Structure of ritual

In Hellenismos the Thysia, the sacrifical ritual, is the most commonly used structure for festive ceremonies. It consists of the following five basic parts:

	1. Pompe	The participants gather and move in a procession to the sanctuary. Before the ceremony begins everybody should be purified which can be done by at least washing hands and face in pure water
	2. Hymnodia	We praise the gods by singing hymns for them, traditionally starting with a hymn to Hestia followed by hymns to the other gods important at the particular festival.
	3. Praying	Prayers to the gods are spoken.
	4. Thysia	Thysia means the offerings which are to be made. In ancient times these were merely animal sacrifices. These days we prefer bloodless offerings such as incense, food or the most common type: libations.
	5. Ending	After the main part of the ceremony we usually celebrate together by enjoying a great meal, drinking wine and just having a fine time.
Beside these basic ritual parts there is enough space and lots of possibilities for individual add ons to improve the livelyness of a hellenic festival such as dancing, music or the hymns sung by a chorus or whatever you’d like to think of. Additionally some festivals have their own specific traditions and cult actions such as leading out the pharmakos (or pharmakoi) on the Thargelia for cleansing before the time of harvesting or the nightwatch at candlelight on the first evening of Heliou Genethlion. The hellenic wedding which usually lasts several days (at least two) for example also contains different actions and rites for both, the bride (and her family) and the groom (and his family), beside the sacrificial ritual.