Οι θεσσαλομακεδονικοί θεοί των καθαρμών και η Μακεδονική γιορτή Ξάνδικα

Abstract

Within the frame of our Phd on the Thessalian goddess En(n)odia the Pheraean goddess, the Thessalomacedonian gods of purification became a subject of study. It is about those deities of purification which propagated in Macedonia already in the classical years, and thus very common among the Thessalians and Macedonians. Those deities, presented in order of their relation to the Macedonian festival Xandika (chapt. IV), are En(n)odia the Pheraean goddess (chapt. I), Dias Meilichios-Thavlios (chapt. Ila-b) and Apollon Phoevos-Xanthos (chapt. III). In the appendix there is reference to the custom of purification of the dogs on the first Monday in Lent, a custom which lasted in Thessaly and Macedonia until the sixties. This reference is made in order to support the opinion that the core of this custom derives from the purification of the Macedonian army through ««περισχυλακισμός» during the festival Xandika early in spring (first of the month Xandikos), where a preponderant part was played, even to the late antiquity, by the above mentioned interrelated Thessalomacedonian deities of purification.