Hellenic month of Gamelion

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Hellenic month of Gamelion

Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Sat Jan 22, 2005 5:29 pm

Salvete

I know I'm late with this, but here is the calendar dates for the Hellenic month of Gamelion. Here we see that one particular festival shows up again: Lenaia or otherwise known as the Country Dionysia.
In Drew Campbell's book: Old Stones, New temples page 255- 259, you will find how you can celebrate this festival. Especially for those whose patron deity is Dionysos or is one of them.
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Gamelion: 11/12th of January- 08/09th of February


1 ) Noumenia kata Selene
2 ) Agathos Daimon
3 ) Athena
4 ) Aphrodite, Herakles, Hermes and Eros
5 )
6 ) Artemis
7 ) Apollon
8 ) Poseidon and Theseus, Apollon Apotropaios- Apollon Nymphegetes, Nymphs
9 ) Athena
10 )
11 )
12 ) Lenaia
13 ) Lenaia
14 ) Lenaia
15 ) Lenaia
16 )
17 )
18 )
19 )
20 )
21 )
22 )
23 )
24 )
25 )
26 )
27 ) Sacrifices for Kourotrophos- Zeus, Hera Teleios, Poseidon
28 )
29 ) Triakas, Hene kai Nea

The gamelia: wedding feast of Zeus and Hera. (Gamelion 27)

The Gamelia also known as the Theogamia (marriage of the Gods), celebrates the wedding of Zeus and Hera. As is so often the case, we know little about how this festival was celebrated, only that it included a feast. This lack of information is rather disappointing, because Hera rarely shows up in the Athenian religious calendar, despite her great and enduring popularity throughout the Hellenic world. Not only are her temples among the oldest known, but as the primary Goddess honored by married women (which would have included the vast majority of adult Hellenic women), she would have received a great deal of attention in private devotions- about which we are also poorly informed.
The word “Gamelia” was also used to refer to the offerings made by a new husband at the first celebration to the Apatouria after his marriage. His bride may also have been introduced to and registered with the phratry at this time.
Modern observance
This festival is an opportunity to revive Hera’s worship, at least on a small scale. Before the ritual is performed, the participants may want to spend some time thinking about what loving partnership means to them, (and what they do and do not like about the marriages and partnerships they have witnessed or been a part of).
This month was also a traditional month for weddings to take place and some details of the ritual described in Drew’s book are adapted from the Athenian wedding rites (see chapter 16 of OSNT).

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valete

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