![]() The worship ceremonies took place in two periods. However, we do know that after all the pilgrims were relieved from the fear of death. Because of its secret character, the participants are forced not to reveal the form of this holy celebration. What, exactly this mystic ritual was, no one knows. Its core was the myth of Persephone’s abduction and the initiates, probably through a symbolic reenactment of the “death” and “rebirth” of Persephone and other sequence of steps, claimed a better life after death. The celebration takes a PanHellenic character while many more pilgrims visit Eleusina from all over Greece. According the tradition, it was a nine-day festival which taking place in the shrine of Demeter and Persephone each September. ΤIn antiquity, Eleusina was mainly known for the Great Mysteries, as the Eleusinian Mysteries were also called, the most famous secret religious rite of the ancient Greece. ![]() The worship ceremonies took place in two periods The annexation of the city of Eleusis to the powerful state of Athens, during historical times, led to the evolution of worship into a nationwide religious institution with unifying power and strong influence, which in Roman times acquired universal prestige. A local cult, therefore, initially limited to members of a family or genus, gradually spread beyond these narrow boundaries. This cult became known as the Mysteries of the goddess Demeter and as the rituals took place in Eleusis, they were called Eleusinian Mysteries. It also teaches the Eleusinians to worship her with ceremonies, that are mysterious and in which participants will become happy and complete, with one condition, never to reveal the content of them. Thus, the daughter of Demeter, will live the eight months of the year with her mother on earth and the rest with her husband in the kingdom of Hades.Īfter that, before leaving for Olympus, happy now, the goddess Demeter “straightway made fruit to spring from the rich land, so that the whole wide earth was filled with leaves and flowers. But he offers her to eat pomegranate, a symbol of marriage. Zeus, the king of gods and people, is ordering Pluto to let Persephone ascend to the Upper World. ![]() In this temple, which Keleus will immediately construct, she will be closed, determined not to let the earth germinate until she sees her beloved daughter again. Unfortunately, she provoked the strong reaction of his mother, Metaneira, who didn’t know her purpose, and thus, she will be forced to reveal her divine identity in the following words: "I, then, am much honored Demeter, the one who offers food and joy to the immortals and mortals." As goddess Demeter orders the king and the Eleusinians to build her a temple and an altar "outside your city and its high walls, on the hill that rises above the Kallichoron well". Then, in order to return the hospitality, she became the nurse of the royal infant, Demofon, and decides to make the infant immortal by passing it over the fire to burn his mortal elements. To make her cheer up, they offer her red wine, which she refuses to drink and begs them to make her a drink of barley flour mixed with water and thin flask, the "cykeon", with which she stops her fast. ![]() In the well she sat down to rest, she meets the daughters of the king of the city, Keleus, who take her to the palace and take care of her. On the tenth day, as soon as he learned the truth from Helios, angry with Zeus, he abandons Olympus and roams the cities and fields of people.ĭisguised as an old woman, she arrived in the city of Eleusis. She was so sad that "she didn't want to eat the ambrosia, she didn't want to drink the sweet drink, the nectar, and she didn't even take a bath." Her mother, Demeter, who heard her voices, has been wandering the earth for nine days looking for her. Aidoneus, who identifies with Pluto, the god of the Underworld and brother of Zeus, watching the beautiful Persephone play undisturbed in a meadow, in the company of the daughters of the Ocean, impressed by her beauty and innocence, while she bends down to cut a flower, rips the earth on his golden chariot with the immortal horses, he grabs her, while she resists with wails and sorrows, and leads her to his kingdom.
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