The Eleusinian mysteries & rites. - The Masonic Trowel

52 ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND RITES
children. This ceremony took place in the Eleusinion
at the foot of the Acropolis. The day was known
as the Day of Mourning, and was supposed to com-
memorate Demeter's grief at the loss of Persephone.
The sacrifices offered consisted chiefly of a mullet
and of barley out of Rharium, a field of Eleusis.
The oblations were accounted so sacred that the
priests themselves were not permitted, as was usual
in other offerings, to partake of them. At the con-
clusion of the general ceremony each one individually^
sacrificed the little pig purified in the sea the night
before.
The hog of propitiation offered to Frey was a
solemn sacrifice in the North of Europe and in
Sweden, down to modern times, the custom has been
preserved by baking, on Christmas Eve, a loaf
or cake in the form of a hog.
Fourth Day.—The principal event of the fourth
day was a solemn procession, when the holy basket
of Ceres (Demeter) was carried in a consecrated
cart, the crowds of people shouting as it went along,
" Hail, Ceres " ! The rear end of the procession was
composed of women carrying baskets containing
sesamin, carded wool, grains of salt, corn, pome-
granates, reeds, ivy boughs, cakes known as poppies,
and sometimes serpents. One kind of these cakes
was known as " ox-cakes " ; they were made with
little horns and dedicated to the moon. Another
kind contained poppy seeds. Poppy was used in