Panathenaia

[LeopardBoy]

This week marks the Hellenic festival of Panathenaia, a seven-day Athenian celebration in honor of the birth of Athena from the brow of Zeus. I've decided to post the ceremony I participated in at the beginning of this year's celebration. It consists of a standard Hellenic ritual with libations to deities relevant to Panathenaia.

Before the ritual, I set up a small table to serve as an altar, and upon it I placed a votive candle to represent Hestia, a statue of Athena, a chalice (kylix), and an offering bowl for libations. Near the entrance of the room I filled a large basin (perirranterion) with tap water that had been ritually purified by dousing a flaming wooden stick into it.

The first part of Hellenic ritual is the procession (pompe). Each of the participants of the ritual took up certain implements, such as a lit taper candle, a vessel containing barley, a pitcher of water, and a decanter of wine. I carried the taper candle and led my group of four practitioners into the room where the ritual would be held. As we entered, we each dipped our hand into the perirranterion and sprinkled ourselves with water for the purpose of ritual purification before standing in the presence of the Gods.

I then used the flame from my taper candle and lit the votive candle upon the altar, speaking words from the Homeric hymn to Hestia:

“Hestia, in the high dwellings of all, both deathless Gods and men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honor: glorious is your portion and your right.”

The next part of the ritual was the initial invocation of the Gods and the preliminary offering. I spoke the following simple invocation:

“Theoi Olympioi, we gather here to honor you during this Panathenaia. We ask that you hear our prayers and accept our offerings.”

The bearer of the vessel of barley then walked in a ritual circle around the altar, and took a handful of the grain and sprinkled it upon the surface of the table. Each of the other participants then took a handful of barley from the vessel and did the same, walking around the altar and making the offering of grain.

We then began to pour libations. The wine-bearer poured equal parts of water and wine into the kylix, and I held the cup before the statue of Athena and said a formal prayer.

Traditional Hellenic prayer consists of three parts: an invocation using appropriate titles and epithets, a reminiscence of past acts of worship by the practitioners, and the request or purpose of the prayer. The following is the prayer I made on behalf of my group, addressing Athena by the titles Polias (of the city), Glaukopis (owl eyed or grey eyed), and Parthenos (virgin):

“Hear us, Athena Polias, Athena Glaukopis, Athena Parthenos! We have come to you in the past for protection and wisdom, and poured you libations of olive oil, and we have honored you at the festivals of Plynteria and Khalkeia. We call to you now in honor of Panathenaia and your sacred birth from the head of wise Zeus. We ask for your blessing these sacred days.”

I then poured a small amount of mixed wine from the kylix into the libation bowl on the altar, and gave a traditional drinking salutation (sponde):

“Sponde, Athena, protector of the city and bringer of wisdom. We ask that you accept our humble offering, and pour your blessings upon us.”

I took a sip from the kylix and then passed it to one of the other practitioners. They each in turn poured their own libation to Athena, said a personal prayer, and drank from the cup; the last person making sure the cup was empty by the end of the round of libations.

We poured the next libation to Nike, the Goddess of victory. Once again the wine-bearer mixed the water and wine, and I poured a small amount into the libation bowl, saying:

“Sponde, Nike, winged spirit of victory, daughter of holy Styx; and sister of Zelos, Kratos, and Bia. We ask that you accept our humble offering, and pour your blessings upon our endeavors.”

Again, I took a sip from the kylix and passed the cup around so that each person could pray for victory in one of their own personal endeavors and make a libation to Nike.

To conclude the ritual, water and wine were once again mixed, and I took up the kylix. I poured a final libation to Hestia, who receives the first and last of each offering, saying:

“Sponde, Hestia, bringer of fire's warmth and comfort. Yours is always first and last.”

I drank a sip from the kylix and passed it around to the others.

We each took a few moments to meditate and reflect before extinguishing the hearth candle.

One of my friends and I then took the libation bowl and perirranterion outside. I reverently poured the contents of the libation bowl onto the grass in the yard.

I took the perirranterion to a small corner of the yard, separate from where I poured the other libations. With the water, I made a chthonic libation to the unnamed daimones (spirits) of the profane:

“To you, I offer this dirty water; for all those for whom it is necessary and right.”

I ended the day washing the dishes used in the ritual.

[Cornelius]

Thanks for posting that Leo. Much appreciated. It's good to see the other side of things sometimes.

[Atwater Vitki]

Once again, if we but OPEN our minds, we can see the similarities between beliefs. Rearrange a few items, replace your Hellenic names with those of the Nordic Pantheon and you basically have a Hof and Stead or Harvest ritual, which years ago I did a comparative on to the High Rites of several other pagan beliefs and found the same. Even in the "Holy Observances", especially that of the Catholic Church, there are many similarities in the procession and Workings of these ceremonies.

This is why it simply baffles me that modern day folks can't seem to put down their iron age toys and get along. We're all doing almost the same things but wars, and millions have been killed over "ut-uh, uh-ha, ut-uh, uh-ha..." of Who we're naming and why we're doing so. Does anyone else think that "God", "Allah", "Zeus", "Shiva", "Odhinn", "Midas" or "The Great Spirit" might just find a bit of folly in this and tell us all to go to.....

....what was the name of that football team?

That we keep our gods or God foremost in our thinking, emulate them by doing our best to follow their example, be Right with each other and do Good Works is really what is important, isn't it? Love your God/gods with all your heart and treat others as you wish to be treated...seems pretty simple to me....until we get a bunch of Self loathing bureaucrats involved!

Blessings of Peace and Yes, thank you for sharing LeopardBoy.

[emalpaiz]

Ik pray that your celebration will bring many blessings to you.

Hermano Luis

[Fawzo]

Ik pray that your celebration will bring many blessings to you.

Hermano Luis

I'll second that and hope it brings a cold front though for you as well