BRAURŌNĬA

( βραυρώνια ), a festival celebrated in honour of Artemis Brauronia, in the Attic town of Brauron, where Orestes and I phi gene i a, on their return from Tauris, were supposed by the A then i ans to have landed, and left the statue of the Taurian godde . It was held every fifth year, and the chief solemnity consisted in the Attic girls between the ages of five and ten years going in solemn proce ion to the sanctuary, where they were consecrated to the godde . During this act the priests sacrificed a goat, and the girls performed a propitiatory rite, in which they imitated bears. This rite may have simply risen from the circumstance that the bear was sacred to Artemis, especially in Arcadia. There was also a quinquennial festival called Brauronia, which was celebrated by men and di olute women, at Brauron, in honour of Dionysus.