Thesmophoria - An ancient Greek festival where men were forbidden to participate.

Thesmophoria – the privilege of women in an unequal society

In ancient Greece, festivals were an essential part of political and social life. Although there were as many as 120 days a year dedicated to holidays, most were reserved for male citizens, with women generally being strictly forbidden from participating.

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During that period, women were generally not considered citizens in the same full sense as men. Women did not have the right to vote, participate in politics, or hold public office. They did not have the right to participate in public activities like men. A woman's status was often tied to her family, primarily to managing the household and bearing children, and subject to the guardianship of her father or husband. Their marriages were also rarely based on love; instead, the main goal was to maintain the lineage and secure economic and social benefits for both families.

Therefore, the fact that a festival was held annually not only for women, but that they also directly participated in the preparation process, held profound significance for this marginalized half of society. This privilege stemmed from the Greek belief that the fertility of the fields was closely linked to women's reproductive capacity.

Thesmophoria was a three-day festival celebrated at the time of sowing before the planting season to honor the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone (also known as Kore). Ancient documents show that this festival was widely celebrated throughout the ancient Greek world, but was mainly concentrated in Athens – where the most written evidence remains.

The festival takes place from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Pyanepsion according to the Greek Attic calendar (equivalent to October and November in our modern calendar). Pyanepsion marks the beginning of autumn, the time when agricultural workers would plant wheat, barley, and beans for the winter. The rituals performed during Thesmophoria aim to ensure sacred protection of the land, guaranteeing a favorable climate to bring about a bountiful harvest.

The story of two plump goddesses

Demeter and Persephone were a mother and daughter pair closely associated with agriculture, harvests, and fertility. The Greeks particularly revered these two fertility goddesses because, in an agricultural society, ensuring bountiful harvests was crucial. According to legend, Hades, the god of the underworld, captivated by Persephone's beauty, abducted her to the underworld, causing Demeter to become enraged and abandon her farming duties to search for her daughter. After consuming the food of the underworld and becoming an underworld inhabitant, Persephone was forced to return to the underworld with Hades for about half (or one-third) of the year.

From then on, Demeter ceased protecting the crops whenever her daughter was in the underworld, preventing humans from harvesting during that time. But upon reuniting with her daughter, Demeter's joy spread across the land, bringing about bountiful harvests. Because mythology often explains the changes of the natural world, the story of Persephone and Demeter formed the basis of the ancient Greek concept of the seasons. Besides serving as a pre-harvest ritual, Thesmophoria also commemorates Persephone's return from the underworld.

Sacred rituals in the Thesmophoria festival

One of the most important agricultural rituals of the festival is the sacrifice of piglets. The origins of this ritual are mentioned in the Dialogue of the Courtesans by the Byzantine scholar Lucian. According to Lucian, at the time Hades captured Persephone, she was picking flowers in a field where a pig herder named Eubouleus was also tending his pigs. When Hades captured Persephone, everyone on earth fell into the Underworld.

On the first day of the festival, Anodos (the Ascension), women pay homage to Persephone and Eubouelus by sacrificing piglets and burying them in a pit called a megaron. A group of women called Antleriai will retrieve what remains of the piglets from the previous year and bring them back to the altar.

On the second day of Nesteia, women participating in the festival are required to fast. They place a pig's carcass on an altar, mixed with pine branches and cakes shaped like snakes and humans—symbols of fertility in the Greek world. Those participating in this ritual believe that the pig's carcass, combined with grains, will ensure divine protection for their crops.

The final day, known as Kalligeneia (beautiful birth), is dedicated to women's fertility. By praying to the goddess Eleusinian (also known as Kalligeneia), Demeter's foster mother, women can ask for protection for their fertility.

Ancient texts often describe that during this festival, women would engage in "ritualistic obscenities." They were encouraged to tell crude jokes, use vulgar language to insult each other, and even fight – considered the amusement of the goddess Demeter. These behaviors were believed to be closely linked to women's sexuality and fertility.

Because women were largely confined to the family in ancient Greece, the festival of Thesmophoria offered them—albeit only as wives of citizens—an opportunity to participate in public life, something they would not have been able to do without it. Since agricultural fertility was essential to the development of city-states, the festival allowed women to temporarily relinquish their domestic duties and integrate into the civic life of the Greek world.

Wang Long