Καλά Θαργήλια!
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
