The Carnival is three weeks of feasting of rich food and dancing. It happens three weeks before lent Monday, and seven weeks before Easter. It is also known as the 'Apokries'.

February 11th-13th, Anthesteria

Anthesteria is an ancient Greek holiday, where the name is said to come from the flower of a grape vine.

On the first day of the festival which is called Pithoigia, the people of Greece made offerings to the god of wine, Dionysus, while also opening wine casks and decorating their homes and children over three with spring flowers.

On the second day of the festival, which is called Choës (which means drinking), was a time of partying. People dressed in bright clothes, and some even dressed as mythical figured related to Dionysus. There were contests all over, to see who could drain their wine cup the fastest, similar to what we have today. Others poured wine on the graves of their dead relatives, so they could join in for the celebration. A ceremonial King and Queen were chosen for the event, and went through a ceremony of marriage to the wine god. Although the days may be happy and cheerful, the days of Pithoigia and Choës were considered unlucky, as these were the days on which the souls of the dead rose up from the underworld.

The third and final day of the holiday was known as Chytroi, which is known as the feast of pots. Cooked food was offered to Hades as god of the underworld, and to the souls of the dead who were then asked to depart. No one alive ate any of the food cooked, as it was for the dead who were departing.

Thargelia

Apollo at Athens, celebrated on the sixth and seventh days of Thargelion (May-June). Basically a vegetation ritual upon which an expiatory rite was grafted, the festival was named after the first fruits, or the first bread from the new wheat.

On the first day of the festival, two men (or a man and a woman) were chosen for their ugliness; acting as scapegoats for community guilt, they were draped in figs and led through the city before being cast out. (See alsopharmakos.) Occasionally, as in times of heavy calamity, they were sacrificed, being either thrown into the sea or burned on a funeral pyre. On the second day of the festival, there was a thanks offering, a procession, and the official registration of adopted persons.

in this month there was a festival, which comprised of drama, dancing and singing. this festival was known as City Dionysia During the classical period, this festival lasted several days and included several types of performance, all of which were also competitions for important civic honor and prizes (it should be noted that many aspects of Athenian society were highly competitive).

On the 15th of march another festival took place. Civilizations that surrounded the Mediterranean sea, some 2.500 years ago celebrated Phallophoric ceremonies (literally meaning "To Carry the Phallus"). The priestesses danced in public with phalli tied to their hips, singing satirical and obscene songs, joking and mocking. These priestesses, out of the view of the non-initiated, later celebrated sacred orgies, masturbating themselves or one another with these phalli, engaging in lesbic activities. They also employed rods and hermaphrodite statues as dildos.

Anthesteria was one of the festivals held in honor of Dionysus. It was celebrated in most Ionian communities, but most of our information about the festival comes from Athens, where it was of particular importance. Anthesteria was held annually for three days (11th-13th) in the month of Anthesterion (February-March). Although its name indicates a Festival of Flowers (anthos), the festival focused primarily on opening the new wine and on placating the spirits of the dead. On the evening of the first day, called Pithoigia (Jar-opening), casks of the previous vintage were taken to the sanctuary of Dionysus in the Marshes and libations were offered to the god of wine and sampled by all the household. The rooms and the drinking vessels were adorned with spring flowers, as were also the children over three years of age. The second day, named Choes (Pitchers), was a time of merrymaking. The people dressed themselves gaily, some in the disguise of the mythical personages in the suite of Dionysus, and paid a round of visits to their acquaintances. The primary activity of the day was a drinking competition, in which participants sat at separate tables and competed in silence at draining a chous (a five-liter container) of wine. Slaves had a share as well. Miniature choes were given to children as toys, and "first Choes" was a rite of passage.

Many festivals of Dionysus were held in ancient Greece; this article concerns the major Dionysian festival known as Great Dionysia or City Dionysia. This festival is highly significant as the origin of dramatic tragedy and comedy.

The Great Dionysia is thought to have been founded, or at least revived, by the tyrant Pisistratus (c. 530 BCE). It was held in Athens at the end of March, when the city was once again full of visitors after the winter. The festival honored Dionysus Eleuthereus, who was said to have been introduced into Athens from the village of Eleuterae.

The Mounichia or Mounichia (Μουνιχιας) was an ancient Greek festival held on the 16th (full moon time) of the month Mounichion (spring) in the honor of Artemis Mounichia. The surname of the goddess come from the hill of Munichia, where stood an Artemis’ temple, close to Piraeus and to the site of the battle of Salamis. The festival was instituted to commemorate the victory of the Greek fleet over the Persians at Salamis. Cakes adorned all round with burning candles were offered to the goddess. Young girls were dressed up as bears, as for the Brauronia.

Honouring artemis

Bears and goats were important in Mounichion. We see goats being sacrificed to Artemis, the practicing of arkteia, and the priesthood at Artemis Mounichia being connected to bears. We see girls and women holding suppliant boughs to ask Artemis for Her protection. Lighted round cakes were especially offered to Artemis at the sixteenth of the month, and Her lunar energies were honored once after the victory in Salamis.

There where also other minor festivals that we don't know much about

 which is from July to August for us.

Festivals included:

• On Athena's birthday, the 28th day of the month, this is a sacred feast when the gods and mortals feast together.

• The Aphrodisia festival, a bathing festival of Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite of All Peoples)

The Skira - On 12 Skirophorion (sundown on the 13^th until sundown on 14^th June 2011), the Skira or Skirophoria was celebrated by Athenian women. This was the month of the final harvest of the grain and the three day Skira was another major agricultural festival. In the procession from the Acropolis at Athens to Skiron, a precinct on the road to Eleusis near a sanctuary dedicated to Athena Skiras, large white sunshades or parasols (skiron) were held over the heads of the priestess of Athena Skiras and the priests of Poseidon and Helios and carried by the priest of Erechtheus. At Skiron, which was also dedicated to Demeter and Kore, the priests and priestesses conducted rituals pertaining to the fertility of the crops.

The Bouphonia and Dipolieia - On 14 Skirophorion (sundown on the 15^th-16^th June 2011) was a festival held in honor of Zeus Polieus (Di = Zeus, polieus = of the city).  Its other name Bouphonia (ox murdering), involved the slaying of an ox for the desecration of the altar on Zeus on the Acropolis, according to Pausanias. In the ritual, sacred grain is put out on an altar for a group of oxen, and the first ox to eat the grain is struck down with an ax.  The ox-slayer then flees, leaving the ax behind.  The ox is butchered and consumed in a sacrificial feast.  Afterwards, a trial is held for its murder with the blame passed from one party into another until finally, it rests on the ax, which is then thrown into the sea.

The Heracleia (Greek: Ἡράκλεια ἐν ΚυνοσάργειHerakleia en Kynosargei) were ancient festivals honoring the divine hero Heracles. The ancient Athenians celebrated the festival, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August), at the Cynosargesgymnasium at the demos Diomeia outside the walls of Athens, in a sanctuary dedicated to Heracles. His priests were drawn from the list of boys who were not full Athenian citizens (nothoi). Many famous nothoi exercised there (such as Demosthenes) but it was probably not exclusively set aside for them. The Attic cults of Herakles were often closely connected with youth: at several of his cult sites there was a gymnasion attached, and there was a mythological tradition (perhaps originating inBoeotia) that after Heracles died he was translated to Olympus, where he married Hebe, the personification of youth. Because of this Heracles is sometimes worshipped as a god and sometimes as a dead hero. In Thebes, the center of the cult of Heracles, the festivities lasted a number of days, and consisted of various athletic and musical contests (agones), as well as sacrifices. They were celebrated in the gymnasium of Iolaus, the nephew and eromenos of Heracles, and were known as the Iolaeia. The winners were awarded brass tripods.

That the Compitalia was one of the most important festivals can be seen from the fact that it was one of the few that Macrobius reported as still being observed in the fourth century AD. It may have a more modern successor in ceremonial blessings of the fields.

Janus was very important in Rome because the weakest point in any building or municipality is its doorway. Anything from human enemies to evil spirits could enter via that route. So strong was this feeling that Romans always carried corpses out of buildings feet first so that the departed spirits would be less likely to find their way back in.

In 260 BC the Romans built an important gateway temple to Janus after a victory against the previously unbeatable Carthaginian fleet. This was left open in times of war and closed when the armies had returned to the city.

This seems puzzling since one would think that during war the gate would be closed for protection and left open for peacetime. But the meaning of this can be seen in that the gateway was not used on a regular basis, but only for generals marching out to war and when returning in a triumphal procession. During the time the gateway was open, Janus was out fighting for Rome while when it was closed it meant that the god would not abandon Rome.

Januarius was not always the first month of the year. Earlier it had begun, perhaps more sensibly, in March (Martius) with the onset of Spring. Januarius and Februarius were added by Numa Pompilius, one of Rome's kings in the pre-Republic days. He also moved the beginning of the year to Januarius and set the number of days equal to 29 because Romans considered odd numbers lucky. Notice that all of the festivals are held on odd-numbered days. Centuries later Julius Caesar set the length to 31, as well as adding days elsewhere to fix the problem of the months no longer corresponding to the seasons, a result of the fact that the Roman year was shorter than the actual solar year.

If the first month is seen as the gateway to a new year, naming it after Janus (the -ary means "pertaining to") actually makes sense. His most common depiction is of a head with two faces, one looking back, the other forward.

This was a festival originally for the protection of the king. A ram was the usual sacrifice victim. Probably originally held on the Quirinal Hill.

The Rural Dionysia would see repeat performances of the plays in areas outside of Athens. The Greeks loved their dramas - and people would travel from all over to witness these competitions. They lasted for almost six days, and included processions, songs, dances, and feasts.

(July/August for us)

Festivals include:

The celebration of the birth of Athena on the 28th day of the month, there is a sacred feast where the gods and the mortals come together. This is called Panathenaia.

The bathing festival Aphrodisia for Aphrodite. Rituals included sacrificing a dove, her symbolic animal, and giving offerings. After the first sacrifice to purify the alter no other sacrifices were made so all goats offered where kept alive during the ceremony.

On the 4th day of the month there was a festival for Peitho, goddess of persuasion.

Synoikia was a celebration of the Synoecism, the combining of Attika into one community. Every other year, it was celebrated for two days instead of one. On the second day, a sacrifice was made to Zeus Phratrios, god of the tribal brotherhoods (like clans). A sacrifice was also made to Athene in a formal manner. Eirene, goddess of peace, was also worshipped on this day.

On the 12th day, Kronia was held in praise for Kronos and Rhea however this was practically stopped by the classical period because by then Kronos, god of crops, was considered to be the cruel Titan father of Zeus. Slaves were invited to dine with their masters and sacrifices were made to Artemis.

An image on the Parthanon of celebrations for Athena's birthday held every 4 years.

Metageitnion  (Μεταγειτνιών)

The ancient Hellenic twelfth lunar month from
is Metageitnion and the full moon is dedicated to
Dimitra (Demeter) Goddess of fertility, earth and grain.

The Metageitnia festival is celebrated on the 7th day, and it is a small festival in  honour of Apollo in His capacity as bringer of harmony. It is a celebration of good relations with neighbours.