Happy 'Thesmophoria' LADIES

"The Thesmophoria was one of the most widespread ancient Greek festivals.[1] The fact that it was celebrated across the Greek world suggests that it dates back to before the Greek settlement in Ionia in the eleventh century BCE.[2] The best evidence for the Thesmophoria concern its practice in Athens, but there is also information from elsewhere in the Greek world, including Sicily and Eretria.[3]

The festival was dedicated to Demeter and her daughter Persephone[4] and was celebrated in order to promote fertility, both human and agricultural.[1] It was celebrated only by women, and men were forbidden to see or hear about the rites.[3] It is not certain whether all free women celebrated the Thesmophoria, or whether this was restricted to aristocratic women;[5] whichever was the case, non-citizen and unmarried women appear not to have celebrated the festival.[6] In fact, participation was expected of all Attic wives, and could serve as a form of proof of marriage.[7]

In Athens, the Thesmophoria took place over three days, from the eleventh to the thirteenth of Pyanepsion.[3] This corresponds to late October in the Gregorian calendar, and was the time of the Greek year when seeds were sown.[8] The Thesmophoria may have taken place in this month in other cities,[9] though in some places – for instance Delos and Thebes – the festival seems to have taken place in the summer, and been associated with the harvest, instead.[8] In other places the festival lasted for longer – in Syracuse, Sicily, the Thesmophoria was a ten-day long event.[9]

The main source about the rituals of the Thesmophoria comes from a scholion on Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans.[10] A second major source is Aristophanes' play Thesmophoriazusae;[11] however, Aristophanes' portrayal of the festival mixes authentically Thesmophoric elements with elements from other Greek religious practice, especially the worship of Dionysus."

​Source: WIKIPEDIA