Pyanepsion – October – 4th Month of the Ancient Greek Attic Calendar

 

 

The Attic or Athenian calendar (one of many ancient Greek calendars), a Festival calendar (lunisolar), with twelve months, each named after a festival or a god, was exclusive to the goings on of the Athenians.

It was created solely to remind them of the more than eighty yearly celebrations plus the more than sixty God’s Birthdays, which were celebrated monthly rather than yearly.

Now you know how the saying “Party like a Greek” came about!

 

The Attic or Athenian Calendar

 

 

Pyanepsion:

 The Month of October

 

The Pyanopsia was a festival held in honour of the god Apollo, on the seventh day (which happened to be his Birthday) of Pyanepsion; the fourth month of the Attic calendar which corresponds to October/November, give or take a day or two, in the Gregorian calendar.

 

 

The festival was also associated with Theseus, founder of Athens, as well as the Horae, the goddesses of the seasons.

 

 

It was a festival when the people of Athens gave thanks and offerings to the god Apollo, said to have been initiated by Theseus, after he left Athens in order to fulfill one of his six labours, that of slaying the Cretan Minotaur.

 

 

Legend has it that Theseus and his men, on their way to Crete, stopped off at the island of Delos, birthplace of the sun god Apollo and his twin sister, Artemis, where Theseus promised Apollo, that if he won the battle with the Minotaur, which he did, he would thereafter, annually show his thanks.

 

 

As a result Theseus established the Pyanopsia, a tradition which was later continued by his followers.

 

The Pyanopsia Festival

 

 

As we know from Greek mythology, Theseus managed to kill the Minotaur in the labyrinth at the palace of King Minas at Knossos, with help from Ariadne (the king’s daughter) and her ball of wool.

Theseus returned triumphantly to Athens, to claim his birthright, on the seventh day of the month of Pyanepsion but not before fulfilling his promise to Apollo, to whom he gave thanks for his safe return by making two offerings.

One, a stew made from boiled beans, called pyanopsia, from which the festival takes its name, literally means boiled beans, from the Greek words πύανος – pyanos “bean” and ἕψειν – hepsein “to boil”.

The second offering to Apollo was a wild olive branch decorated with purple, red or white wool, hung with seasonal fruits, pastries, small jars of honey, oil and wine, symbolizing agricultural abundance.

 

Pyanopsia:

Bean Soup

 

 

The Pyanopsia, or traditional Greek bean soup, eaten as a part of the tradition of public-feasting at Athenian festivals, signifies the bean soup, the only food Theseus and his men would have eaten on their return to Athens from Crete.

They made the soup from what little supplies they had left; just a few pulses and grains, after running out of food on the homeward journey.

 

Beans:

A Supernatural Symbol of Death

 

 

I must just mention here one of the most curious and bizarre beliefs of Pythagoras, one of the most influential mathematicians of all time, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Pyanopsia festival but I find it rather interesting.

Pythagoras considered beans to be a supernatural symbol of death.

He thought men’s souls, lived inside beans and taught his follower that eating them was practically cannibalism; you may be eating your ancestors or your parents even, so he informed them.

Maybe it’s no coincidence that the ancient Greek word anemos means both wind and soul; think of the consequences of eating beans!

There could be some method in his madness concerning Pythagoras’ strange thoughts on beans; favism, named after the bean, was a genetic disorder common in the Mediterranean, brought on by eating fava beans or even inhaling the pollen from its flowers which caused hemolytic anemia, jaundice, and heart failure.

 Even today, one out of 12 people affected die of favism.

 

The Eiresione:

The votive Olive Branch

 

 

The decorated olive branch, the eiresione, represented how important the olive tree was to the city and its people, owing to its portrayal of life and its association with the goddess Athena and how the city of Athens got its name.

 

 

These votive branches were called eiresione, derived from ἔριον – “wool”, in reference to the woolen bands, others however, connect it with εἰρ-/ἐρ– “speak” ( εἴρω “I speak”; ἐρῶ “I will say”).

An olive branch bound with wool and adorned with the first fruits of autumn, figs, walnuts, almonds, chestnuts and small vials of wine, oil and honey, were offered as a thank you for blessings received and as a prayer of protection against future evil.

On the feast of Pyanopsia, the eiresione was carried by a boy, in a procession which toured Athens, whilst at the same time reciting a chant, also called eiresione, which went as follows:

 

Eiresione brings

All good things,

Figs and fat cakes to eat,

Soft oil and honey sweet,

And brimming wine-cup deep

That she may drink and sleep.

 

The eiresione olive branches were hung on the doors of houses, where they remained for a year, as a charm against pestilence and famine, until the next Pyanopsia when it was exchanged for a new one.

Kalo Mina; have a good month, as they say in Greece, don’t forget to make your bean soup and hang a decorated olive branch above your door, just to be on the safe side!