PAT ritual announcement: the Mounikhia
The Mounikhia (Μουνιχιας), the festival after which the month was named, is celebrated on the sixteenth of Mounichion. On this day of the full moon, Artemis Mounikhia (Αρτεμις Μουνυχια) was honoured at the hill of Munikhia, for granting the Hellenes victory in the Battle of Salamis (Ναυμαχία τῆς Σαλαμῖνος).
During the festival, young girls walked in procession to the temple on top of the hill carrying green boughs, while the rest of the celebrants followed, carrying special cakes called ‘amphiphontes’ (‘shining all round’). These round white cakes were adorned with dadia (little torches)–lit candle–and were supposed to represent the full moon. A she-goat is also attested as a sacrifice. To honour Artemis on this day, Elaion is organizing a PAT ritual. Will you be celebrating the Mounikhia with us? There will be two times: just after your dusk on Monday 4 May, or at our regular 10 a.m. EDT on Tuesday 5 May.
The ritual for the festival can be found here, and if you want to learn more about the festival and its history, please read this blog post. I wrote it a few years ago when the festival came ’round.
During this festival, an amphiphon was sacrificed to Artemis. It was a cheese pie on which candles were lit. Most likely, the amphiphon was a type of popanon; this is a large, round, flat cake with one or more, upright, protruding, knobs made from flour and cheese. The flat version of the cake, the popanon kathemenon was offered to Artemis, amongst others, as well as one with twelve knobs. We’ve seen this before for the Delphinia.
As always, we hope you will join us at your oikos to honour Artemis, our eternal protector.