7. Religious Festivals:                                                                                            back to Greece

      The Greek calendar was not, like ours, divided into weeks with a regular holiday (holy day), Sunday, each week. Therefore they broke up the monotony of constant work by holding a number of festivals in honour of the various gods.  Only one month in their year did not have at least one holiday period.

  a. The Olympic Games:

  - these were the most important of all the religious festivals for the ancient Greeks

  - they were held for five days every four years at the foot of Mt. Olympus (so that the gods could look down
    and watch) they were held in honour of Zeus.  They thought this would please  him because they believed that
    the gods enjoyed displays of human athletic excellence.

  - according to Greek legend, the first games were held in 776 B.C. and it was from this date that the Greeks
    began their history this shows how important the games were considered.

  - men only participated : no women either as spectators or as  participants (the women had their own exclusive
    games in honour of Hera)

  - entries came from all over Greece (freeborn Greeks only)

  - a truce was held during the month of the games (there was much warfare between the different Greek
    city-states) in order to allow athletes and spectators to travel to and from the games in safety.

  - all events were for individuals - no team sports.

  - events : the most important five were lumped together as the "pentathlon" ("five contests") and the overall
    winner was judged the best all-round athlete at the games:

                  - long jump
                  - discus
                  - javelin
                  - Sprint (one length of stadium - about 200 metres)
                  - wrestling (fifth event of the pentathlon)
                  - other events:   -  boxing
                                          -  chariot racing
                                          -  foot races (400 m., a 6 km. race with armaments)

 NOTE: NO MARATHON, SHOT-PUT OR HIGH-JUMP

  - the prize for winning an event was only a laurel or wild olive wreath to be worn around the head.  Thus the
    competitors were truly "amateurs" - competing "for the love of it", because the actual prize was worth almost
    nothing.  This is to be contrasted with the professional, who competes for money or other valuable prizes.

 - when the victorious athlete got home, however, he might be quite richly rewarded by his home city for the
   glory he had brought them a house, a pension, wealth, a statue, popularity and prestige.

 - the original Olympic Stadium held 43,000 people. Today, all that is left of it is the stone starting block from
   which the sprinters pushed off.

 - athletes in training had their own special coaches and trainers who put them through rigorous exercises,

 - special diets, skill drills, etc.

    A Comparison - Today's Olympic Games

  - the modern Olympics began in 1896 and they are not religious festivals

  - because at the time the world was full of tension and war seemed likely, a Frenchman, the Baron de
    Caubertin, came up with the idea of renewing the Olympics as a means to promote world peace an
    understanding among nations : he felt that when athletes from different countries met each other in fair
    competition, they would grow to like and understand each other better, and that the games might make war less
    likely.  Has his idea worked as we approach the next edition of  the games?

  - Today the games differ from the ancient Greek games by having both male and female competitors, both
    individual and team sports.

  - Today a prize (gold, silver or bronze medal) is given to the first three places in an event; in the ancient games,
    only first place was recognized with a prize.

  - As in ancient times, today's winners can "cash in" with product  endorsements, etc. Some make a lot of money
    from their Olympic victories.

  - Today many Olympic sports allow professionals to compete, and the true amateur idea has been put aside

   b. Other Religious Festivals:

  - in the middle of the time between Olympics, the "Great Panathanae" all games were held outside of Athens in
    honour of Athena. These had athletic competitions plus contests in music and drama.

  - other festivals had no competitions, but had more religious significance, like the Eleusinian Mysteries, where
    those who were initiated into the secrets of the group were supposed to find out how they could have a happy
    life after death, where most Greeks, like the Babylonians before them, believed that life after death was dull
    and boring for everyone.