funnyhelpolblog

[funnyhelpolblog]

Do you have any sources for festivals? Ive been looking into them recently,,

I haven't been looking into festivals for long at all, so I won't be able to provide much information! (sryyy)

I've gotten as far as finding a few sources that simply list the names of festivals and have made myself a list of ones to research. The resources in question, though, are very well known throughout the community:

Temple Hyacinthus (the temple calendar)

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship (couldn't find an online read)

A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos

While researching, I come across many more festivals to look into, so finding new sources that provide that hasn't been necessary.

When learning about the specifics of festivals, I often go to the resources section of wiki pages. The problem that I've run into is that many festivals are very hard to actually find any information on, even online; so when that happens, I hit a wall and decide to move on to the next, but I have yet to return to those.

I'm sorry, I haven't been able to get far into this subject; I wish I could help more! . . . On the contrary, if you happen to be farther into this than I am, I would love some suggestions! lol

Edit:

I'd like to provide a post with many sources to read from, some of which are bound to be about or have chapters about festivals: link

The books that I hope to begin reading that provide info on this subject are:

Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion

Festivals of the Athenians

Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical

Hellenismos: Practicing Greek Polytheism Today

Sadly, I don't have the money to buy them and have yet to look for all of them online. That means I'm not quite sure what the contents of the books are, but I do know that they at least mention festivals!

(divider made by uzmacchiato)

[funnyhelpolblog]

Hades taught me that external validation and others' opinions on me don't matter.

Persephone taught me that I can start over and over and over because change is inevitable and necessary.

Hermes taught me that I am the only one stabilising limits around myself.

Aphrodite taught me that I have to do things from love, not for love.

[funnyhelpolblog]

hera still loves polyamorus people

aphrodite still loves aroace people

zeus still loves people who are scared of thunder

poseidon still loves people who can't swim

apollo still loves people who aren't musical

helios still loves people who sunburn easily

artemis still loves people who aren't virgins

persephone still loves people who are allergic to pollen

hades still loves people who are afraid of death

athena still loves people who aren't academic

ares still loves people who don't like to be angry

hephaestus still loves people who can't craft things

being who you are is not offensive to the gods. they still love you.

[funnyhelpolblog]

My Apollo altar!

Apollo was the first god I started praying to, and thus this was the first altar I made. I'm still so happy with it and I'm sure Apollo is too <3

[funnyhelpolblog]

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those who sleep during the day

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those who are chronically tired

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those with chronic pain

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those who regularly pull all-nighters

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those whose anxiety spikes at night

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those that have nightmares and terrors

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those with broken sleep patterns

⋆˚࿔ Hypnos is with those who burn out often

[funnyhelpolblog]

THIS!!! i got into epic *because* of my religion

Friendly reminder that just because I have fandom and epic stuff on my main blog doesn’t mean you can assume I’m “faking” my religion or I’m just doing a trend.

I dare y’all to act like you got some sense.

[funnyhelpolblog]

🏺Embracing Lessons🏺

🦅 Zeus: Thank you for your guidance, Great King.

🐎 Poseidon: Thank you for the tides, Holder of the Earth. 𓅓 Hades: Thank you for guiding the souls of the dead, Great Receiver. 🦚 Hera: Thank you for my marriage, Heavenly Queen. 🐍 Demeter: Thank you for the food that nourishes me, Blooming. 🦉 Athena: Thank you for the wisdom that guides me, Aegis Bearer. 🐄 Apollo: Thank you for the sweet music that heals me, Great Healer. 🦌 Artemis: Thank you for protecting our women and children, Huntress. 🐗 Ares: Thank you for lending courage when their is none, Blood Stained One. 🦢 Aphrodite: Thank you for teaching me self love, Soft and Beautiful. 🫏 Hephaestus: Thank you for showing me how to craft, Lame God. 🐢 Hermes: Thank you for letting me travel safely, Giver of Fortune. 🐖 Hestia: Thank you for the warmth within my home, Hearth Dweller. 🐅 Dionysus: Thank you for the Wine that livens my heart, Fruit Bringer.

[funnyhelpolblog]

"Soft-eyed Hypnos came, embracing all his limbs, as a mother on seeing her dear son after a long absence folds him with her wings to her loving breast."

— Greek Lyric V Anonymous, Fragment 929g (Rainer papyrus) (trans. Campbell)

[funnyhelpolblog]

x

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a little illustration of Apollo and his cows :>

kinda been obsessed with Greek mythology for a while now (bc of epic lol) sooo yea i planned to design all olympians gods (wish me luck)

[funnyhelpolblog]

reblog to give your headache to elon musk instead

[funnyhelpolblog]

Friendly reminder that the gods do not want you to worship at the expense of your mental and/or physical health!!!

[funnyhelpolblog]

Generative AI has no right to be in HelPol spaces .ᐟ.ᐟ

I can say honestly that I have used generative AI in the past. I have never used ChatGPT but to say I haven’t at all would be disingenuous.

Me and my partner found a website that generated memes (awfully) and found it funny. This was about early 2024, it was a one time thing, and it hasn’t been touched since. (This Meme Does Not Exist) — I acknowledge that a year ago we probably should’ve known, I’m not sure why we didn’t think about it, we truly didn’t know.

I have also looked at Google’s AI for a quick answer before scrolling down or even closing the tab entirely. I feel so guilty about my contribution, more so that I did that at the same time I started practicing paganism, but I want to say I apologise and will not knowingly use, post, or spread AI going forward. Especially for Google, I will think about looking past the AI overview no matter how “easy” it will be to get an answer. (I mention this later)

Since last year, AI has exploded, with people encouraging it to people giving all they got to remove it. I learned very quickly how harmful AI is not only for the environment but for creators. AI is generative PURELY because it takes from others, it can never make something of its own. Talk of AI is everywhere on the internet by now, there aren’t many excuses to not have at least heard something about its negative impact.

Before I left school, I saw my peers boast openly about how they used ChatGPT and even had a teacher of mine encourage it. I found it shocking. This isn’t a matter of struggling with school work and assignments, this is not being able to think for yourselves. Find your teacher, find a tutor, find a textbook, find online resources. That’s the issue. As said earlier, it’s easy and fast. People want answers? Want something funny? Boom. It’s there. That’s how people get sucked into it.

Back to HelPol spaces

Using AI to write posts about Hellenic Polytheism straight up rips off actual academic authors !! and other Tumblr users. Using AI to generate “art” of the gods takes from actual artists who put work and effort in, unlike you. I’ve seen so many beautiful drawings from those in the HelPol community, some that are heartfelt, amusing, or captured how I see a deity.

AI is empty, void, and cold. It doesn’t and will never have the imperfections or the lines done by the human mind. It doesn’t have the soul and determination to create.

AI takes away the freedom for a creator to post their works. If you practice Hellenic polytheism, do you not think this goes against gods of art? Of music? Of poetry? Any kind of medium. Think of what the gods stand for too: nature, animals, the world.

(I speak to those using AI who are also HelPol, but you absolutely do not need to be religious to want to protect the rights of creators and the Earth)

Please talk about the gods, create for the gods even if it isn’t pro-level art. Please write for the gods even if it’s a small drabble that has spelling mistakes and grammar issues. Do your best. But don’t turn to AI because it’ll be quick, or you’re struggling, or because you think it’ll get you pumping out a lot of posts for likes.

AI doesn’t come from a brain, or a heart, it is a machine that takes and spits out what it learned from human beings. People that put in time to write what they did, time to draw what they did.

Think for yourselves. Don’t let the machine do it for you.

@pixilatedwitchery and @dancing-with-maenads list of HelPol (and general pagan) accounts that use AI — here

[funnyhelpolblog]

From the survey I did you chose Veiling as the next post! So this post will be about that, I'll explain veiling in ancient Greece. This is done for helping begginers or who wants to start veiling! Enjoy💛

Understanding Veiling in Hellenism, Why Some of Us Choose To?

If you've been exploring modern Hellenism, especially through devotional or reconstructed practice, you may have come across people mentioning veiling: covering their heads during ritual, prayer, or in the presence of the gods.

Veiling in Ancient Greece, Was it a thing?

In modern Hellenic polytheism, veiling is often seen as a personal devotional choice. But in ancient Greece, it was a culturally embedded ritual norm, especially for women (and in some cases for men) with very specific symbolic meanings attached to public and sacred life.

In ancient Greece (particularly in Classical Athens), women's clothing often included long, draped garments like the peplos or chiton, often paired with a himation: a large rectangular shawl that could be pulled over the head as a veil.

While women did not necessarily wear a veil at all times, covering the head in public and in sacred spaces was seen as a sign of modesty, self-respect, and honor, especially for married women or those of high status.

In religious rituals, veiling was extremely common particularly when:

Approaching a deity, especially in temples

Making sacrifices or offerings

Participating in processions or festivals

Entering sanctuaries or sacred precincts

Observing mourning rites or funerals

Engaging in cults: Like Eleusinian Mysteries

Veiling in these moments meant:

• Purity and piety

• Distinction between sacred and mundane

• Submission to the divine order

• Reverence in the face of divine power

For instance, women who served as priestesses of goddesses often veiled during sacred rituals.

Curiosities :)

Greek vase art from the 6th-4th centuries BCE often depicts women with himation veils drawn over their heads during:

Weddings

Funerary scenes

Religious rituals or processions

Scenes involving deities

But there were also in literature! Such as:

•Euripides and Sophocles both describe female characters covering their heads in grief or when entering temples.

Plutarch, in Moralia, comments on veiling as a gesture of reverence and humility before the gods.

In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope draws her veil across her face when appearing before guests - a sign of modesty and status.

Veiling for Chthonic and Ouranic deities

The type of deity being honored could influence the practice:

When honoring Ouranic (sky) deities like Zeus or Apollon: veiling was a sign of respect and presence, like preparing yourself to be in a temple.

When honoring Chthonic (underworld) deities like Hades or Hekate: veiling could signal spiritual protection, humility, and ritual separation from the everyday world. This is especially true for funeral rites, where veiling helped draw a visible line between the living and the dead.

Veiling for Men, was it a thing?

When people think of veiling in ancient Greece, they usually imagine women with their himation drawn over their head during ritual or mourning.

But men also practiced veiling, though in more limited and context-specific ways! So if you're a man you can still veil if you want!

One of the most common contexts in which Greek men veiled was during mourning and funerary rituals.

Covering the head was a visible sign of grief, ritual mourning, and respect for the dead.

It also acted as a form of ritual purification and separation (the veil helped symbolically distance the mourner from death-miasma and the chthonic forces associated with it)

In funerary vases and reliefs, male figures are sometimes shown with cloaks drawn over their heads, especially during the prothesis (the laying out of the body) and funeral procession.

Just like with women, this veiling was not about modesty, but about marking a threshold moment.

Men also veiled during certain chthonic (underworld-related) and mystery cult rituals. These included:

Chthonic Offerings: When making offerings to underworld gods (such as Hades, Persephone, Hekate, or the Erinyes) veiling was sometimes practiced as a gesture of humility, protection, and reverence.

The act of covering one's head before a chthonic deity helped emphasize ritual seriousness and separation from the profane.

It was an acknowledgment that the practitioner was stepping into the realm of death, shadow, and hidden power, and thus needed to show restraint and respect.

In these rites, veiling might also help shield the self spiritually from unseen forces.

"Mystery Cults" (Eleusinian Mysteries): Although exact details of mystery initiations are intentionally secret and thus partially lost to us, evidence suggests that veiling was a part of initiation ceremonies (and this applied to both men and women).

But what about today? How can we veil?

I will now say only some of the ways to veil. There are a lot of methods, some are still used today some not. I'll say both. I'll explain these methods: himation, kekryphalos, kredemnos, and hair-related styles like the krobylos and korymbos. There are more styles as I said, like Sakkos, Mitra, Stephane, Ampyx, Calyptra, Calantica, Peplos (when used as a veil), Diadema (sometimes included as part of sacred headwear)

Himation (luátiov)

-What was it? A large rectangular cloak worn over the shoulders, usually by both men and women. It could be draped over the head as a veil.

-For what it was used? Drawing the himation over the head was a primary form of veiling in ritual contexts, especially for prayer, libations, funerals, and temple entry.

-What is the modern use? The himation-style veil is the most commonly reconstructed type today. Modern Hellenic polytheists and pagans use scarves, shawls, or wraps in a similar fashion: draped over the hair and shoulders during prayer or rituals.

Kekryphalos (кекрфалос)

-What was it? A hair net or snood, made of fine fabric, silk, or mesh, often worn close to the scalp to confine the hair.

-For what it was used? Worn primarily by women, especially married women, in both daily life and formal appearances. It was used to cover and contain the hair (symbolizing modesty, respectability, and control).

Types: Ornamental (made with gold or purple silk) or hidden under an himation or kredemnos.

-What is the modern use? Some Hellenists who veil regularly may use kekryphalos-inspired coverings (like headwraps or hair nets) for discreet veiling, especially in public or when combining daily modesty with ritual preparation.

Kredemnos (knõeuvos)

-What was it? A wide, band-like head covering, often embroidered or decorated, worn across the forehead and sometimes over the hair.

-For what it was used? Frequently depicted in statues and vase paintings of godly or noble women. It was associated with status, modesty, and sacred femininity.

-What is the modern use? Rare today in literal reconstruction but aesthetically inspiring for ritual attire. Headbands or ornate wraps may evoke the kredemnos style in festivals or devotional events.

While these are all considered veiling, the next ones (Krobylos and Korymbos) are considered hairstiles. I did these two because they are more simple to do even in our times.

Krobylos (kpúßulos)

-What was it? A specific hairstyle: the hair was twisted into a low chignon or bun, often at the nape of the neck, sometimes enclosed in a net or covered by a scarf.

-For what is was used? Common for married or respectable women. The hair was kept tidy and controlled (symbolic of ritual order, especially for priestesses and women in public sacred roles.) It may be worn under other coverings like the kekryphalos.

-What is the modern use? Still relevant today (many women and femme-presenting practitioners choose neat buns, braids, or low chignons as part of their ritual preparation, especially when veiling). The idea is to treat the hair as sacred (not hidden, but honored! This very important!)

Korymbos (kópupßos)

-What was it? A high bun or topknot, often worn by priestesses or women in sacred roles. Hair drawn up and possibly covered with a small veil or band.

-For what it was used? Associated with goddesses and priestly purity.

-What is the modern use? Rarely used by name now, but the concept survives in how modern practitioners prepare for ritual with neatly arranged or tied hair, often beneath a head covering.

I hope this post helped you understand what was veiling and how important it was for ancient Greeks!Of course, I need to be specific, veiling is NOT a must or necessary for Hellenism. Dont force yourself if you dont want to do it!

[funnyhelpolblog]

I genuinely LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing things relating to the gods in public :D

I love seeing crows because it reminds me of Apollo

I love seeing seashells because it reminds me of Aphrodite

I just love it :)

[funnyhelpolblog]

remus: how do you sleep at night knowing some people dont like you?

Sirius: with no underwear in case they want to kiss my ass

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Just a reminder that the gods love you. The gods are not mad at you

Mess up a prayer slightly? The gods still love you. Forget to give an offering? The gods still love you. Don't pray for a bit? The gods still love you. Unable to get up that day? The gods still love you

The gods are aware of our flaws, our little imperfections, and they're okay with that. They know we believe in them and how we do our best. Not anyone else's best, but our best. The gods still love us