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Daedala
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Daedala

ancient Greek festival
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History

Daedala, ancient festival of Hera, consort of the supreme god Zeus. The Daedala was celebrated on Mount Cithaeron in Boeotia (in present-day central Greece). In the festival, a wooden image dressed as a bride was carried in procession, then burnt with sacrificed animals and a wooden sacrificial altar. A myth existed that Zeus had won back the estranged Hera by arousing her jealousy with such an image. The Daedala involved a new “marriage” of the pair following reconciliation. This myth, and the fact that burning of wood was common to many spring and midsummer pagan observances throughout Europe, suggests that the Daedala was essentially a vegetation fertility rite.