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HISTORY / LORE:

In Hellenic times, katharisis or purification is the casting out of keres, evil spirits which are the source of all misfortunes. Purification is done before every sacrifice, after every birth, death, sexual intercourse or illness. Temples, sanctuaries, houses and the city in general are purified periodically or after any misfortune. The simplest types of purification are chernips (washing hands before a libation or sacrifice) and dipping your hand into the perirranteria (vessel of water at the entrance of a temple or sanctuary) and sprinkling water on yourself.

To purify a house, temple or sanctuary, you first wash it well with water. Afterwards, the water used (and the keres thus collected) is offered to the chthonic deities with a prayer such as "for you the dirty water for whom it is necessary and for whom it is right". When doing this, you should never look back at the offering as you don't really want to see what is invoked. Next, the building is fumigated by sulfur or incense carried in a vessel of live coals. After the coals cool off, they to are offered to the chthonic deities by burying them or casting them into the sea. And finally, the area is purified by planting squills (sea onions) or other pungent plants at the entrance. Altars are additionally purified by taking a brand (log) from the fire, extinguishing it in water and using it to sprinkling the water on the altar. This is a purification by water and fire. Houses are purified after a death and mourning by sprinkling it with sea water, smearing the floors with mud and sweeping the mud (and keres) out the door.

The treatment for every illness includes purifying bath and a sacrifice to Apollo. As in other cases, the water is thrown out or, in the case of mental illness, the water is hidden so noone else can step in it and become afflicted with the keres. This is one of the purifications that requires a kathartai or purifying priest.

The most elaborate purification is for the initiation. Not only is the usual purification needed to get rid of keres but additional purification is needed to get rid of any family curses that have been inherited. First the face is smeared with mud of a bran mash which is then wiped off (purification by earth). The initiate bathes and dresses in new clothes (purification by water). The initiate stands on a white fleece, from a ram sacrificed to Zeus Meilichios, and is fanned with a winnowing fan (purification by air). Finally still standing on the fleece, a torch is passed around the initiate to burn away any stray keres (purification by fire).

Every ritual or festival is preceded by a communal bath and dressing in clean clothes. Some festivals have additional purifications such as the pharmakos (The pharmakos are two beggars or criminals that are feasted, giving them all the evils of the city, and then beaten and run out of town, never to return.) In addition to the purifications performed by everyone else, the priests and priestesses purified themselves by abstaining from sexual intercourse and contact with pregnant women and households in mourning. (The prohibition on sex is not because sex is bad but to heighten the sexual experience at many of the festivals. Also, at the time of orgasm, people tend to open themselves up to the divine and keres can come in.)

The water for purification was not blessed in any way but it was obtained from a special source (a spring or the sea) and brought to the ritual by hydrophoros (water carrying maidens).

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