Around the time of the winter solstice, the ancient Hellenic festival of Brumalia is celebrated.
This is the time when the new wine which was started in the autumn is finished and poured into amphorae’s to be used
for the coming year. Along the way quite a bit of it livens up our annual celebration in honor of the god Dionysios,
the god of wine and revels. Join The Hellenes as we celebrate with traditional all night drinking parties and exchange
gifts with everyone. Plaster your walls with plaques by taking this year’s quiz and attending," Maenad Madness" in
The Macedonian Bar and Grill. There will be a grab bag gift table and any AW member can just help themselves to a gift. But,
beware; the wrapped packages may contain a diadem of gold or an ancient curse tablet of lead! You can't tell a book by its
cover.
Goldfest V and Still Alive was a Big Hit
Our annual celebration of Goldfest was a big success this year as Hellas presented a contest for the best fable about gold in the manner of Aesop.
There were many fine entries and we enjoyed reading them all. {View Contest Results).
The Quest For The Gold of Croesus presented by Kallistos Alexandros was a very difficult one and although many attempted it, only Beauty Solon and Junilla Didius achieved the gold and became heroes of Hellas.
The Mythology Maze by Mindaro Hippon was the most popular event and many Hellenes were able to get into Mindaro's Hall of Fame and receive a plaque for playing this great interactive maze game. Thanks, Mindaro!
And a good time was had by all who got eaten by the minatour in The Olympic Gold Maze. Thank you shout outs go out to Senex Caecilius who created this fun maze!
And a Special Thanks goes to the group, "Sparta" for a tour of Lacadaemonia.
The party ended in The Macedonian Bar And Grill with an evening of fun and a record breaking amount of posts. {View Hellas Event Calendar}
Recent Photos Of Greece
Our
Hellenic Photo Album has some great new photograph additions of Hellas taken by recent returning member,
Hypatia Ariston. Two years ago Hypatia took a trip around Hellas and kept extensive notes which she shares on her homesite and well worth viewing!
Archaeology News
Delphic Secrets Revealed? Could it be as simple as Ethylene?
In speaking of the Oracle at Delphi, Plutarch mention’s a spring in the temple which, “emitted fragrance and breeze. Although scientists had searched for the source of this emanation for nearly 100 years, no trace had ever been found to substantiate Plutarch's statement until two scientists, John Hale an archaeologist from Cambridge and Jelle de Boer, a geologist from Wesleyan University, set out to map a suspected geological fault line near the temple.They found not one, but two intersecting faults with the temple of Apollo right on the intersection.
Jelle de Boer has suggested that the limestone substrata might well have emitted methane, ethane, and ethylene through an opening in the earth. Methane restricts the flow of oxygen to the brain while ethylene produces an anesthetic effect twice as fast as nitrous oxide (laughing gas. ) It is ethylene which produces the sweet smell in ripening fruit which could well account for Plutarch's use of the word, "fragrance."
The fault did indeed contain a spring and analysis of the water done by Jeffery Chanton at The University of Florida confirms the presence of ethylene. Inhaling small amounts of ethylene produces hallucinations. Could the secret of the oracle of Apollo have been solved? There is a great deal of discussion about this in the scientific world.
{READ MORE}
*HAPPY HOLIDAYS!*
