468 festivals: Greece Celtic god Lugh, the god of the sun and agricultural fertility The harvest season began at this time and lasted until the end of October In some areas the beginning of the harvest was marked by gathering wild berries; if the berries were plentiful, crops would be too Young people participated in games of athletic skill; horse racing naked was a popular sport in Ireland The autumn equinox fell around September 21 and marked the beginning of autumn Numerous ancient stone structures were designed to catch the light of the rising sun on this date The Druids celebrated the equinox by burning a large wicker figure that represented the plant spirit; some scholars believe that this custom was the origin of Julius Caesar’s belief that Druids practiced human sacrifice GREECE BY CHRISTOPHER BLACKWELL Every ancient Greek community celebrated a number of festivals, heortai, throughout the year These were simultaneously religious and social events Festivals honored various gods but also provided occasions for members of a community or members of various communities to come together in celebration There were other religious events during the year, recurring rituals of various kinds, and public sacrifices Festivals stand out, however, because they were decidedly enjoyable occasions, never somber or grim, as certain other rituals might be Some of the oldest festivals had to with the cycles of the agricultural year and were associated with divinities of the earth and the environment The Mysteries celebrated at Eleusis, near Athens, honored Demeter and marked the end of winter Citizens of Athens celebrated plowing with the Proerosia, planting with the Thesmophoria, and harvesting with the Anthesteria Other festivals marked periods of transition in human life, particularly transitions during childhood and from childhood to adulthood Athenian boys were initiated into the community at the festival of the Apaturia This took place in the autumn at each of the small subcommunities of Attica The three days of this festival included the Dorpia, a dinner feast ringing in the festival; a sacrifice to Zeus and Athena (the patron goddess of Athens); and the Koureōtis, the final admission of the young men into the community Boys would participate in this festival at least three times during their childhood: first when they were small children; again when they entered the “ephebate,” a period of military instruction for adolescents; and finally when they married Athenian girls were initiated into the community at the festival of the Brauronia, named after its location at a sanctuary in the town of Brauron near Athens, also called the Arkteia, or “bear festival.” Celebrated in honor of the goddess Artemis, this festival involved Athenian girls between five and 10 years old who dressed as bears and gathered to perform dances Scholars disagree on the meaning of this ritual, but many think it was an occasion to celebrate the “wildness” of young girls, who would eventually be “tamed” by marriage and take their position as women of the community Some festivals were purely local, specific to a small village or town Others emphasized the relationship among towns, united into the larger political entity of the city-state, or polis Athens, which was a political unity of the city of Athens with the many towns of the territory of Attica, celebrated this coming together, or synoikism, during the festival of the Synoikia and celebrated its unity and greatness at the Panathenaea, or All-Athens festival The latter festival, in honor of the goddess Athena, began with a procession, or pompē, through the city; the procession involved all members of the community, including children, unmarried young men and women, soldiers, and resident aliens During this festival the married women of Athens would present a new cloak, or peplos, to the statue of Athena in the Parthenon, having woven the garment collectively during the year The most famous of festivals among the ancient Greeks were the “agonistic” festivals, featuring competitions These competitions fell into two categories: Gymnastic festivals had athletic competition, and musical festivals, having to with the Muses, had competitions in poetry or drama The most famous gymnastic festival was that in honor of Zeus, held at Olympia in the Peloponnese every four years beginning in 776 b.c.e This festival, open to participants throughout the Greek world, featured competitions in foot racing (including a race in which runners wore bronze armor), chariot racing, boxing and wrestling, and weight lift ing So important was this Olympic festival that warring states regularly called a truce to enable participants to travel to Olympia safely Other festivals of athletic competition were the Nemean Games, held in honor of Heracles; the Pythian Games, held in Delphi in honor of Apollo; and the Panathenaic Games, held in Athens Of the musical festivals, the most famous were the dramatic festivals at Athens, the occasion for the production and performance of tragedies and comedies There were two main dramatic festivals celebrated by the Athenians, the Dionysia and the Lenaea The Dionysia was celebrated in the spring, timed to coincide with the opening of the sailing season on the Aegean Sea, after the unpredictable storms of winter had passed This festival was the occasion for Athens to show itself off to the rest of the Greek world, and it was open to all Greeks During the period of Athens’s naval empire, in the fift h century, their “allies,” subject states, sent representatives bearing annual tribute, which was presented to the city of Athens in a public ceremony during the festival The focus of the Dionysia was the Theater of Dionysus, which was at once a theater and a temple The democratic government of Athens arranged for public funding of plays, both tragedies and comedies Each play was acted by two or three professional actors and a trained and choreographed chorus of citizens Plays competed for prizes, with a panel of judges awarding prizes for best play, best actor, and so forth A comic playwright would compete with a single play, but