Anthesteria 2014

Khairete!

 

Today's Festival

Today, we celebrated the Anthesteria at HTAZP.

While the festival is traditionally observed over the course of three days, we compressed this community celebration into a single festival day in three parts. The festival was led by Hiereus Peregrine Ursano.  Above, we see Dionysos with a picture of Ariadne and a plaque of Semele.

For the first component, Peregrine led us in the story of Dionysos' birth, including the myth of Zagreus, after which we processed into the main temple space and made the first round of offerings followed by theoxenia and painting masks for Dionysos representing the things that bring us joy.

Next, Peregrine shared the story of Dionysos and Ariadne. For this second "day," we offered sweets and wine, which we then shared as well.

Finally, in honor of the third day, an altar was set up for reminders of our ancestors.  To commemorate the day that Dionysos went to Hades to rescue Semele and bring Her to Olympus, leaving the gates open so that the dead returned to walk the Earth, we shared stories of the ancestors we had chosen to honor.  Once this was done, we "transported" them back to Hades' realm, with offerings of food and wine.

Representations of the ancestors not included in the above picture.  Left to right are Hermes, Hades, Persephone, and Hekate.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
16 Diasion/16 February 2014	Aphrodisia
30 Diasion/2 March 2014	Diasia
14 Eiarinion/16 March 2014	Eiarinia
28 Eiarinion/30 March 2014	TBD

Of particular note, Aphrodisia will be celebrated by Scarlet Rose at a new private temple space.

Also, for Diasia, we will be once again collecting stuffed animals to donate to Project Smile in honor of Zeus Melikhios.  As we discovered that an event called the Annual Melee of Kindness is happening the day before, we are looking into expanding this practice beyond simply donating stuffed animals ourselves to teaming up with others to bring even more smiles to children who have been through traumatic events.  Watch this space for further details.  Or, if you would like to participate, please drop a comment or an email.

Until next time.

Peace,
Diane

January 2014

Khairete!

This Month's Festivals

This month has been a very Zeus-themed month.  First, we celebrated the Diogennia on January 5th, and today was the Gamelia. 

Gamelia Altar

For both events, all the Gods were invoked, and so this is a pretty image-heavy edition. The majority of the following images are from Diogennia, courtesy of Scarlet Rose.

Asklepios and Hygeia

Agathos Daimon

Aphrodite

Apollon

Ares

Atemis

Athena

Demeter

Dionysos

Gaia and the Gods of Earth, Sky, and Sea

Ganymede and Herakles

Gods of the Year and Month: Prometheus and Selene

Hades and Persephone

Hekate

Hephaistos

Hera (on Diogennia)

Hermes

Hestia (on Diogennia)

Pan

Zeus Melikhios

For Diogennia, we consecrated candles to represent the light of Zeus, which is said to help us bring balance and order to our lives.

And of course, for Gamelia, we offered wedding cake as part of the feast.

It seemed fitting that, as with any royal wedding, there would be ambassadors from other lands to bring their well-wishes. Therefore, we also set aside an area for Foreign Gods, which was designated as "The Embassy." 

Coming Up

Date	Festival
2 Diasion/2 February 2014	Anthesteria (observed)
16 Diasion/16 February 2014	Aphrodisia
30 Diasion/2 March 2014	Diasia
14 Eiarinion/16 March 2014	Eiarinia
28 Eiarinion/30 March 2014	TBD

Until next time.

Peace,
Diane

Kheimonia 2013

Khairete!

Today's Festival

Today we celebrated the Kheimonia at HTAZP, a modern festival that combines many festivals that were traditionally held at this time of year. We honored Helios and Selene on the shortest day of the year as the nights begin to grow shorter and the days longer. We honored Zeus for the Pompaia, Pan for the Dendraia, Demeter for the Haloa, Dionysos for the Rural Dionysia, and Poseidon for the Poseidea. 

The Dion Kodion was processed through the temple space and each of the Gods honored in turn. Feast offerings included heart warmer sandwiches (chicken, bacon, and cheese baked into marble rye) and berry pie, with libations of sparkling blueberry-grape juice and root beer.

Due to scheduling issues, the Haloa/Rural Dionysia portion of the festival will be continued next week.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
3 Gamelion/5 January 2014	Diogennia
17 Gamelion/19 January 2014	Gamelia/Theogamia
2 Diasion/2 February 2014	Anthesteria (observed)
16 Diasion/16 February 2014	Aphrodisia

Until next time, may the blessings of the Gods be with you. Peace,
Diane

Dendraia 2013

Khairete!

Today's Festival

Today we celebrated the Dendraia, the festival of Pan's pine tree.

As you can see, many of the ornaments from past years are on the tree again, and several new ones were added, as is our tradition. 

We began with a meditation on Pan, Pitys, and Selene. This meditation focused on the physicality of climbing a pine tree and then experiencing Selene's light once the top was reached, evoking both Pan's longing for Pitys and the fulfillment of His love for Selene.

Our minds well fixed on the purpose of the festival, we processed in and began the ritual. Feast offerings included a stir-fry kielbasa dish and a carrot & parsnip dish with a muscato wine for libation.

The altar, as you can see, was in Pan's colors as it has been since Panaia. The main image of Pan was a statue of Him playing the pipes, a candle lit above Him, with Selene's image beside him and boughs of pine surrounding Them.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia
3 Gamelion/5 January 2014	Diogennia
17 Gamelion/19 January 2014	Gamelia/Theogamia
2 Diasion/2 February 2014	Anthesteria (observed)
16 Diasion/16 February 2014	Aphrodisia

Until next time, may the blessings of the Gods be with you,
Diane

Panaia 2013

Khairete!

Today's Festival

Today at the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan, we celebrated the Panaia, Pan's birthday.

We started with a meditation on Pan before processing into the main temple space. All present offered prayers to Pan, both traditional Homeric and modern. Thusia included offerings of pork gyros, wine, and mushroom barley with pine nuts. After theoxenia, those who had questions for Pan were given the opportunity for divination work, and at the closing, participants shared in an acknowledgment of receiving Pan's blessings and offering thanks for them.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
5 Kheimonion/December 8	Dendraia
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia
3 Gamelion/5 January 2014	Diogennia
17 Gamelion/19 January 2014	Gamelia/Theogamia
2 Diasion/2 February 2014	Anthesteria (observed)
16 Diasion/16 February 2014	Aphrodisia

Until next time, may the blessings of the Gods be with you,
Diane

Genesia 2013

Khairete!

Today's Festival

Today we celebrated the Genesia at HTAZP. As is mentioned on the main festival description page, there are several ways to determine when it makes the most sense to celebrate this festival. This year, we chose the weekend before Veterans' Day.

As this is a festival of the dead, we held it in the section of the temple set aside for the ancestors and used an inverted table to represent Hekate's crossroads. The arms of the crossroads were decorated with yarn in honor of the dead, including personal ancestors, spiritual ancestors, heroes, fallen soldiers, animals, and other beloved dead.

Food offerings included potato soup, chocolate pizzelles, caramel coffee cake muffins, and fruit, with peppermint tea and honey-whisky for libations.

At the base of the altar, to the left, you can see a black binder that was set aside for written or drawn offerings to the dead as well.

After feasting with the ancestors, we shifted focus briefly and distributed the eirisioni we had made on Puanepsia/Oskhophoria by lots.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
20 Panaion/November 24	Panaia
5 Kheimonion/December 8	Dendraia
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia

Until next time, may the blessings of the Gods be with you.
Diane

Puanepsia-Oskhophoria 2013

Khairete!

Today's Festival

Today we celebrated the Puanepsia and Oskhophoria at the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan.

As you can see, we made eirisioni, which this year were made from grapevine wreaths, decorated with yarn, bay leaves, and owls. As has been mentioned, this festival has been evolving over the years, and this year it grew to include the tradition of grapes being presented from the temple of Dionysos to Athena Skira.

Typically, the eirisioni are completed and gifted by one means or another amongst the participants. However, several took awhile to dry, and so they will remain until our next festival and be distributed then.

Theoxenia included ham and cheese grinders, lentil-kale-barley soup, grapes, corn bread, and pumpkin cookies.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
6 Panaion/November 10	Genesia
20 Panaion/November 24	Panaia
5 Kheimonion/December 8	Dendraia
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia

Until next time, may the blessings of the Gods be with you.
Diane