The world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings: first arose Khaos (Chasm); then came Gaia (Earth), "the ever-sure foundation of all"; and "dim" Tartaros, in the depths of the Earth; and Eros (Desire) "fairest among the deathless gods". From the Chasm came Erebos (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). And Nyx "from union in love" with Erebos produced Aether (Brightness) and Hemera (Day). From Gaia came Ouranos (Sky), the Ourea (Mountains), and Pontos (Sea).
From Gaia’s union with Ouranos, she birthed the twelve Titans: Okeanos, Koios, Krios, Hyperion, Iapetos, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, and Kronos. The Titans each represent qualities of their divine parents, the male Titans being gods of the sky and time, the female Titannes being goddesses of earth and prophecy. Gaia also produced the three Cyclopes, as well as the three Hekatonkheires (“The Hundred-Handed”).
Ouranos, fearing that one of his children would betray him, hid his brood within the body of Gaia, causing her great pain and discomfort. Gaia gave an adamantine sickle to her youngest son, Kronos who, with the aid of his brothers, restrained and castrated the Sky as he bent to mate with the Earth. Ouranos’s blood fell onto the Earth, and the Erinyes (Furies), Giants, and Melial (Ash nymphs) sprang from that union. Where Ouranos’s genitals fell into the sea, foam developed and Aphrodite was borne from the foam.
I hope this doesn't come across as offensive, but I was your post about demigods celebrating greek holidays and I was really curious about it. The reason I personally never tried to write about it, was because I didn't want things to come across as offensive because I didn't know much about it. What I'm trying to say is, do you know any reliable places/sources that have accurate representation of how people would be celebrating it and where I could do some research?
I’m going to be honest, most of the sources are either based in a personal belief (not the actual representation of ancient practices and actually someone making it their own and sharing) or... very misleading.
I can recommend a few sites but again, the info isn’t fully accurate and for some is based on UPG (unverified personal gnosis-- basically meaning their personal beliefs that may or may not have any support by our writings or historical record). UPG work is totally valid, stars know I have my own, but it’s also not historical.
There isn’t a lot of information on our holidays, a lot of information was lost, and most sources are college textbook style or in books. I have access to a few but they’re fairly expensive.
A lot of sources are also conflicting, and people disagree a lot, and translations get updated and opinions change.
This calendar has a pretty comprehensive list of holidays, along with information on them if you click the holidays (open to new tabs for easy viewing). It is an Athenian based calendar, and the site as a whole is fairly good, but it’s also heavily based in the site mods UPG and thus should not be considered completely historical.
This site also has good holiday information and brings up all of them as far as I can tell, but is overall fairly vague on the holidays themselves and do it alphabetically, by the original Greek Names, rather than by date. They hold a mix of very historical and a community UPG for their stances on things. I don’t agree with a lot of what they say, but they have some good resources. They’re also Orphic (a specific branch of Hellenism) so their holidays and beliefs reflect it.
Those are the two big sites that I referenced originally, most other sources would be in books (and I am still building up my resources there). There are other sources that have information, but while these two sources have some issues, many other sites... well they’re either entirely UPG or extremely traditional to the point of insulting the more modern practices and I don’t want to link stuff to them.
Please keep in mind that unlike something like, say, Christianity, Hellenism is very personal in it’s practice and there are a lot of different ways to practice it. All of this information is helpful, but many Hellenists won’t practice them exactly as the sites say
I personally used the first link I showed you as the basis of my Heliogenna.
I should explain more about Heliogenna as well. It is a modern festival, created by Hector Lugo, here is the source of information. the reason we celebrate this modern festival is because though we know that the Ancient Greeks celebrated something around the solstice, we don’t know what. Heliogenna was created to effectively fill this slot, it honors the deities connected to light and home (Helios being the main focus) and the chthonic deities (underworld deities).
Anyways, these are the most reliable free sources I have for you, and I did extra searching as well to see if there were any other sites but no others fit my strict requirements for sourcing and general respectfulness to other practitioners.
You are welcome to send me asks for more information on anything or if you’re wondering about anything the sources say. If they don’t have the information you’re wanting, or you want to know my thoughts on the holidays please shoot me an ask or even a dm. I tend to grab second opinions from some other pagan friends when I answer those questions, or even for my own work, so you will have a variety of opinions given.