#revivalism

The living room fireplace is a tour de force of Moderne styling.

What I'm mainly talking about here is the community aspect. Ancient religions used to be part of the culture, and as I understand it, there wasn't really a concept of "personal religion" (maybe outside of mystery cults) as everyone in the community participated in the same rites together.

But now, it's simply not possible to do things that way. Religion became a personal belief and practice rather than a societal custom, and because we're a minority religion with almost no real-world spaces dedicated to us, most of us are solitary practitioners with very little sense of community outside of the internet.

Of course, historically, people didn't worship at temples the way modern people go to church, but I think it's okay to want to rebuild a religion that does have this aspect. Religions influence each other all the time, and while we should make sure to maintain the core of our religions, we should also allow for a modernisation of our practices so that we can build a thriving religious community.

From my understanding: Revivalism builds on history but adapts for modern life, focusing on revival with flexibility. Eclecticism mixes ancient Hellenic elements with other traditions or personal intuition, prioritizing individual spiritual experience.

With those terms established, I find Revivalism the most practical of the two, and I don't think Revivalism is inherently disrespectful. Revivalists often try to be accurate, while allowing room for modern logic. For example, most Hellenic Polytheist who practice Revivalism wouldn't want to sacrifice an animal for a god, especially if one is living in an apartment. And Greeks, being practical people, wouldn't expect anyone to sacrifice an animal in modern day, in order to be respectful to the culture. We all understand that some changes are for the best.

Celebrating Planting & Harvesting

In Mesopotamia there were two seasons Summer (Emesh) and Winter (Enten). In the climate of Mesopotamia winter was the wet seasons that brought life giving water to dikes and canals and allowed for the planting and growing season culminating in a harvest at the beginning of Summer — March.

...a search was undertaken of references to barley harvest dates in the ‘literature’ (clay tablets) of ancient Babylonia comprising two periods: 1800-1650 B.C. (Late Old Babylonian Period = L.O.B.P.) and 600-400 B.C. (Neo-Babylonian Period = N.B.P.). It turns out that in the former, the harvest began late in March or early in April, while in the latter, it began late in April or in May, amounting to a difference of about a month or slightly more. [1]

Dumuzid was believed to die as the harvest arrived because his job of helping things grow ends; his death marked the end of rainy planting/growing season of winter and transitioned into the harvest before the dry hot scorching summer set in fully. For this reason Enlil awards winter the 'better season', because its the one that brings water. [2]

In the region I live in—Massachusetts— spring is the wettest season; our growing season is very small due to frost dates. Planting takes place in spring to early summer, and harvesting happens in later summer and fall [3]. Leaving winter as the primary barren period. In a modern world there is basically planting and harvesting all year round since we have access to global seeds year round and indoor planting but I easily recognize which stuff is "in season" even if it's still available year round for me. Simply because stuff tastes so much better during its local harvesting period.

For my diet technically corn and rice are the two main important staples. In MA planting for rice is around April with harvest around October [4]. Corn is planted April-ish and harvested around July to October [5] (July & August have the best corn IMO). Most of the products I eat don't come locally because almost all gluten free substitutes use corn or rice thus it is in most products I eat regardless of growing location and climate. But knowing the local times is informative & meaningful at least.

If Dumuzid lives specifically for planting and dies specifically for harvesting, it would make a bit more sense to have him live at Spring/Early Summer and die in Late Summer/Fall in my Massachusetts living area.

I would basically have to switch which season Dumuzid lives in, in my area he lives in "Summer" Emesh (Spring & Early Summer) for planting and dies in "Winter" Enten (Late Summer & Fall) for harvesting. A 180° from his usual worship in ancient times and the climate he was worshipped in.

But I think localizing this practice makes more sense as a revivalist— it fits the meaning of his worship rather than just reconstructing the timing based on a climate I don't live in.

I'll also be using just the equinox dates for this modern timing/modern festival ("modern festival" since I don't know enough about ancient Dumuzid festivals to incorporate anything yet), rather than the lunisolar dates, since those dates match up with the Akiti festivals.

-Dyslexic not audio proof read & written during migraine-

🔹Sources

From

Revivalism, Social Conscience, and Community in the Burned-Over District: The Trial of Rhoda Bement

Khaire BreathingWithNoHeir,

Thank you for your question! So the calendar that we use at The Temple is specifically formulated around the Local Cultus of our Temple’s headquarters - Charleston, South Carolina, USA. We mention this because we just want to make it clear, that while our calendar is based on historical precedent from academic sources- it is not accurate from a reconstructionist* point of view.

*Explanation of Reconstructionism vs Revivalism here.

With that being said - since our Temple's calendar is centered around seasonal changes it makes sense thematically to (as you mentioned) advance the calendar by 6 months. In this - January would be Apellaios instead of Amalios, January's full moon would be the Honey Moon, etc.

If you (or anyone) would like us to make an alternate calendar / PDF printable for the Southern Hemisphere please let us know! We'd be more than happy to make one if it would be useful to you or others :)

Eirene - peace and farewell,