Haloa

Last updated December 26, 2023 • 5 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Haloa or Alo (Ἁλῶα) was an Attic festival, celebrated principally at Eleusis, in honour of Demeter (Δήμητρα, η Αλωαίη), protector of the fruits of the earth, of Dionysus, god of the grape and of wine, and Poseidon (Ποσειδώνας ο Φυτάλμιος), god of the seashore vegetation. In Greek, the word hálōs (ἅλως) from which Haloa derives means “threshing-floor” or “garden.” While the general consensus is that it was a festival related to threshing—the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain after harvest—some scholars disagree and argue that it was instead a gardening festival.^[1] Haloa focuses mainly on the “first fruits” of the harvest, partly as a grateful acknowledgement for the benefits the husbandmen received, partly as prayer that the next harvest would be plentiful. The festival was also called Thalysia or Syncomesteria.

The festival

Haloa took place every year, during the month Poseideon (Ποσειδέωνας), after the first harvest was over. The festival took place around the threshing floor (αλώνια) at the same time throughout Attica. All women were expected to attend this event, but men were almost always excluded. Men had a legal and moral expectation to pay for their wives’ expenses in these festivities. The strange timing of the harvest festival—mid-winter—is significant as well. The Greeks regarded the festival as sacred to not only Demeter but also to Dionysus.^[2] With the inclusion of Dionysus in the festival worship, the date shifted towards the winter as “he possessed himself of the festivals of Demeter, took over her threshing-floor and compelled the anomaly of a winter threshing festival.”^[3] In many ways, the festival was just as connected, if not more so, with Dionysus than with Demeter. Thus, we see the power and influence of the incoming god and of the importance of wine to Greek cult activity. Practically, Greeks were able to coax out a harvest just early enough to revel with Dionysus.

Despite being amongst the most documented of Greek festivals, very few records of what exactly occurred during Haloa. Because it was a predominantly, if not exclusively, women's festival, little information has survived, or was recorded at all, about its characteristics and rituals. In fact, one of the most detailed sources of Haloa actually consists of marginal notes from the 13th century AD on the Roman writer Lucian’s works.^[4] According to these notes, the women’s ritual practices involved “pits, snakes, pigs, and models of genitalia, all of which have a more or less marked sexual significance.”^[4] We also know that the festival “is said to have comprised Mysteries of Demeter, Kore, and Dionysus.”^[1] Another source singled out these women's festivals as “containing the germ of ‘Mysteries,’” referencing here the Eleusinian Mysteries—annual initiation ceremonies devoted to the cult of Demeter and Persephone.^[5]

Rituals

As Dionysus, whose festivals are held in wintertime, necessarily shifted the date of Haloa to late December/early January, so too did he shift festival rituals towards the celebration of grapes and wine. Rituals were often conducted by women during the “pruning of the vines and the tasting of the wine” as it is around this time of year that the soil around the vineyards are cut and hoed, and the first fermentation cycle completed.^[1] Some texts state that this element of the festival was instituted after the death of the shepherd Icarius (or Ikarios), after he introduced the vine into Attica.^[6] The myth has it that Dionysus presented Icarius with the gift of wine as thanks for his hospitality. However, when Icarius shared this gift with his shepherd friends, they mistook the signs of drunkenness as signs of poison, and killed Icarius in retaliation. According to Lucian, Dionysus punished the shepherds by taking the form of a maiden, thus “maddening with sexual desire.”^[7] Unfortunately, when the maiden suddenly disappeared, the shepherds’ erections remained until an oracle told them that they must placate the gods by dedicating clay models of genitals.^[8] This dedication thus became a custom of the festival.

However, Haloa was still a festival to Demeter, and the name of the festival itself points to the harvest activity of threshing. The threshing floor therefore still served as the center of harvest celebration and activity. Eustathius states that “there is celebrated, according to Pausanias, a feast of Demeter and Dionysus called the Haloa” and explains that, during this festival, first-fruits were carried from Athens to Eleusis in honor of the deities, sporting events were held upon the threshing floors, and at the feast there was a procession of Poseidon (worshipped here as Phytalmios, god of plants).^[2] Although a large part of Haloa was for women, the general procession and sporting events were open to all citizens.

The feast, or banquet, consisted of “gentle” or civilized foods—cereals, fish, possibly fowl, and “cakes shaped like the symbols of sex,” but nothing of flesh.^[9] Other forbidden Eleusinian foods included pomegranate, which was considered dead-man's food and inappropriate for a feast honouring Demeter, as it was the fruit that drew her Persephone back into the shades of Hades. The Archons in Eleusis would prepare the tables for the women, and then wait outside to show visiting foreigners that civilized foods originated in Eleusis and were dispersed to the rest of mankind from Eleusis.

Women's activity

Ritualistically, Haloa was similar to Thesmophoria, another festival in honour of Demeter, in the significance of women's participation. Both festivals involved “lusty words” and activities, an abundance of sexual symbols, and the consumption of much wine and pornographic confectionery.^[1] The women celebrated alone so that “they might have perfect freedom of speech” and some sources state that “the sacred symbols of both sexes were handled, the priestesses secretly whispered into the ears of the women present words that might not be uttered aloud, and the women themselves uttered all manner of… unseemly quips and jests.”^[6] 123

Demosthenes highlights the role of the priestess, pointing out that she, rather than the Hierophant (chief priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries), presented the fruit offerings and conducted the initiation ceremonies under the presidency of women. He also emphasizes that it was unlawful to offer any blood sacrifice, using as example the story of a Hierophant who was cursed because he offered “in the court of Eleusis burnt sacrifice of an animal victim.”^[3]

Related Research Articles

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Although she is mostly known as a grain goddess, she also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage, and had connections to the Underworld. She is also called Deo. In Greek tradition, Demeter is the second child of the Titans Rhea and Cronus, and sister to Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Like her other siblings but Zeus, she was swallowed by her father as an infant and rescued by Zeus.

In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone, also called Kore or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by and marriage to her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld.

Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates (mystai). The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which predated the Greek Dark Ages. The mystery schools flourished in Late Antiquity; Emperor Julian, of the mid 4th century, is believed by some scholars to have been associated with various mystery cults—most notably the mithraists. Due to the secret nature of the school, and because the mystery religions of Late Antiquity were persecuted by the Christian Roman Empire from the 4th century, the details of these religious practices are derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies. Much information on the Mysteries comes from Marcus Terentius Varro.

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece". Their basis was an old agrarian cult, and there is some evidence that they were derived from the religious practices of the Mycenean period. The Mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases: the descent (loss), the search, and the ascent, with the main theme being the ascent of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome. Similar religious rites appear in the agricultural societies of the Near East and in Minoan Crete.

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus by the Greeks for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia. As Dionysus Eleutherius, his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.

The Thesmophoria was an ancient Greek religious festival, held in honor of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. It was held annually, mostly around the time that seeds were sown in late autumn – though in some places it was associated with the harvest instead – and celebrated human and agricultural fertility. The festival was one of the most widely celebrated in the Greek world. It was restricted to adult women, and the rites practised during the festival were kept secret. The most extensive sources on the festival are a comment in a scholion on Lucian, explaining the festival, and Aristophanes' play Thesmophoriazusae, which parodies the festival.

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In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Iacchus was a minor deity, of some cultic importance, particularly at Athens and Eleusis in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, but without any significant mythology. He perhaps originated as the personification of the ritual exclamation Iacche! cried out during the Eleusinian procession from Athens to Eleusis. He was often identified with Dionysus, perhaps because of the resemblance of the names Iacchus and Bacchus, another name for Dionysus. By various accounts he was a son of Demeter, or a son of Persephone, identical with Dionysus Zagreus, or a son of Dionysus.

Kykeon was an Ancient Greek drink of various descriptions. Some were made mainly of water, barley and naturally occurring substances. Others were made with wine and grated cheese. It is widely believed that kykeon usually refers to a psychoactive compounded brew, as in the case of the Eleusinian Mysteries. A kykeon was used at the climax of the Eleusinian Mysteries to break a sacred fast, but it is also mentioned as a favourite drink of Greek peasants.

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The Anthesteria was one of the four Athenian festivals in honor of Dionysus. It was held each year from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Anthesterion, around the time of the January or February full moon. The three days of the feast were called Pithoigia, Choës, and Chytroi.

Winnowing is a process by which chaff is separated from grain. It can also be used to remove pests from stored grain. Winnowing usually follows threshing in grain preparation. In its simplest form, it involves throwing the mixture into the air so that the wind blows away the lighter chaff, while the heavier grains fall back down for recovery. Techniques included using a winnowing fan or using a tool on a pile of harvested grain.

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References

1 2 3 4 Nilsson., Martin P. (1961). Greek Folk Religion. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 32.
1 2 Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 146.
1 2 Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 147.
1 2 Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson, ed. (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. p. 8.
↑ Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. xviii.
1 2 Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 148.
↑ Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson, ed. (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. p. 168.
↑ Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson, ed. (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. pp. 155, 167, 168.
↑ Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 149.

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Further resources

Evy Johanne Håland has a presentation of the festival and analysis in her two-volume work on Greek Festivals, Modern and Ancient: A Comparison of Female and Male Values, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017 (http://www.cambridgescholars.com/search?Q=h%C3%A5land&As=true&As=false&Mid=0&Sid=true&Sid=false%5B%5D), esp. Ch. 5-7.

See also Håland, Evy Johanne. "The Ritual Year Of Athena: The Agricultural Cycle Of The Olive, Girls' Rites Of Passage, And Official Ideology." Journal of Religious History 36.2 (2012): p256-284.

Lowe, NJ. “Thesmophoria and haloa: myth, physics and mysteries.” The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. 1 January 1998. P120-149.

Dillon, Matthew. Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. Routledge, 2003.

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[Nilsson-1] 1 2 3 4 Nilsson., Martin P. (1961). Greek Folk Religion. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 32.

[Harrison_146-2] 1 2 Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 146.

[Harrison_147-3] 1 2 Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 147.

[Blundell-4] 1 2 Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson, ed. (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. p. 8.

[5] Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. xviii.

[Harrison_148-6] 1 2 Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 148.

[7] Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson, ed. (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. p. 168.

[8] Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson, ed. (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. pp. 155, 167, 168.

[9] Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 149.

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