The Anthesphoria of Ancient Greece [pp. 367-370]

THE LADIES' REPOSITORY.
vivific power of nature; Persephone, the products of the soil. As the seeds are planted in
the earth and are apparently lost, as Autumn
and WVinter gather the flowers and the ripened
fruits of the year, and they are hid from our
sight in the great store-house of the world,
so Persephone disappears into the region of
shadows, doomed to remain there until the voice
of God recalls her to the day. Spring and Summer revive the buried flowers, the seeds burst
forth from their dark abodes, and life seems to
awaken from death. So six months of the year,
the Daughter of Life spends below the earth, six
months upon it.
Our thanksgiving festival we celebrate in the
Fall, after the ripened fruits of the year are
gathered-the Anthlesphoria, the thanksgiving
festival of the Greeks and of the Egyptians
from whom it was obtained, was celebrated in
the Spring. Our picture represents the initiation during this festival of a young maid in the
mysteries of the goddess, as celebrated at
Thlebes, that wonderful city of ancient Egypt.
"Less grave than the Adonia, and less mystic
than the Dionysia," says an eloquent writer,
"but still containing a meaning deeper than a
mere form, the Anthesphoria was the darling
festival of the women, and one to which they
crowded the most willingly. The same procession-one of flowers borne by women was
made elsewhere to the honor of other divinities;
as to Isis in Egypt, to Herd at Argos, and to
Aphrodite at Cnossus. And beautiful, indeed,
it must have been wherever practiced! To see
the maids and matrons crowding forth in the
early Spring morning, while the air was fresh
and the dew still lay sparkling on the grass,
themselves more bright, and fresh, and fair than
the luster flung by E6s on her way; to see
themn when out through the city-gates throw
aside that stately, grave reserve, with which,
covered as with a veil, they had walked through
the thronged town, and spread themselves about
the fields in merry groups of youth and love;
and then to watch their pliant forms bending
Eke sweet nymphs discovered over the beds of
fragrant flowers, plucking the loveliest to wreathe
into garlands for the statue of the innocent Persephone; then returning homeward as the hours
drew on and the procession was about to be
formed, their mirthfulness sobered into awe as
whispers ran from each to each, and young
eyes looked fearfully round when the bolder
spoke of the dark god's love, and wondered
whether he were crouched behind the willow tree yonder, listening to their voices and per haps meditating some second ravishment from
earth; and then-the basket filled, the garlands
wreathed, many a sandaled foot perfumed with
the crushed rose leaves and the broken cyclamens, and many a robe-hem dyed with the
meadow-saffron and the purple orchis-they
returned to the town again so sweetly grave, so
gracefully slow- O0, in faith of love and beauty,
it was a sight almost too fair for earth and
earth's dull sons, this concourse of gentle Grecian women!"
Among all who composed that fair procession, the fairest were chosen as canephors-the
"basket bearers." With baskets of posies in
their hands, and garlands drooping round on
all sides, in the braided hair of the younger,
flowers also, they blushed for very consciousness of beauty. Well did the hierophants know
what they were doing when they selected these
maidens. They knew how much man owes to
externals for causes of belief, and they knew
that beauty, and its offspring, love, were the
most powerful of these causes. To be chosen
canephor was as if "Beautiful" were written on
the lintel of a woman's door.
This festival was celebrated with the greatest
splendor and pomp at Syracuse, near the pleasant fields from whiclh Persephone was carried
off. But the Sicilians were not alone in the
homage which they paid to the goddess. Her
worship was established in Attica, in Crete, in
the Peloponnesus, among the Thebans, Milesians, Ionians, Megarians, and on most of the
islands of the /Egean. At Rome she was worshliped as Ceres, and games were established in
her honor. There were also many other festivals and holidays ordained to the praise of
Demeter, some of which were observed annually and others less often.
The secret doctrines which were taught in
these mysteries may finally have degenerated
into a mere form and an unmeaning ritual. Yet
the mysteries exercised a great influence upon
the spirit of the nation, not of the initiated
only, but of the great mass of the people; and
perhaps they influenced the latter even more
than the former. They preserved the reverence
for sacred things, and made religion the foremost business of life. They had their public
processions and pilgrimages to sacred shrines,
and though none but the initiated were allowed
to take part in the ceremonies, no one was
prohibited from being a spectator. So, while
the multitude was permitted to gaze at them, it
learned to believe that there was something
sublimer than any thing with which it was
acquainted revealed to the initiated; and while
the worth of that sublimer knowledge did not
consist in secrecy alone, it did not lose any
of its value by being concealed.
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