I understand that the ancient Hellens invented new festivals all the time, I understand things change, but there is a certain rigidity implied in the practice of reconstructing that one should not overlook; especially if that practice causes a cross-over between modern--conglomerated--Traditions.
An example: the Heliogenna. It's a modern festival created by Hector Lugo as a sort of Yule-for-Hellenists. It was intended to be a nine day celebration in three parts of equal days: on days one to three--which are called 'Sunset' (ηλιοβασίλεμα - iliovasilema)--the heavenly Theoi are honored, most notably Helios (who mourns the death of His son), Selene and Eos. On days four to six (with day five being the Winter Solstice)--which are called 'Night' (νύχτα - nichta)--no Theoi are honored, but They are all remembered in their darker epithets. The focus is on Helios, Hekate, Hades, Persephone and Hermes, and silence is a large part of these days. The last three days--called 'Sunrise' (ανατολή - anatoly)--are a huge celebration; Helios has risen anew after His 'journey to the Underworld'.
This is the short version. Please see here, here, here, and here for better sources. I'm going to say this as respectfully as I can, but just the thought of celebrating the Heliogenna makes me a little nauseous, and angry. For one, it's not a reconstructive celebration. I have nothing against finding modern interpretations for ancient festivals; after all, we all practice with a lot of limitations these days, and there is reason to believe the ancient Hellens celebrated something on the Winter Solstice; most ancient cultures did. Yet, what--exactly--they celebrated is unknown, and I'm pretty sure this was not it.
I haven't celebrated the Heliogenna, but from what I have read about it, it's a bit of a mixture between the Kemetic God Ra's nightly journey into the Duat to replenish Himself for the day to come, the Celtic Yule log practice and Hellenic mythology, connected with a splash of--Horned God--Wiccan glue. It doesn't work for me, for various reasons. I'm going to try listing them all, but I know I won't be able to. This is a 'heart' post, not a 'head' post, and that usually means I haven't figured it all out yet.
Alright, for one, the Heliogenna seems to celebrate the death and rebirth of a Deathless God. Pause on that a second. Secondly, it has an Ouranic deity traveling into the Underworld. Even if we leave miasma out of it, there are still a good few ancient sources that are against this notion. Hómēros for one:
"At the entrance to the Underworld, Odysseus and his crew beached their ship on a mist covered shore where the radiant Helios never sheds his light."
In a broader sense, I also question if adding modern festivals is not hubris? Not only do we bend the ways of the ancient Hellens--and their mythology--but we do it from the viewpoint of modern worship. From a hard polytheistic viewpoint, slapping the persona of the Wiccan Horned God onto Helios and calling it Hellenistic is pretty ballsy. To be fair, I am probably associating Helios with the Horned God within the confinds of this festival because of my own previous practice, but you have to admit there are some similarities.
I know I'm being mean and petty about this, but if I wanted a practice where I could conglomerate my practice from a variety of sources and feel perfectly alright about it--and rightfully so--I would have stayed an Eclectic Religious Witch. That was not my intention, however, and so the celebration of these modern festivals is not for me. It may be for you, I don't know. If they are, please, enjoy the heck out of them.
I'm struggling with how Recon my Recon practice should be. I want to keep it as Recon as possible, but I can see that the religion may become--or stay--too static if we don't adapt Hellenismos to modern practice. I may start agreeing with that--and the Heliogenna--in the years to come, but right now, I'm resisting. I'm staying Recon as much as I possibly can, and in that spirit, I also resist the Heliogenna.
What about re-purposing modern secular festivals like Mother's Day or the 9/11 memorial as festivals in honor of the Gods?
ReplyDeleteI... can see how that would work, and I can see why someone would want to offer libations to certain Gods on certain important days. Yet, I see that more as a prayer and additional honor to that Theos, than I understand making a secular event to the ancient Hellens (if they observed it at all, which is not the case with these two examples) sacred to a certain deity, or certain deities (so in this case, saying morher's day is a sacred day to 'deity x'). Mostly this is because I might associate other deities with mother's day than you might do, making it even harder to worship communally, even though we are far away.
DeleteI hope this explination comes across; like I wrote, this is a 'heart' thing, not a 'head' thing, although there certainly went some thought into this.
Thank you very much for your comment.
My intention when writing never to insult. I sincerely hope that those who have integrated modern festivals into their practice enjoy these days very much. This is my blog, though, and becaue of that, I am allowed to voice my opinion. I rarely take stands like I did with this issue, but when I feel about an issue as strongly as I do this one, I am within my right to post about it, even if it's only moderately censored for easy reading. I recognise my own failing of temperance with this post (and a hand full of others), but that does not make them less true in my personal practice. You--obviously--do not have to care one little bit what I think about your personal practice.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting and giving me a platform to explain.
Elani, you're not alone in your struggle to keep things authentic - and yet understand that the religion also has to adapt to modern times, and that eventually modern festivals *will* emerge. SOme perhaps more successful then others. And off course our religion may evolve differently in different parts of the world, just like it did in ancient Hellas. I struggle to balance those two things also, so you're not alone ;)
ReplyDelete@Jonathan Agathokles: It's good to know I am not alone :) I guess I just see more sense in finding ways to celebrate ancient festivals than in creating new ones...
ReplyDeleteI understand your point entirely, however, I also understand that new festivals are just as Hellenic recon as the old ones. I think an important thing to remember is that the majority of the known Hellenic festivals were local festivities. There were some that were Panhellenic in nature, but were very much tied to the area. The elusinian mysteries, for example, had a secondary celebrated area for people that couldn't travel so far but were entirely centered in Eleusis. The ritual calendars of Athens were not the same as the ritual calendars of Sparta. So I think it is a very Hellenic recon thing to do to celebrate the rituals of your area or "poleis". A Hellenic rite keeps it's reconstructive aspect, in my opinion, in the way it is celebrated. Not necessarily what or which Theoi is celebrated.
ReplyDeleteI have issues with the Heliogenna for the miasma that Helios would gain by entering Hades. The Theoi despise the dead. And that is entirely uncharacteristic. However, a festival created in honoring Helios, Apollon, or another solar diety at this time of the year, seems entirely appropriate and true to Hellenic spirit. I would even go as far as to say that celebrating some of the onl Hellenic festivals today may shock and insult original Hellenic practitioners. I still celebrate the eleusinian mysteries in my New York City apartment because I want to attune to that celebration. But, I'm sure if we're trying to be as pure as you talk about, not one of us should be celebrating this unless we are doing it in the site of the old mysteries. Because that, like many other ancient Hellenic festivals, was tied to *that* site.
So, in conclusion, I get your frustration with modern festivals being forced into Hellenic context and being called "recon", but I disagree with the hard-guard trad because it contradicts, in my opinion, what a true reconstructionist should do :)
@M.A.P.: Thank you for your interesting words :) Yes, I agree that we walk a fine line between Traditional and modern, just because we live in the modern era. I do not celebrate the Mysteries beyond daily libations to Demeter and Persephone out of respect for Them, especially because of what you lay out. In fact, I may observe many of the festivals, but I observe most of them in some way.
ReplyDeleteThe Heliogenna is something completely different, however; this is a festival that did not exist, has never existed, and has parts that actively go against the basics of Hellenic religion. I cannot get behind that, no matter how logical it may be to honour Helios.
It's a difficult subject, and I have wavering opinions on it... but I still won't celebrate modern festivals without any historic ties.
O dear, that story about Heliogenna is a bit strange. I my self am kind of easy going in that, I just celebrate with my (atheist) family Christmas on 24th and 25th December, keeping in mind that already a Roman emperor declared the 25th of December as a holiday and that around this period the sun gets stronger, is "reborn" or back from his travelling... actually, it is the Earth who turns back to the Sun... but whatever, I couldn't NOT celebrate Christmas with my family, because it is a family tradition and more important to me than my personal belief.
ReplyDeleteI had actually a question: I've read that some Roman pagan holidays also were celebrated in Roman Greece: the Saturnalia (Κρόνια), the Kalendae mensis Ianuariis (καλάνδαι) and the Rusalia (ρουσάλια). The last two influenced the Slavic traditions (Koljada, Rusalii). But I quess, they do not play any role in Hellenismos? Or Sunday, being a free day thanks to emperor Constantine to make a day for both pagans and Christians?
You not practicing Heliogenna is really valid. While I'm not strictly reconstructionist in my practice, I also have issues with some modern festivals, especially when their rites seem to ignore greek understandings of the gods and their domains like the Helios and underworld line in Homer you mentioned.
ReplyDelete