA-rihn pl.: KA-ri-tas)

“Thank you”

χάριν σοι ἔχω / χάριν ὑμῖν ἔχω - (KA-rrihn (Soy / Umin) Eh-hyo)

“I hold  (you / you all ) in thanks”

μεγάλην χάριν σοι έχω - (Meh-GA-lehn Ka-rrihn So-ih Eh-hyo)

“Thanks a lot”

'its just IMPOSSIBLE to not be addicted to your phone nowadays its UNREALISTIC-'

heres some advice to being less chronically online. for gen z (and younger??) who dont even know how to start thinking about it and have only heard shitty advice from older adults who just genuinely do not get it, from a fellow gen z and my experiences so far.

*these are personal and may not all 100% resonate but its still good prompting to start thinking about things! PLEASE feel free to add your own stories/advice in the notes! support your fellow humans, dont gatekeep what youve learned, lets have these conversations! and no negativity/pessimism please <3

first thing is to make it a less scary thought, a more concrete idea and not a hypothetical. it doesnt have to be all-or-nothing, cold turkey, a huge announcement and a fundamental shift in your personality. the internet will be in your life for the rest of your life, this is an ongoing relationship you are trying to make healthier thats all! and it takes one step at a time and some self-compassion, but a true effort nonetheless. 'dont you think thats a bit too serious-' if youre my age you quite literally grew up and developed online, it is literally part of your psyche the way your childhood is, it IS serious, you deserve to treat it seriously.

dont save your login info/dont stay logged in for social media accounts, having to manually log in when you want to go on like youre on some elementary school chrome book is a really healthy and clear boundary to have between being logged off and logged on.

-> bigger challenge - uninstall it on your phone in general, only log on on your laptop/pc if applicable for you!

if youre motivated to, try to work on your posture too. i only say that because most of our bad posture is at least partially related to being on our phones a lot, and when i started wanting to fix my posture, completely separately and unrelated from trying to break my phone addiction, it made it easier to lose interest in my phone since i didnt want to ruin my progress with my posture. it made me start to have a mindset like 'well if you cant do this on your phone with good posture then dont do it' and 'if youre on your phone so long your posture starts to cave in, youve probably spent too long on your phone anyway'

listen to music more. its easier for me to kinda write off my phone and do other things if i just open music or a podcast or long youtube video on it. i know we all love long video essays, but i recommend music more specifically for me at least because im less inclined to pause music or scroll while listening to it for some reason? whereas using a show or video or podcast for white noise, im way more likely to also be scrolling on my phone and that is my activity lol. music for some reason i dont want to interrupt and instead of being on my phone i can clean or do something productive on my computer etc

this one is sooo hard but try to fall asleep with some distance between you and your phone, even just a couple feet. mine stays on the desk next to my bed which isnt that far but its better than on bed like it used to be. when you wake up you probably wont feel like reaching for it right away if its far and even better if you have to get up for it because then at least you stand and move your body first thing instead of looking at your phone first thing. and try to get more and more of your morning routine done before touching your phone over time.

-> for me, i started by just trying to at least wake up a bit in bed before touching it, then stand up before touching it, then stand and stretch, then going to the bathroom first, making coffee first, feeding the cat first, etc. its surprisingly helpful to have a specific chore/task in mind that is The requirement so that everytime you do it you get a lil dopamine rush for unlocking your phone from yourself lmao. when the weather was nice i used to make my Requirement being outside first before going on it and i LOVED that. esp as it got easier and i started doing more and more before going on it and finally walking outside with coffee and my phone felt like such a pleasant little reward.

find a hobby that uses your hands. example: i really need to get back into knitting because when i did it regularly so much time that wouldve been on my phone was spent knitting with music/podcasts/shows/(even online lectures! when i felt productive lol) playing. its the same amount of physical relaxing - barely moving lol - but uses a longer attention span and a much better dopamine hit than scrolling, i literally MADE things.

-> you might be thinking, 'but mindless knitting isnt better than mindless scrolling is it?' but that mindless feeling on your phone is just that, mindless. the mindless feeling you get when doing something like knitting is actually closer to a flow state, which is actually incredibly good for you, like a fulfilling nutritious meal as opposed to 'empty calories' or whatever

get a widget for your homescreen that shows your screen time. i have one and of course it doesnt always stop me but seeing that time go up all day the more i use it and the pride of keeping it low is really helpful

practice grounding. in general.

spend more time on anonymous activities and have more privacy and less attachment with your 'persona' - what i mean by that is, i consider things like scrolling through tumblr (for me personally!) to be relatively harmless because i dont try to like,, brand myself here. if youre a tumblr regular you know the jokes - 0 follows, 0 notes, screaming to the void, moots you dont talk to, blorbo pfp and urls, fake names everywhere, and we're having fun! basically targeting the 'everyone is famous now' thing with this one - embrace being a nobody with no personal stakes here

-> personally ive never kept up with having social media accounts that are actually just, me irl - like a facebook or main instagram, like a locals account yknow? but i think it goes for that too - stop spending so much time trying to further personalize your online presence in the hopes of it representing you perfectly - because it never will, and it shouldnt, and you shouldnt aspire for that. your social media presence is lighthearted and incredibly surface-level, treat it like that! thats not me bashing social media either, having that mindset will make it more enjoyable bc youll be using it as it should be used!

do following/followers or camera roll/files or app purges. this is also a soft launch type of way to practice easing into a better mindset. aside from just literally getting rid of junk, the process of trying to judge whether or not you need something is good practice in mindfulness! even if you dont delete everything you feel like you maybe should, thats fine, youll do other purges in the future too. eventually youll get better at parting with things and realizing when things that feel good in a moment are actually bad for you. and it forces you to regularly check in on your more long-lasting parasocial relationships online and how theyre serving you or not

speaking of parasocial - for actual friends, if theyre irl, think about how much you interact with them online vs in person and why you think that is and how it affects you. maybe youll wanna see them more irl if possible (i promise its better for your friendship), maybe youll realize you dont need to keep tabs on them anymore (old high school acquaintances lookin at you). for celebrities and fandom things - try to think about the bare minimum content from them you could do with. you dont have to unstan all your faves and stop enjoying things - but do you need their notifications on? if you have designated fan accounts, are they still a source of joy or of stress? do you need them on all the platforms or just one or two? do you need to have all that saved content of them? are there aspects of this that you love that could be found elsewhere, maybe even offline? (again you dont have to stay one way forever, just encouraging checking in with yourself!)

if youre of the genre of online where you just cant help yourself from getting involved in big discussions or discourse and arguments - i recommend journaling when you get upset by something online, articulating your feelings without the idea of someone ever reading it and without the goal of 'winning' or being the most correct and logical or even the most sympathetic and morally good. take away every audience aspect of it. what is this really about for you, and why would strangers online deserve to hear your personal well-thought out opinions? why would your thoughts deserve to be simplified and misconstrued and underappreciated the way they would be in this discussion? is there even an outcome to this where you feel truly satisfied? are their people who are more worthy of hearing your thoughts who arent part of this audience? is this a conversation that is best held online where so much communicative nuance is inevitably sacrificed?

in the end these are all just practices in remembering how in control you are. and that goes for if any of these are scary or too difficult sounding too! these all become less scary if you remember that as soon as anything becomes too uncomfortable or painful, you have all the power to stop doing it, make a change, and try again later. so much of advice for quitting bad habits can be intimidating because the pressure and the shame that would come from failing scares you out of the possible benefits of trying - just go ahead and kill that shame from the jump. of course youre going to fail! you are going to have setbacks! thats part of it! you have agency in this, always. the internet is not inherently or completely evil nor good. build trust in yourself to make the calls on when it is serving you and when it isnt on a case-by-case basis, and then give yourself permission to learn through trial and error.

and remember you are worth all of this effort. i believe in us <3

being self-directed, being my own muse, my own inspiration, my own mental point of origin, putting my own opinion of myself first, these are what gives me the confidence to happily do as I please and live my life without caring what others feel about my decisions and most importantly, without caring what decisions others are making with their lives. this is being self centered in a healthy way.

Wouldn't you like from the Epic musical.

I absolutely love how many times I'm seeing Epic mentioned here

@sidsinning @tinyowlet @unfortunately-a-miraculous-fan

ATTENTION

If you see this you are OBLIGATED to reblog w/ the song currently stuck in your head :)

To my uk trans people and allies out there.

i'm on vacation so i have more time to do more of mlb social media :DD

Hey *hand on shoulder* you know that Greece, along with most of the balkan countries, has been under ottoman turkish rule for more than 400 years? You know that Greece today has many economic problems today, despite it's history being rich?

You know that Greece is very prone to forest fires and natural disasters?

Also, do you know that Greece, along with Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Montenegro... They are all protesting against corruption, and no one talked about it.

You talk about wanting to have temples to worship in modern day, but you don't care about the land that those temples would be built on?

Greece may be an Orthodox Christian country. But trust me, the gods are still very much living there. Their spirit is still there. Poseidon is still ruling the waves, Zeus is still watching over in the sky, Demeter is taking care of the crops.

All i am asking is... Spread awareness. I am saying this on behalf of my greek friend, firstly, who has complained to me about their issues not being heard. LEARN HISTORY. STUDY CURRENT WORLD EVENTS. SEND LOVE TO THE LAND OF GREECE, WHO HAS ENDURED GREAT HARDSHIPS.