Arrhephoria

Historical celebration

On the Athenian Acropolis two girls aged between seven and eleven were elected to live for a year at a time as arrhephoroi, tending the sacred olive tree and weaving, with the help of other women, the new robe for Athena. Proud parents commemorated their daughters' service by making dedications on the Acropolis. At the annual festival of the Arrhephoria the girls (according to Pausanias) placed on their heads what the priestess of Athena gives them to carry. Neither the priestess nor the girls know what it is she is giving them. In the city there is a sacred precinct not far from that of Aphrodite in the Garden and through it runs a natural underground passage. Here the virgins descend. Down below they leave behind what they have brought and take something else and carry it, veiled as it is. These two virgins are discharged forthwith and others are taken up to the Acropolis in their place.

Interpretation of the festival is difficult because of the lack of sources, but it is clear that the virginal arrhephoroi are chosen from the noblest families of the city and are deployed in a context of impregnation (dew), sexual power (Aphrodite and Eros), and birth (Erichthonios). The word "arrhephoros" etymologically probably means "dew carrier", which at first sight does not help. The arrhephoroi were charged with weaving the peplos (garments) for Athena. The aletrides ground the grain for Athena. The arktoi were the priestesses who celebrated a rite intended to forgive an offense against Artemis. The kanephoroi were the girls who carried the baskets with all of the offerings to the festival. Kanephoros were common place in rituals or feasts similar to Arrhephoria as it was a held position of honor in Ancient Athens. Archaeological evidence reveals that from near the Erechtheion a secret stairway led off the Acropolis past a small rock-cut shrine of Eros and Aphrodite, near which was the precinct to which they were going. The mythical associations of the arrhephoroi are with their starting-point the Erechtheion.

In the fifth century B.C. Aristophanes, in his comic play Lysistrata detailed the stages for the women during this festival:

For at seven years or less I became a girl priestess in the Erechthean temple of the Maid; And at ten upon this hill I made flour in the mill. For the cakes which to our Lady are displayed, Then I went to Brauron town and put on a yellow gown. To walk in the procession as the Bear; To complete my perfect score I the sacred basket bore at Athena's feast when I was young and fair. (1.1.663-673)

These stages have certain tasks which display the ancient system that all girls must go by when reaching puberty. The stages of this "initiation" are as follows. The Arrhephoroi comes first, and is a time when the girl dresses in white and begins to weave for the offering to Athena. This is an art that was always performed by women at that time, and therefore had to be taught at a young age. The second stage is to teach the girl how to bake, specifically, how to bake bread. The third step is considered a symbol of death and resurrection. The girl must attend and participate in the festival with the older women. These stages are all tasks that the girl will use for the rest of her life, and therefore are held in high importance and expectation.

It is believed through sources that Attica was one of the first in history to have one of these festivals.