GRGR(28) - Pigs & Pussy 1

[David Morris]

http://www.uwec.edu/academic/philrel/beach/eleusis.html

The Eleusinian Mysteries, held annually in honor of Demeter and Persephone, 
were the most sacred and revered of all the ritual celebrations of ancient 
Greece. They were instituted in the city of Eleusis, some twenty-two 
kilometers west of Athens, possibly as far back as the early Mycenaean 
period, and continued for almost two thousand years. Large crowds of 
worshippers from all over Greece (and later, from throughout the Roman 
empire) would gather to make the holy pilgrimage between the two cities and 
and participate in the secret ceremonies, generally regarded as the high 
point of Greek religion.
SNIP
Eleusis was by no means the only place in Greece that featured yearly 
festivals in honor of a goddess of grain and the annual renewal of life. 
Similar rituals were characteristic of many centers of ancient eastern 
Mediterranean civilization. [SNIP] On the west coast of Asia Minor, Greek 
city-states were practicing the cult of the Phrygian goddess Cybele as far 
back as the seventh century BCE. Known among the Greeks primarily as the 
Great Mother, or simply as Meter, this originally foreign goddess of nature 
and fertility was early associated with Rhea or Demeter herself (Burkert 
178). Indeed, according to some scholars, "Demeter and Cybele were but local 
forms of the Great Mother worshipped under diverse names all over Greece" 
(Harrison 158; Baring and Cashford 369).
SNIP
Most closely related to the Mysteries at Eleusis were the so-called 
"Thesmophoria" (from thesmoi, meaning "laws," and phoria, "carrying," in 
reference to the goddess as "law-bearer"). These rites were celebrated by 
women only throughout all Greece in the month of Pyanepsion (late October), 
their characteristic feature being a pig sacrifice, the usual sacrifice to 
chthonic deities. The Greeks attributed special powers to pigs on account of 
their fertility, the potency and abundance of their blood, and perhaps 
because of their uncanny ability to unearth underground tubers and shoots. 
It was believed that mingling their flesh with the seeds of grain would 
increase the abundance of next year's harvest. The ceremonies comprised 
fasting and purification, a ritualized descent into the underworld, and the 
use of sympathetic magic to bring renewed life back out of the jaws of death 
(Harrison 120-31; Baring and Cashford 374-77). Similarly, the Eleusinian 
Mysteries also revered swine and their rituals featured the washing and 
sacrificing of young pigs sacred to Demeter (although this took place on the 
beaches at Pireas near Athens rather than at Eleusis itself). The numerous 
correspondences suggest that the Eleusinian Mysteries were of a piece with 
the Thesmophoria, and perhaps shared the same historical origins.
SNIP
The celebration of the Mysteries at Eleusis was an elaborate affair which 
took place over a period of nine days in the month of Boedromion (late 
September). For each day, there was a prescribed series of ritual actions 
that initiates were expected to follow in the proper order (Parke 53-72; 
Simon 24-35).

One day prior to the festival proper, a large crowd of participants would 
gather in Eleusis and proceed with much pomp to the sanctuary of Demeter in 
the Athenian agora. On the following day, 15 Boedromion, the actual festival 
would begin with a formal declaration in the agora announcing the event and 
inviting initiates to take part. From 16 to 18 Boedromion, the initiates 
would descend singly to the sea, each bearing a suckling piglet for 
purification and sacrifice. (Here the connection with the Thesmophoria, 
another ritual celebration of Demeter featuring a pig sacrifice, is most in 
evidence.) There would also be major sacrifices in honor of the city of 
Athens and other public institutions.






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