Reddit reviews Komos: Celebrating Festivals in Contemporary Hellenic Polytheism

> What makes me curious is that some people over here in Greece name a number of special celebrations they organize with names of known ancient festivals, even though they don't follow the practices of the particular ancient festivals.

This happens in the States too. For instance, I've seen a number of people claim to celebrate Anthesteria, but collapse it into a single day and remove many of the elements that make it that particular festival, and I wonder what the point is. Why not just create a new festival for Dionysos and do what you want with it? I think some people yearn for the authenticity of the ancient tradition but for whatever reason don't want to actually adhere to it. Or they are intimidated by the idea of creating something new from scratch -
which is why I wrote Komos!

> Once I saw pictures on Facebook of some people that gathered at the Autumn Solstice and celebrated, full with flowers and smiles. This confused me, as according to what I've read, this particular day was a sad day. A day in which Persephone is forced to go to Hades because she had being tricked.

Actually, there is debate over what time of year Persephone went to Haides. Most modern scholars assume it was the autumn, but in ancient Greece, the "dead" time of year was the hot, dry summer. Plus, Persephone was said to have been picking specific flowers, which are all spring flowers, when she was taken. Now, the Eleusinian Mysteries were held in the autumn, but that could have been because they end with a revelation of the goddess, which might have echoed her return from Haides. It's not clear cut.

Also, Greek religion is complex, and even if it is a time of mourning for one god, does not mean it is absolutely a negative time for every cultus.

I'd say that if the harvest comes in around the fall equinox in one's region, that it would be appropriate to have a celebratory festival for that, regardless of other things going on.