Ancient Greeks celebrated the new moon calling it Noumenia. Credit: Carl Young CC BY-SA-4.0
In Ancient Greece, Noumenia, the day of the new moon, was the first day of the month and was considered to be “the holiest of days,” according to philosopher and historian Plutarch.
For ancient Greeks, the first day of the month was the beginning of the lunar month and it was called Noumenia (Νουμηνία in Greek), therefore there were twelve Noumeniai (plural) per year.
The first day of the new moon was dedicated to the god Apollo and was celebrated each month in Athens and most cities in Ancient Greece. During the month the Household Gods, i.e., Apollon Noumerios, Zeus, Hestia, Hekate, Selene and Hermes were honored.
The Noumenia was also the second day in a three-day household celebration held each lunar month. Hekate’s Deipnon was on the last day before the first slice of visible moon and ends the lunar month, then the Noumenia, followed by the Agathos Daimon (Good Spirit) on the second day of the Lunar month.
The day of the new moon is a day of blessings for the household. Offerings such as incense or honey cakes were made to the Household Gods at the family altar.
Generally, Noumenia was seen as a day to stay at home and celebrate with the family. Sacrifices were made to the Household Gods and Spirits. Domestic shrines were cleaned and wreathed with flower garlands, and then incense, wine and cakes were offered anew to the Gods, according to Porphyry.
Observed with sanctity
The antiquity of the day of the new moon in Ancient Greece is attested to by the fact that Homer mentions it in the Odyssey. It is significant that the great poet names only one other religious festival in his epics.
The Athenians strictly preserved the sanctity of the independent identity of the Noumenia. No annual religious festival is attested to have occurred on the Noumenia or to
have included it. There were no dated meetings of Athenian legislative assemblies such as the Ekklesia, the Boule or any tribal organization on the first day of the month.
The strict Athenian observance of the Noumenia included a big market. According to Aristophanes, its major secular market offered slaves and donkeys for sale. Aristophanes also associated the day with the joys of the palaestra, or boxing.
Herodotus says that the celebrations included a public ritual on the Acropolis and private offerings of frankincense to statues of the gods. In Sparta, meat, barley meal and wine were distributed to the citizens by the Kings on the Noumenia.
Demosthenes also speaks of Athenians climbing the Acropolis hill on the festival of the new moon. Herodotus’ explanation of the citizens’ climb on a day that is ideal for domestic celebrations is that people present their offerings to the snake that guards the Acropolis.
The new moon day during the Christian period and today
The offerings and sacrifices Herodotus describes were an ancient tradition: on the altars they burned frankincense mixed with wheat which had been kneaded with honey. They also placed olive branches on the altar and they used wine for a libation. These sacrifices were called epimenia.
Greeks continued to observe the Noumenia well into the Christian period. There are references to lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria railing against those who continue to light lamps and burn incense in their homes for the ancestral Gods and Spirits on the new moon during the fifth century CE.
The Noumenia is celebrated today by people who worship in the style of ancient Athenians. They chant the Orphic hymn 9 for the arrival and passage of each new month as a reflection of the cycle of lives, with birth following the period of dark death.
The followers of the ancient religion of Greece make offerings such as incense or honey cakes to Selene, Apollo, Hestia and their Household Gods at their family altar. Other ways they mark the day of the new moon include decorating their home or home altar with fresh flowers, eating a special family meal, making honey cakes and burning incense.