Thargelia: The birth of the Eternal Twins
In the Attic calendar, after Mounykhion (roughly most of the month of April) comes Thargelion. The month of one of the most important festivals for my religious practice. Thargelia (tar-ge-lee-ah) the Epibaterion1 of none other than the Eternal Twins, perfect children of Great Zeus and Queenly Leto.
I usually write about these festivities in my journal and reference back to it, but since I've curated Mousagétēs to be a devotional corner (and a creative outlet), I thought it would be fitting to create a little entry about Thargelia (considering it is tomorrow and the day after)
Essentially, Thargelia can be thought of as a two-day festival. The 6th of Thargelion is dedicated to Artemis, the 7th to Apollon. Delia and Delios specifically, considering we celebrate their birth and these epithets derive from their birthplace, the Sacred Island of Delos.
On the first day, the polis was purified. Artemis banishes the old. Plague, famine, harm, and all the wrongdoings were driven away by means of the pharmakoi. Statues were washed on this day, too. In modern times, I find a cleansing of the shrines and altars most appropriate, fasting as well, since it is historically associated with the purifying of the soul and helping us reach levels of enlightenment and Godliness. It can also be interpreted as an act of discipline and control, something we receive from the Gods and are abstaining from in order to better appreciate it. It is a good time for ritual baths and energetic cleansings.
Fearless Artemis, you who drive away all harm and disease. Help me purify my body and my spirit from all that is profane. Let it be sent back to where it belongs, each of them receiving their part. Begone, begone, evil spirits!
It is uncertain how much of the account is accurate, and it varies according to the region, but the pharmakoi play an important part in the festival. Two men (or a man and a woman) were chosen as scapegoats (the rough meaning of pharmakoi), one representing the men and one the women. Black figs to adorn one, white figs to adorn the other. They were led in procession and whipped with fig branches, some accounts put emphasis on hitting their genitals, until they were run out of the city walls, or a cliff and to their deaths (they might've also been stoned to death)
Because, at its core, Thargelia is an agricultural/harvest festival, the ashes of the pharmakoi were often sprinkled into the fields, and offerings for Demeter Klhoe were also set. It is also why the first fruits of the harvest are offered to Apollon on the 7th, a more celebratory day in comparison to the 6th (which is largely for contemplation and atonement). Hymn singing competitions used to be held where the winner got a tripod and offered it to Apollon in Pythion. Panspermia2 is cooked in his honor, too. Adopted children were presented to their families on this date as well (this has to do with Apollo as an ancestral God)
The eiresione is another important part of Thargelia. Traditionally it is an olive branch (lit. meaning 'Olive branch of supplication') decorated with white wool, grains, wheat and even jars of olive oil or honey used to anoint the doors in honor of the Twins (as means of appeasement or signaling) The eiresione was usually carried by children in procession who chanted something along the lines of:
'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.' 3
Hymns that I usually go over during Thargelia are:
- Orphic Hymn 35, Homeric Hymns 9 and 27 to Lady Artemis.
- Orphic Hymn 33, Homeric Hymn 3 (the 'Delian Part') and 21 to Lord Apollo.
- Orphic Hymn 34 to Leto (as we celebrate her as the mother who bore mightily children, supreme among the immortals), and I really enjoy reading narrations on the birth of the twins (aside from the 'Delian Part' in Hymn 3)
I hold Thargelia very dear to my heart, but I am not always able to celebrate it with all its 'steps' and/or include all that I know is associated with the festivities. But something I do not skip is the reading of Hymns and the pouring of a libation; these are perhaps my favorite ways to honor the Eternal Twins.
This post was done mostly out of memory, but I will link some sources that were written with more detail and structure rather than just word vomit and feelings.4
A festival that remembers and honors the birthday of the Theoi. In the case of Thargelia, it is argued that maybe it was only the Epibaterion of Apollo, but based on most of what I read and personal decision, I consider it the Epibaterion of both twins.↩
I do not have a recipe, but if you're curious about what it more or less is, I can tell you it's a mix of grains cooked in broth, sometimes with honey too. It has to do with stories of safe return, when boys put all their leftover provisions together for a meal. Apollo is, after all, Patron of young boys as well as the Averter of evil (Alexikakos)↩