On Hair and Offerings

In Ancient Hellenic Polytheism, men and women cut their hair to commemorate life changes. According to Burkert, these sacrifices usually happened when members of either gender reached adulthood. They “would cut their hair and dedicate it to some deity, a river, a local hero, or a god; the most pettily pretentious would even travel to Delphi to do so” (Greek Religion, 70).

A college graduation is a major life change. It marks the difference between unskilled and moderately skilled labor; an undergraduate degree, when put to good use, can result in fantastic real-world opportunities. On reading that section of Burkert, I decided to put off a haircut until I had attained that major life marker.

It took some time to decide which God(s) I should cut my hair for. Apollon made the most sense, as I offer him a lot of personal cultus. However, after reading Fritz Graf's Apollo, it seemed like offering hair to him was more appropriate for men. The modern world is decidedly different; gender equality makes many of the old distinctions obsolete. As I thought about this, I realized that my life change—the completion of an undergraduate education—seemed more under Athene's domain.

I decided to offer my hair to Artemis and Athene: Artemis for the end of childhood, Athene for the completion of my degree. Today, I went to a salon and had most of my hair cut off. It will be donated to the people who make wigs for the needy.

Hail Artemis and Athene, virgin goddesses!

I took the picture during my summer in DC; unfortunately, I don't have any self-taken images of Athene on my computer! ;_;