#sacrifices attic calendar

Πέμπτη Ἱσταμένου, V day
From today’s sunset: fifth day of Boedromion.
Nemesia; Genesia/Nekysia, dedicated to Gaia and the dead: annual celebration in honor of the Forefathers and Ancestors. “Genesia: a funerary festival held by the Athenians, also known as Nekysia, in the course of which sacrifices were made to Gaia.”
Sacrifice to the Hero Epops (Erchia)

“Beware of all the fifth days; for they are harsh and angry; it was on the fifth, they say, that the Erinyes assisted at the bearing of Horkos, whom Eris bore, to be a plague on those who take false oath.” “Shun the fifth days: i.e. the lunar days. We have heard from the Pythagoreans that the number five is number of Dike, and among them are told the causes of this..as She punishes all those who stray from the divine law, as told by Plato (Laws IV, 716a).”
Scholia to Hesiod, Erga, 802-804

(Terracotta White-ground lekythos- honors to the deceased. made in Athens about 460 BCE; now in the Getty Villa…)

Τετρὰς Ἱσταμένου, IV day
From today’s sunset: fourth day of Boedromion.
The fourth is always sacred to Aphrodite Pandemos, to Hermes and to Herakles, as the symbolic day of Their birthday.
Honors are paid to Eros and Hermaphroditos. Banquet of the Tetradistai.
Sacrifice to Basile (Erchia);
Honors to the Semnai (Athens);
Sacrifice to Erechtheus;
Eleutheria: Panhellenic festival of Eleutheria- instituted in honour of Zeus Eleutherios after the victory at Plataea. It was intended not merely to be a token of gratitude to the God to whom they were indebted for their victory over the barbarians, but also as a bond of union among all the Hellenes!
“When they consulted the Oracle regarding the sacrifice to be made, the Pythian God made answer that they were to erect an altar of Zeus Eleutherios, but were not to sacrifice upon it until they had extinguished the fire throughout the land, which he said had been polluted by the barbarians, and kindled it fresh and pure from the public hearth at Delphi. Accordingly the commanders of Hellenes went about straightway and compelled all who were using fire to extinguish it, while Euchidas, who promised to bring the sacred fire with all conceivable speed, went from Plataea to Delphi. There he purified his person by sprinkling himself with the holy water, and crowned himself with laurel. Then he took from the altar the sacred fire and started to run back to Plataea. He reached the place before the sun had set, accomplishing thus a thousand furlongs in one and the same day. He greeted his countrymen, handed them the sacred fire, and straightway fell down, and after a little expired. In admiration of him the Plataeans gave him burial in the sanctuary of Artemis Eucleia, and inscribed upon his tomb this tetrameter verse:—
"Euchidas, to Pytho running, came back here the selfsame day.”
After this, there was a general assembly of the Hellenes, at which Aristides proposed a decree to the effect that deputies and delegates from all Hellas convene at Plataea every year, and that every fourth year festival games of deliverance be celebrated — the Eleutheria; also that a confederate Hellenic force be levied, consisting of ten thousand shield, one thousand horse, and one hundred ships, to prosecute the war against the barbarian; also that the Plataeans be set apart as inviolable and consecrate, that they might sacrifice to Zeus Eleutherios in behalf of Hellas.“
(Plutarch, Aristid. 19, 21)

“But take care to avoid troubles which eat out the heart on the fourth of the beginning and ending of the month; it is a sacred day: especially during these sacred days it is convenient to get rid of all the activities that make you suffer, which, if at other times you need to choose them as necessary, in these days you should not.”
The fourth day is also a suitable day for marriage.

(Laureate head of Zeus Eleutherios right / on the reverse,   thunderbolt. From Syracuse, 345–339 BCE. Now in a private collection…)

Νουμηνία, I day of Boedromion.
From today’s sunset: beginning of the new month of Boedromion, sacred to Apollo, month of the Great Mysteries of Eleusis - “[The verb] βοηδρομεῖν ["to run to help”] was the name for helping, that is running into battle.“ (Suda s.v. Boedromia)
Happy Noumenia to you all, best wishes!!!
Noumenia is a day sacred to all the Gods - in particular to Apollo Noumenios, Zeus, Helios, Hecate, Artemis Noumenia, Hera, Hermes, and to all the Household Gods.
Sacrifices, purifications, libations, banquets and singing of hymns are some among the distinctive features of the first day of the lunar month.
Banquet of Noumeniastai;
Epimenia.

Main Celebrations of the Month:
- From the sunset of 3 September, II day- Δευτέρα Ἱσταμένου
Niketeria
- From the sunset of 4 September, III day - Τρίτη Ἱσταμένου - Τριτομηνίς
Plataia - victories of Plataea and Mycale.
- From the sunset of 5 September, IV day- Τετρὰς Ἱσταμένου
Sacrifice to Basile (Erchia);
honors to Semnai in Athens;
Eleutheria (Panhellenic festivals);
Sacrifice to Erechtheus.
- From the sunset of 6 September, V day - Πέμπτη Ἱσταμένου
Nemesia (night festival)
Genesia / Nekysia, in honor of Gaia and the dead;
Sacrifice to the Hero Epops (Erchia)
- From the sunset of 7 September, VI day, Ἓκτη Ἱσταμένου
Kharisteria - procession and sacrifice to Artemis Agrotera;
victory of Marathon;
Sacrifice to Enyalios.
- From the sunset of 8 September, VII day - Ἑβδόμη Ἱσταμένου
Boedromia, in honor of Apollo Boedromios.
– From the sunset of 14 September, Τρίτη Μεσοῦντος/ Τρισκαιδεκάτη/ Τρίτη ἐπὶ δέκα, XIII day- procession of the epheboi toward Eleusis
– From the sunset of 15 September,Τετάρτη Μεσοῦντος/ Τετρὰς ἐπὶ δέκα/ Τεσσαρεκαιδεκάτη, XIV day- The epheboi escort back the Hierà from Eleusis to the Eleusinion in Athens.
– From the sunset of 16 September, Πέμπτη Μεσοῦντος/ Πέμπτη ἐπὶ δέκα / Πεντεκαιδεκάτη, XV day, Full Moon – ‘the day of the gathering’. Agyrmós- Prorresis (formal declaration bidding depart to those not qualified): this is the first ‘official’ day of the Mysteries.
– From the sunset of 17 September, Ἕκτη Μεσοῦντος/ Ἕκτη ἐπὶ δέκα /Ἑκκαιδεκάτη, XVI day- ‘Elasis’ (from Halade mystai- initiates to the sea’)
– From the sunset of 18 September, Ἑβδόμη Μεσοῦντος/ Ἑβδóμη ἐπὶ δέκα / Ἑπτακαιδεκάτη, XVII day- ‘Hiereia Deuro- Hither the victims’. Private sacrifices to Demeter and Kore
– From the sunset of 19 September, Ὀγδόη Μεσοῦντος/ Ὀγδόη ἐπὶ δέκα / Όκτωκαιδεκάτη, XVIII day- ‘Epidauria’ - Epidauria, or Asklepieia, the annual festival of Asklepios in Athens. Private sacrificial calendar: a perfect sacrifice to Dionysos and to all the other Gods
– From the sunset of 20 September, Ἐνάτη Μεσοῦντος/ Ἐνάτη ἐπὶ δέκα / Ἐννεακαιδεκάτη, XIX day- ‘Iakchos- day of the procession’
– From the sunset of 21 September, Εἰκοστή/ Εἰκὰς/ Εἰκοσάδες, XX day- ‘Teletè’
– From the sunset of 22 September, Δεκάτη Ὑστέρα/ Δεκάτη Φθίνοντος/ Μετεικὰς/ Ἀμφιδεκάτη, XXI day – Autumnal Equinox – ‘Epopteia’
– From the sunset of 23 September, Ἐνάτη Φθίνοντος/ Ἐνάτη μετ’εἰκάδας XXII day- ‘Plemochoai’
– From the sunset of 24 September, Ὀγδόη Φθίνοντος/ Ὀγδόη μετ’εἰκάδας, XXIII day- Epistrophè.
– From the sunset of 25 September, Ἑβδόμη Φθίνοντος/ Ἑβδόμη μετ’εἰκάδας, XXIV day. Assembly in the City Eleusinion after the performance of the Mysteries.
- From the sunset of 28 September, XXVII day- Τετρὰς Φθίνοντος
Sacrifices to the Nymphs, Achelous, Alochus, Hermes and Gaia (Erchia);
Sacrifice to Athena in the attic deme of Teithras;
Agraulia, on the occasion of the oath of youths.
- From the sunset of I October, XXX Ἔνε καὶ νέα / Τριακάς
Ἑκάτης δεῖπνον

(Gold myrtle spray. The stem is made from gold sheet over a bronze core. There are three sizes of leaf: the two larger pairs are pushed into holes in the stem, the smallest pair inserted into the end of the tube. Inserted beside the pair of middle-sized leaves are myrtle flowers on long wire stems. These consist of a cup with a serrated top, a six-petalled flower, and a central rod holding a ring of twenty-four blob-ended stamens and capped with a disc. The discs have an inner and an outer ring of fine spiral-beaded wire, both of which were presumably once filled with enamel. Found in Eleusis, near a tomb, 400BC-350BCE. Now in the British Museum…)