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TIMING:

26 Poseideon, 4 Dec 99.

THEME:

Demeter, Dionysos, fertility, growth

HISTORY / LORE:

The Haloa was only celebrated at Eleusis and has many similarities to the Thesmophoria. It is a fertility festival dedicated to Demeter and Dionysos, traditionally for women only. At the start, the magistrates served a meal to the women, then withdrew. The men had a feast separately that wasn't part of the Haloa. The women's feast consisted of all manner of food except those forbidden at the Eleusinion (forbidden foods are pomegranates, apples, eggs, fowls, shark, red sea mullet and black tailed crayfish). With the meal, the women were served cakes shaped like male and female genital organs. During the meal, priestesses whisper to the women that they should take lovers and a girl sprinkles grain from a box onto the floor between four clay phallic symbols. There follows a night of food and sex as fertility magic to get the crops to grow.

DECORATING IDEAS:

This is very much a fertility festival so decorations should include lots of clay models of male and female genital organs and anything that will stimulate an erotic atmosphere (low lights, romantic music, etc.).

GARMENTS:

Anything erotic and easily replaced by nothing at all.

RITUAL CUP:

enough wine mixed with water to get everyone relaxed without making them drunk.

RITUAL FOODS:

Any food not prohibited (see above) can be used but, due to the nature of the festival, foods should be light such as appetizers, deserts and pastries. Cakes or bread shaped like male and female genital organs should be made and included in the meal.

ACTIVITIES:

All women attending this festival must consent to having sex with the partners of their choice and all the men must consent to have sex with the person choosing them. After all, that is the nature of a fertility festival. The evening starts with a feast for the women catered by the men. The men then move out of hearing range to have their dinner. During the feast, the women discuss who their partners are to be for the night and what kinds of growth they want for the next year. Once they are relaxed and ready, the women leave their feast, make an offering of grain (placed between four phallic symbols), and select their partners for the night. The should do their best to please their partner as this is symbolic of their fortunes throughout the next year (without effort, there is no gain).

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