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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Gaia & agricultural practices treated as mysteries during the time of the Greeks.
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:20:39 -0500


A Facebook discussion thread I found tonight was a rare and fascinating delight....emphasis on the intent to preserve the mysteriousness and sanctity of life and agriculture, during a more primitive time and in rural settings...

A parallel in modern times, in Vietnam, rice growing is almost a religion to the people. I am sure this holds true for many cultures in many countries around the world, to include natural farmers and gardeners and permaculturists wherever they may be. I really liked the connection between great mystery and agriculture. You can easily imagine beliefs in the spiritual connection between Man and The Earth
flourishing for thousands of years amongst cultures seeking to live in harmony with Nature. Gaia smiled.

Here are a few snippets from writings by the contributors to this discussion, The Myth of the Dew Carriers:

"The Myth of the Dew Carriers. Gea gives birth to Erechethonius and hands him to Athena. She places him in a basket and gives him to the Dew Carriers (three maidens) with instructions not to look in the basket. They do. At which they go mad and throw themselves off the Acropolis."

"‎(though I would venture off the top of my head that it may have something to do with forbidden knowledge and a warning to stay away from it)"

"It certainly ranked as one of the Mysteries of the Acropolis, and so no one wrote much about it in ancient sources."

"The first part of the myth - the impregnating of Gea - is a rain myth. Agricultural. This part is about dew, evidently. So what is the role of dew in this type of agricultural mythology?"

"Thus the three "dew carriers" are the tripartite lunar deities (three phases of the moon) "

"I'm connecting this up to the Arrhephoria festival, (aka Hersephoria) connected to Herse, the youngest of Kekrops' daughters in the myth. Arrhe stems from άρρητον=mystery, and the festival featured young girls aged between 7-11 carrying closed baskets supposedly containing secrets bequeathed by Athena. Dew in this context (apparently) stood for fertility."

"So in both cases there is an "other" and a "darkness" to be reconciled. Both kings developed and enriched the city with the help of Athena, chosen by Kekrops. One part of that enrichment was fecundity, as seen both in Athena's gift to the city, as well as the dew ceremony - which I would see as being in keeping with the way agricultural practices were treated as mysteries."

"Acropolis mythology is especially complicated because originally the sanctuary was rural and so we find agricultural myths, sacred ploughing etc. but then the city surrounded the sanctuary and we find the cult of the polis imposed on top of the other agriculture myths. There must be interchangeability with Demeter/Persephone here, yes, I would think so. That possibility is very interesting. The serpent is a resurrection motif. Snakes appear to hibernate in the earth over winter and are then reborn in the spring, shedding their skin, renewed."




  • [permaculture] Gaia & agricultural practices treated as mysteries during the time of the Greeks., Lawrence F. London, Jr., 01/16/2012

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