Thefestival of theSkira (Ancient Greek:Σκίρα) orSkirophoria (Ancient Greek:Σκιροφόρια) in thecalendar of ancient Athens, closely associated with theThesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June.[1]
At Athens, the last month of the year wasSkirophorion, after the festival. Its most prominent feature was the procession that led out ofAthens to a place calledSkiron nearEleusis, in which the priestess ofAthena, the priest ofPoseidon, and in later times, the priest ofHelios, took part, under aceremonial canopy called theskiron, which was held up by a member of the family of theEteoboutadai[2] or by the priest of Erechtheus.[3] Their joint temple on theAcropolis was theErechtheum, where Poseidon embodied asErechtheus remained anuminous presence.[4] The canopy symbolized the protection of the Attic soil from the blazing heat of the sun.[3]
At Skiron there was a sanctuary dedicated toDemeter/Kore and one to Athena.
As a festival of dissolution, the Skira was a festival proverbial for license, in which men playeddice games, but a time also of daytime fasting, and of the inversion of the social order, for the bonds of marriage were suspended, as women banded together and left the quarters where they were ordinarily confined, to eatgarlic together "according to ancestral custom",[5] and to sacrifice and feast together, at the expense of the men. The Skira is the setting forAristophanes' comedyEcclesiazusae (393 BCE), in which the women seize the opportunity afforded by the festival, to hatch their plot to overthrowmale domination.