#thargelia

One quick post before heading off to bed.

Thargelia occurs over two days, not always but depends on the individual. This festival began yesterday and finishes today. I didn't do a post for it yesterday as I wanted to focus more on it being Juneteenth. Hope you all are doing alright. Be safe, as much as one can.

Without further ado, Thargelia is a festival held in honour of Artemis and Apollon. Historically, day one focuses on purification. This was when the city of Athens would have select criminals or not always criminals to act as scapegoats, these people were then essentially driven out of the city. Those people were symbolically used to rid of the city's impurities. In the modern day, a practitioner could just clean their home.

Day two is more joyful and focused on celebration of the harvest. (There are multiple, and I mean multiple, harvest festivals). Thargelos was offered to Apollon, a pot of fruits that were boiled. There was also the use of an olive branch that was carried around by children. That branch was adorned with fruit and wrapped in wool before being hung above doorways. The use of this branch was to invite good fortune, makes me think of good luck charms.

How do you like to celebrate?

I didn't fully abstain from animal products, but I didn't have any land meats. I had milk, butter, eggs, and fish :(. But that's because I had a day where I needed protein and got a chance to eat my favorite food.

I performed my song named after Leto!

After that, I went to buy some sunflower seeds from my local greek-owned shop. I think it's a family business since there's a kid with the cashier.

I'm not currently at home, so I can't put anything on my altar. So that's why I decided to go buy the sunflower seeds. Nothing honors Artemis and Leto more than buying from a greek mom, right?.

To celebrate this festival, on the first day, pour a wine libation, read the Homeric Hymns to Artemis (9 and 27) and the Orphic Hymn (36) to Artemis, and offer prayers to her. It is also a day to undergo catharsis, so it might be appropriate to undertake a ritual fast (abstaining at least from animal foods) and bath and other forms of purification for yourself. Before hand, clean house, carry out household trash and any food that is stale or no longer pure or fresh (good fridge-cleaning opportunity!). On your altar, place some of the “first fruits” of your region, especially cereal gains, if available (you can plant and grow some in a small pot in the last fall or winter so as to have some available for this festival).

Around sundown, either reuse the eiresione created for the fall Pyanepsia or create a new eiresione and prepare a panspermia (mixture of beans or grains and beans with vegetarian broth). The eiresione was, in ancient times, a branch of olive; if this isn’t available, use some other domestic, fruit-bearing species. Decorate the branch with strands of white wool (like the branch carried by suppliants) but also with “first fruits” (which might vary, depending on what area you live in). Shafts of green wheat in one area and tree fruit in another. You can add little containers of oil and honey, too. Another food item to buy or create is called “manna bread” to represent the thargelos (see above). “Manna bread” (available in many health food stores) is a non-baked loaf made of sprouted grains.

This is a particularly communal festival, with family if possible. If children are present, have them carry the erisesione and recite, with your help: ‘Eiresione brings / All good things / Figs and fat cakes to eat / Soft oil and honey sweet / And brimming wine-cup deep / That she may drink and sleep.’ If no children are present, anyone can do this. Whether child or adult, they ask for treats from others present. On this second day, honor Apollo with a libation of wine, read the Homeric Hymns to Apollo (3 especially, also 21 and 25) and the Orphic Hymn to Apollo (34) and even the Orphic Hymn 35 to Leto. If a burning sacrifice is possible, burn the Eiresione and offer some of the panspermia and manna bread. At the festive meal afterwards, eat the panspermia and manna bread. Provide stalks of oregano and other seasonings for each person to season the bowl of panspermia as they wish. Some of the panspermia can be retained to sow into your gardens or fields. If no burning sacrifice is done, compost the eiresione and panspermia or put in a respectful location where nature will accept it.

Yesterday I "reconstructed" a recipe for popanon* and then baked it for Thargelia :)

Finding offering cake recipes is actually So Difficult and took me days; I've put my "recipe" and the sources I based it on under the cut (if you want a more extensive post on offering cakes, lemme know I've done Too Much research)

*a specific type of offering-cake