The following is an alphabetical list of Greek festivals and holy days. It is incomplete, and it is a work in progress. Most of the festivals on the list are Attic, but others are from other regions, and I will continue to add them as I learn more about them. Similarly, most of the dates given are based on the Attic calendar and I try to specify when that is not the case.
Holy Days and Festivals
Adonia The Adonia was a women’s festival held in late summer in honor of Adonis, a consort of Aphrodite who died tragically. The festival, observed privately by women of all classes, rather than by the greater community, took place in private homes rather than in a public temple or other site. During the Adonia, the women wept and mourned the death of Adonis, planting small, shallow roof gardens of quick-sprouting plants (such as lettuce or herbs) in broken pots and leaving them in the sun to wither and die, thus remembering the short life of beautiful Adonis. (Larson, Cults 124) The dead plants were then taken and thrown into the sea or other body of water. (Goff, Citizen 58) Another practice associated with the Adonia was the making of small Adonis images or dolls to be laid out for a mock burial. (Larson, Cults 125)
Amarysia The Amarysia was a festival of Artemis Amarysia, whose worship originated in Amarythus in Euboia, (Wycherley “Minor” 286) Artemis Amarysia, a major divinity in Eretria, had, in addition to her Olympian aspect, a strong chthonic character not often seen in this goddess (Walker Eretria 33) and may have derived from the earlier title of Potnia Theron or “Mistress of the Animals” (32)
Moonlit Spires 