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Hecate (/ ˈ h ɛ k ə t i / HEK-ə-tee; [4] Ancient Greek: Ἑκάτη) [a] is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, [5] and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied.
In Greek, deipnon (Ancient Greek: δεῖπνον, deîpnon) is the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the Ancient Greek day.One famous example from the Ancient Greek sources is "Hekate's Deipnon" which is, at its most basic, a religious offering meal given to the Titan Hekate and the restless dead once a lunar month.
Requests and offerings to Diana may include small baked clay or bread statuettes of body parts in need of healing; small clay images of mother and child; tiny sculptures of stags; dance and song; and fruit such as apples. In addition, offerings of garlic are made to the Goddess of the Dark Moon, Hecate, during the festival.
'Suppers of Hecate' were left for her at crossroads at each new moon, and one of her most common titles was 'goddess of the crossroads.' In her later three-fold depictions, each of the three heads or bodies is often associated with one of three crossing roads.
[2] Additional examples of the goddess Hecate viewed as a triple goddess associated with witchcraft include Lucan's tale of a group of witches, written in the 1st century BCE. In Lucan's work (LUC. B.C. 6:700-01), the witches speak of "Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of our goddess Hecate". [3]
According to a scholium on Homer's Iliad, the Lampades are among the types of nymphs mentioned by the lyric poet Alcman (fl. seventh century BC); the scholiast describes them as the nymphs "who carry torches and lights with Hecate", [2] a description which Timothy Gantz claims was probably a creation of the scholiast, rather than of Alcman or another writer. [3]
In their context, the leader of the Wild Hunt is the goddess Hecate. [42] The anthropologist Susan Greenwood provided an account of one such Wild Hunt ritual performed by a modern Pagan group in Norfolk during the late 1990s, stating that they used this mythology "as a means of confronting the dark of nature as a process of initiation."
Lagina was the largest site of a monumental temple to Hecate. The rituals carried out at Lagina were therefore unique. [15] Hecate was a goddess of ancient Greek mythology whose roots were probably Carian and Anatolian. [12] [5] Her general attributes included torches, keys, and dogs, and today she is often associated with witchcraft.