This is an article I wrote for the newsletter "He Epistole" which can be found at
this website.
The Kronia was a festival in honor of Kronos, the Titan father of Zeus. It was
celebrated just after the New Year; according to the Athenian calendar the date
is Hekatombaion 12. (1) This year (2004) it falls on 29 July.
The nature of the festival has an agrarian, a social, and a mythological component
to it, as did many of the ancient festivals. Practitioners of reconstructionism
would do well to understand these different aspects of the festival, as it
illuminates a portion of ancient Greek culture of interest to us.
The agrarian aspect of the festival is obvious because it occurred after the final
grain harvest. Kronos was the god of the grain; his symbol is the scythe with
which he harvested it. He is the husband of Rhea, the Great Earth Mother. She is
responsible for making the crops grow, but it is Kronos who harvests the crop.
Socially, it represented a time for restraints to be temporarily forgotten.
Slaves were released from their duties, and participated in the festivities
alongside the slave-owners. Slaves were “permitted to run riot through the city,
shouting and making a noise.”(2) In some cases, the masters were the “servants”
of their slaves, serving them food during the feasts. This is in honor of the
Golden Age, a time in which there was no slavery, and even no hard labor.
The Kronia also reenacts two myths. Ouranos hated his children and when they were
born, he hid them away deep inside Gaia’s body. This caused much distress for the
goddess. She asked one of her children to take revenge against their father, and
Kronos, the youngest, agreed to do this. He set an ambush for his father, and
when the moment came, he castrated his father with a large sickle. Kronos thus
became the new king. However, it was foretold that he, too, would be overthrown.
This is told in a second myth, in which Kronos swallows his children as they are
born in order to prevent them from overthrowing him. Rhea, his wife, hides the
last child, Zeus, and instead presents Kronos with a rock made to resemble the
newborn child. Kronos immediately swallows the “child” without realizing he has
been deceived. As the years pass, Zeus grows and the day arrives in which he
fulfils his destiny. Not only does Zeus defeat Kronos and takes his place as king
of the gods, but he also frees his brothers and sisters who are trapped inside
Kronos’ stomach.
Modern-day Hellenic reconstructionists will have some difficulty celebrating this
festival. As it occurs in late summer, it does not correspond to the end of the
harvest season, at least not for those of us in the US. However, we certainly can
celebrate the season of the harvest. We also no longer have slavery, so that part
of the festival cannot be reenacted. We can replace the master/slave relationship
with perhaps the adult/child relationship, and let the children serve the adults,
for example.
We can, however, still celebrate its mythological and religious significance
without much difficulty. We may offer prayers, food sacrifices, and sports to
Kronos. Drew Campbell, in his Old Stones, New Temples has created a ritual in
honor of this day, in which passages from the Theogony are read, as well as the
Orphic Hymn to Kronos.(3) Also appropriate for this festival are offerings of
cakes and incense, as well as playing sports such as three-legged races.(4) As
with all festivals, there is a feast, which can be like a “block party,” or a
picnic at the local park. Of course if there will only be a few people attending,
the back yard is just fine.
This is not one of the more “popular” festivals to modern pagans, but the nature
of it was very interesting to me, and I plan to celebrate it at a local park. It
has a very playful nature, despite the rather gruesome myths associated with it.
Even if you don’t have a big celebration for this day, be sure to at least take
part in this “opposite day.” Not all our worship needs to be stuffy & serious!
Endnotes:
1. Previously the month of Hekatombaion was known as Kronion.
2. Walter Burkert. Greek Religion. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1985, p. 231
3. Drew Campbell. Old Stones, New Temples: Ancient Greek Paganism Reborn. Xlibris Corporation, 2000, p. 224
4. Campbell, p. 225
