This is an article I wrote for the newsletter "He Epistole" which can be found at
this website.
As reconstructionists we often face the problem of not knowing what was done at particular festivals.
What seems like endless research often doesn’t produce any results, because simply the information has
been lost. This is one of the unfortunate facts of our religion. But there is one facet of our religion that
remains ever a constant: food. Food is involved in almost every religious practice that we know of. In this
short essay I will discuss a few of these instances.
Public festivals certainly involved a lot of food. The central act of the ritual was the sacrifice, in which
certain portions were offered to the god or gods being worshipped by placing these parts in the altar fire.
It was thought that the gods somehow “consumed” these parts, although exactly how this happened was
not really an issue to most people. The priest and honored guests at the ritual were the ones who tasted
the splancha before the ritual continued.(1) This was considered a great honor. The remaining meat was
cut up and cooked, either roasted or frequently it was boiled. This meat was then served at the dinner
which accompanied the ritual, and formed one of the important aspects of the larger festival.(2) Kerényi
wrote that this sacrificial meal “is the fulfillment of the sacrifice.”(3) The gods “eat” the sacrificial victim, and
we imitate this action of the gods by also eating the meat, and thereby demonstrate the connection that
exists between god and mortals.
Even in the cases where there is no sacrificial animal, there is still some form of food offered. We might
look at the first fruits offerings. One is to dedicate a portion of the first harvest to the gods. Sometimes
these practices are carefully controlled, as was the case with the temple of Demeter at Eleusis. A
declaration was made as to the amount to be brought to the temple as a sort of tithe or tax.(4) However,
these first fruit offerings were mostly spontaneous gifts made by pious people. They would bring a little
from their harvest to a near-by shrine or sacred grove, or they might simply bury it near their fields. There
are many variations of this practice, as it seems that how it was done was not really important. The
important thing was that the gods were given the first portion, as a way of saying “thank you” for their
blessings.
Libations also fall into this category, and there is much mention of them in the texts. Not only were libations
part of the actions in the public rituals, but they also were performed as rituals in-and-of-themselves. If one
wanted to pray to the gods in order to request something, a libation was always appropriate. Burkert
says, “In order to supplicate the gods aright at all, a libation is therefore required.”(5) I suspect that the
libation was an especially popular form of home worship, as it was a simple but worthy offering to the gods.
Other home worship involving food is the act of giving the first bites of food to the hearth. This is quite
similar in nature to the first fruits offerings, in that it is the first portions that are given. At the same time it is
similar to the public sacrifice ritual, as the food is burned in the fire. In any case, the family meal is an
appropriate time for offerings, as all are present to take part in these actions. Along with the meal, wine
may be served, and it was also common practice to offer libations of wine it was drunk. Families might
pour it directly on the floor, as most homes had only dirt floors.
It should come as no surprise that food would play such a prominent role in the religion, as the lives of the
people mostly revolved around agriculture. Regular meals consisted of grains, olives, fruits such as figs,
and wine. Meat was rarely eaten, and when it was, it was almost exclusively eaten after first being
sacrificed to the gods.
Fortunately for us, we can also make food an important part of our worship. The act of cooking can be a
religious as well. There are a few ancient recipes published both in books and on the internet if you are
interested in making an ancient meal. That, however, is not necessary. All that one really needs to do is
choose a meal that is “special.” You will need to pay attention to the ingredients, however, as certain gods
prefer or reject certain plants and herbs, as the case may be. For example, Demeter was offered piglets
at the Thesmophoria, so a pork & grain meal would be quite appropriate for her.
We do not know of any special rituals involving the cooking of food. However, we do know that miasma
could be passed from one person to another through contact, so we might presume that miasma can be
passed through food as well.(6) Take care to purify yourself before you begin to cook by washing your hands
at the very least.(7) I have no elaborate ritual to offer to readers as I think that such a ritual would fall beyond
the scope of reconstructionism. However, I would suggest that one maintain a “religious” mindset while
cooking. Make the entire process, and not just the end result, an offering to the gods.
Once you have completed your meal, offer it to the god you wish to honor. A simple way to do this is to just
take the first few bites of your meal, and offer it by burning it, burying it, or just setting it outside. This idea
can be adapted depending on the setting.
Often we reconstructionists tend to focus on the more striking features of Hellenic ritual, such as the animal
sacrifice or the hymns. That is important as well, but food functioned as the cornerstone in worship, and
thus we should make it more prominent in our modernized rituals as well.
Endnotes:
1. The splancha is the heart, kidneys, liver, and other organs.
2. In general public festivals had three parts, i.e. the ritual, the feast, and the competitions.
3. Carl Kerényi. The Religion of the Greeks and Romans. E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1962, p.
187.
4. You may read an example of this in Walter Burkert. Greek Religion. Harvard University Press, 1985, p.
67.
5. Burkert, Greek Religion, p. 71.
6. Miasma is often translated as “pollution” which can be both physical and non-physical pollution. Normal
life can lead to pollution, and so one washed their hands before entering the sanctuary, which purifies the
person of that pollution.
7. It is a belief of mine that the washing of the hands in the khernips before entering the sanctuary
actually began from the practice of washing before creating a meal. Unwashed hands can lead to sickness, and
that, in the mind of the ancients, was a sign that the gods were displeased. Many religions have food and
cleanliness taboos, so this certainly isn’t unique to Greek religion.
Food’s Central Role in our Religion