Haloa

Title
Haloa
Publication Date
2013
Author(s)
Dillon, Matthew P
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6874-0513
Email: mdillon@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mdillon
Editor
Editor(s): Roger S Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B Champion, Andrew Erskine and Sabine R Huebner
Type of document
Entry In Reference Work
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Place of publication
Chichester, United Kingdom
Edition
1
DOI
10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17182
UNE publication id
une:14438
Abstract
Most of the Haloa festival, honoring the deities Demeter, Kore, and Dionysos, was carried out in secrecy by citizen women. It was celebrated at Eleusis, south of Athens, during the winter (the 26th day of the month Posideion). The name of the festival might come from 'haloi', threshing floors, a reference to its possible location. While feasting and drinking copious quantities of wine, the women handled male genitalia made from dough and the Eleusinian priestesses whispered adulterous comments into their ears. Participants indulged in ribald comments about sexual intercourse, all this promoting fertility in late winter when another cycle of farming was about to begin.
Link
Citation
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, v.VI. Ge-In, p. 3050-3050
ISBN
9781405179355
9781444338386
Start page
3050
End page
3050

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