Deipnon

In Greek, deipnon (Ancient Greek: δεῖπνον, deîpnon) is the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the Ancient Greek day. One famous example from the Ancient Greek sources is "Hekate's Deipnon" which is, at its most basic, a religious offering meal given to the Titan Hekate and the restless dead once a lunar month. Ancient Athenians held that once a lunar month, Hekate led the spirits of the unavenged or wrongfully killed accompanied by hounds from the underworld up from Hades. It is also the last day of the month according to the lunisolar based Attic calendar used in ancient Athens. Where the time of the dark moon was seen as the in-between liminal time between months.

Historical practices

The main purpose of the Deipnon was to honor Hekate and to placate the souls in her wake who “longed for vengeance.” A secondary purpose was to purify the household and to atone for bad deeds a household member may have committed to offend Hekate, causing her to withhold her favor from them. Hekate has power over heaven, earth, and sea and is able to grant prosperity and all the blessings of daily life.

The Deipnon was celebrated on the night before the first visible sliver of moon could be seen, the night of the new moon. The new moon was the last day of the lunar month and the Deipnon rituals allowed the family to begin the new month, which they celebrated as the Noumenia. This differs from how modern astronomy calculates the new moon, so one may not follow a modern calendar to set this date.