Today at Temenos Oikidios, we celebrated the Gamelia, the wedding of Hera and Zeus. We have historically celebrated this festival in late January/early February. However, Peregrine Ursano found in his studies that Hera was worshiped in a seasonal fashion, so that it would make more sense to hold this festival during the summer months, when She was honored as Hera Teleia or the Fulfilled. (For those interested in investigating this further, you may be interested in checking out the Hera page on Theoi.com .)
After ritually bathing Their statues, we heard the story of how Zeus wooed Hera and Hera invented marriage to begin with Them and spread as an institution to the rest of the Gods and to humans. We offered and shared a feast of Italian wedding soup, chicken, bread, watermelon, and wedding cake for theoxenia.
The oracle reading for the ritual was “Gather an unripe fruit, and it is not useful. After many contests, the laurels will be yours. But strive with deliberation; do not act in haste and violence.”
Other rituals we’ve done recently are the Panathenaia (7/29) and Diogennia (8/19). Here are some photos:
Panathenaia
Diogennia
Our next festival will be the Fall Festival on 9/23.
Until then, may the blessings of the Gods be with you!
Temenos Oikidios 