Laphria was an ancient Greek religious festival which ended once a year in Patras

Patras

Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

 in honour of the goddess Laphria, the Laphrian Artemis. Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 wrote messages on that festival. During his visit, the temple of Laphrian Artemis was brought there by Calydon

Calydon

Calydon was an ancient Greek city in Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus. According to Greek mythology, the city took its name from its founder Calydon, son of Aetolus. Close to the city stood Mount Zygos, the slopes of which provided the setting for the hunt of the Calydonian...

, a belief, as Laphria was also named Aitole (Αἰτωλή) or Aetolis (Αἰτωλίς). The temple moved to Patras before the arrival of the religious statue.

Laphria lasted for two days. During the first day of the festival, the priestess that incarnated the deity, came with a pomp above the chariot that brought olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

s. The prolongation of the chariot race with the priestess survived with the currency during the time of Marcus Aurelius. The second day became the sacrifice: Eccentric around the altar in a circle, wooden flora and over that sacrificed wild animals, even the wolves and small bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

s. It had above the altar fruits from the wild trees. As the light lightened, the animals tried to leave though it is brought back from the beginning.

The festival characterized Laphria as a beautiful from the older Potnian gate, meaning the master of wild animals, in which worshipped from the much older years in all of Greece and a lot later that fated with Artemis.

Sources

• Emmy Patsi-Garin: Pocket Dictionary of Greek Mythology, Chari Patsi, Athens 1969.