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Persephone�returns from Hades

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Athenian Lunar Calendar

Hekatombaion Metageitnion	Summer Farmers rest – too hot	mid-July—mid-August mid-August—mid-September
Boedromion Pyanopsion	Fall Planting	mid-September— mid-October mid-October—mid-November
Maimakterion Poseideon Gamelion	Winter Rainy season	mid-November—mid-December mid-December—mid-January mid-January—mid-February
Anthesterion Elaphebolion Mounychion	Spring return of Persephone some harvest	mid-February—mid-March mid-March—mid-April mid-April—mid-May
Thargelion Skiraphorion	Summer harvest	mid-May—mid-June mid-June—mid-July

Festivals to Demeter

Several festivals throughout the year
The worship of Demeter was centered around what was going on in the agricultural calendar
Female worshippers were a very important part of the rituals to Demeter – in fact several festivals to Demeter were only for women
At Eleusis there were both priests and priestesses who were in charge of the temples and the rites to Demeter, Persephone, and Hades.
The Great Mysteries at Eleusis were only part of the cycle of worship – but were the most famous and the most widely attended by people from around the Mediterranean world

The Mysteries of Demeter at Eleusis

Worship to Demeter at Eleusis is the center of the worship to the goddess for the whole Greek world
Rites celebrated here for well over 1,000 years
Anyone could become initiated into the Mysteries provided they spoke Greek and had not committed a murder
By 600 BCE the region of Eleusis had been annex by Athens and so the rituals we see reflect the merging of the two cities and Athenian dominance in the region
Celebrations lead by priests and priestesses mainly from two aristocratic families Eumolpidae and the Athenian Kerykes
Three levels of initiates

Eleusis and the Telesterion

�Ninnion Tablet�

The Ploutonion��entrance to the underworld at Eleusis