AEGINETA´RUM FE´RIAE
AEGINETA´RUM FE´RIAE (
Αἰγινητῶν ἑορτή), a festival in honour of Poseidon, which
lasted sixteen days, during which time every family took its meals quietly
and alone, no slave being allowed to wait, and no stranger invited to
partake of them. From the circumstance of each family being closely confined
to itself, those who solemnised this festival were called
μονοφάγοι. Plutarch (
Quaest.
Graec. 44) traces its origin to the Trojan war, and says that, as
many of the Aeginetans had lost their lives, partly in the siege of Troy and
partly on their return home, those who reached their native island were
received indeed with joy by their kinsmen; but,
[p. 1.34]in
order to avoid hurting the feelings of those families who had to lament the
loss of their friends, they thought it proper neither to show their joy nor
to offer any sacrifices in public. Every family, therefore, entertained
privately their friends who had returned, and acted themselves as
attendants, though not without rejoicings.
[
L.S]
