Still a Mystery: Eleusinian Rites
The Eleusinian Mysteries, religious rites held in honor of Demeter and Persephone, were the most sacred ritual celebrations in ancient Greece. Eleusis was the city where Demeter stayed while she was in mourning for her daughter. The people built a temple in her honor, where the Eleusinian Mysteries were observed.
The cult was a secret cult, and so it was considered a mystery religion, in which only initiates may participate in rituals and are sworn to secrecy about what happens during those rituals. At Eleusis, stipulations existed about who could be initiated. For example, any person who had ever shed blood could not join the cult. Women and slaves, however, were allowed to participate, even though other sects excluded these groups.
Besides the Eleusinian Mysteries, ancient mystery religions included the Dionysian cults, the Orphic cults, the Cabiri cults, and the Roman Mithraic cults. These cults were popular and received government support. Starting around the fourth century
The Eleusinian initiates took their pledge of secrecy seriously and were careful to honor it. In fact, they did such a good job of maintaining silence that today's scholars do not know what happened in the Eleusinian rites, although there are many theories. There were two sets of rites: the Lesser Mysteries (which corresponded with the harvest) and the Greater Mysteries (which corresponded with the planting season and took ten days to complete).
