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The [[w:Anthesteria|Anthesteria]] was one of the four Athenian festivals in honour of Dionysus (collectively the ''[[w:Dionysia|Dionysia]]''), held annually for three days, from the eleventh to the thirteenth of the month of [[w:Anthesterion#List_of_months|Anthesterion]] (February-March). The month Anthesterion was named after the festivalWheat, and not vice versa; and because the month's name is not restricted to the [[w:Attic calendar|Attic calendar]]like barley, but was known also in [[w:Ionia|Ionia]], it was considered by the Ancients that the festival predates the Ionian colonisation, making it associated with the oldest datable part Egyptian cult of the [[w:Eleusinian MysteriesOsiris|Eleusinian MysteriesOsiris]]. It was celebrated in most Ionian communities, but most of our information about the festival comes from Athens, where it was of particular importance. The name Anthesteria (Ἀνθεστήρια) is usually connected with the Greek ''anthos'' (ἄνθος; plural: ἄνθη or ἄνθεα; root: ἀνθεσ-) - "'''flower'''," or "'''bloom'''", cognate to the Sanskrit ''andhas'' ("[[w:Soma|Soma]] plant/juice"). Although its name indicates a Festival of Flowers (''anthos''), the festival focused primarily on opening the new wine and on placating the spirits of the dead.
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[[Image:Orthodoxer Gottesdienst.jpg|right|thumb|Postcard, undated (ca.1916), showing an Orthodox service with the blessing of Kollyva.]]
{{spirituality}}
'''Kollyva''' (Greek: ''' ''Κολλυβα,'' ''' (kólliva); Serbian: ''' ''кољиво,'' ''' (koljivo); Romanian: ''' ''colivă'' '''; Bulgarian: ''' ''коливо,''' '' (kolivo); Ukrainian and Russian: ''' ''Kutya'' ''' (or Kutia)) is an offering of boiled wheat that is used blessed liturgically in connection with the '''[[Memorial Services]]''' in Church for the benefit of one's departed, thereby offering unto [[God]], as it were, a sacrifice of propitiation (atonement) for the dead person, and in honor of the Sovereign [[Lord]] over life and [[death]].<ref>[http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/parishinfo/commemorationofthedeparted.cfm Recipe For Kutya (Koliva)---Alaskan Tradition]. St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church (Palos Hills, IL). </ref>
==Recipe==
While recipes may vary widely, the primary ingredient in today's Kollyva consists of wheat kernels which have been boiled until they are soft. These are usually mixed with a variety of ingredients which may include pomegranate seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, ground walnuts, cinnamon, sugar, raisins, anise and parsley. The Kollyva mixture is then placed on a platter and shaped into a mound or cake, to resemble a grave. The whole is then decorated with a powdered sugar covering, with raisins decoratively placed on the surface. A [[cross]] is traced on the top, and on its sides are placed the initials of the departed for whom the memorial is held. A candle, usually placed in the center of the Kollyva, is lit at the beginning of the [[Memorial Services|requiem service]] and extinguished at its end; the candle symbolizes the light wherewith the Christian is illumined in [[Baptism]], and also the light of the world to come, which knows no setting.
Some Orthodox parishes have a designated individual charged with making the Kollyva. This is in part due to the health risk of fermented wheat if the Kollyva is not prepared correctly.
Sometimes Kollyva is made with rice instead of wheat. This custom began as a practical response to a famine that occurred in Soviet Russia, when the faithful did not have wheat available for Kollyva, so they used rice instead. Some communities continue to use rice for their Kollyva to this day. In the [[Church of Japan|Japanese Orthodox Church]] where rice is mainly eaten, Kollyva is commonly made from rice sweetened with sugar and decorated with raisins, without reference to famine.
The size and decoration of the platter varies according to the time elapsed from the date of death. The '''fortieth day''' [[Memorial Services|memorial service]] is the most important which practically no Orthodox neglects to hold for the repose of the soul of their beloved. This ritual food is blessed after the memorial [[Divine Liturgy]], performed at various intervals after a death. The Kollyva are then distributed to the congregtion [[congregation]] after the service, who in return say ''"may God forgive his soul!"''. It is also customary for the [[priest]] to pour wine, oil, and some of the Kollyva onto the grave site at the cemetery, following the [[Memorial Services|Memorial Service]] in church.<ref group="note">The practice Church uses bread, wine, wheat, oil, water, flowers and fruits as signs of offering Kollyva is frequent God's love, mercy, goodness, life and the very presence given to man in Greece creation and salvation. Indeed, all elements of creation find the "truth" of their very being and existence as expressions and manifestations of God, as "symbols" of his presence and action in the world for man. This is known the reason for their use in this way in the Church. (''[http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=49 Christian Symbols].'' The Orthodox Church in Russia and many Balkan countriesAmerica. )</ref>
==Origins==
===Ancient World===
The origin of the religious use of Kollyva predates [[Introduction to Orthodox Christianity|Christianity]]. The word stems from the Ancient Greek word κόλλυβo (kollyvo), which originally meant cereal grain. The Ancient Greek [[w:First Fruits|first fruits]] offerings (or dedications) known as ''panspermia,''<ref group="note">For this reason, in Greece, Kollyva is also called ''sperma'' (i.e., "seed"). The ancients also used the word ''pankarpia''.</ref> consisted of a mixture of cooked seeds and nuts ([[w:Pulse (legume)|Pulse]]) which were offered during the festival of the [[w:Anthesteria|Anthesteria]].
The Ancient Greek [[w:First FruitsAnthesteria|Anthesteria]] was one of the four Athenian festivals in honour of Dionysus (collectively the ''[[w:Dionysia|Dionysia]]''), held annually for three days, from the eleventh to the thirteenth of the month of [[w:Anthesterion#List_of_months|first fruitsAnthesterion]] offerings (or dedicationsFebruary-March) . The month Anthesterion was named after the festival, and not vice versa; and because the month's name is not restricted to the [[w:Attic calendar|Attic calendar]], but was known as also in [[w:Ionia|Ionia]], it was considered by the Ancients that the festival predates the Ionian colonisation, making it the oldest datable part of the [[w:Eleusinian Mysteries|Eleusinian Mysteries]]. The name Anthesteria (Ἀνθεστήρια) is usually connected with the Greek ''panspermia,anthos''<ref group="note">For this reasonἄνθος; plural: ἄνθη or ἄνθεα; root: ἀνθεσ- .</ref> - "flower, in Greece" or "bloom", Kollyva is also called cognate to the Sanskrit ''spermaandhas'' (i.e., "seed").</ref> consisted of a mixture of cooked seeds and nuts ([[w:Pulse (legume)Soma|PulseSoma]]plant/juice"). Although its name indicates a Festival of Flowers (''anthos'') which were offered during , the festival focused primarily on opening the new wine and on placating the spirits of the [[w:Anthesteria|Anthesteria]]dead.
The association between [[death]] and life, between that which is planted in the ground and that which emerges, is deeply embedded in the making and eating of Kollyva. The ritual food passed from [[paganism]] to early Christianity in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]] and later spread to the entire Orthodox world.
==Symbolism==
The Kollyva are symbolic of the [[resurrection]] of the dead on the day of the Second Coming of the Lord. St. [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] said, ''' ''"what you sow does not come to life unless it dies"'' ''' (I Corinthians 15:3436), and St. [[Apostle John|John]], ''' ''"unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit"'' ''' (John 12:24). Thus, as the wheat is buried in the soil and disintegrates without really dying but is later regenerated into a new plant that bears much more fruit than itself, so the Christian's body will be raised again from the very corruptible matter from which it is now made; however, it will be raised not in its previous fleshy substance but in an incorruptible essence which ''"will clad the mortal body with an immortal garment"'', in the words of St. Paul (I Corinthians 15:53).
The Kollyva then, symbolize the Apostolically rooted hope in the [[resurrection]] of the dead as the only eventuality that gives meaning and attains the longed perfection on the part of the individual who takes his life to be a divinely ordained meaningful living forever.<ref>Rev. Dr. Nicon D. Patrinacos (M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon)). ''A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy - Λεξικον Ελληνικης Ορθοδοξιας''. Light & Life Publishing, Minnesota, 1984. pp.225-226.</ref>
The 16th century Archbishop Gabriel of Philadelphia<ref group="note">Consecrated by Patriarch [[Jeremias II (Tranos) of Constantinople|Jeremias II]].</ref> wrote that the Kollyva are symbols of the general resurrection, and the several ingredients added to the wheat, signify so many different virtues.<ref>Chambers, Ephraim (1680-ca.1740). ''[http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0420&q1=colyba COLYBA].'' In: '''Cyclopædia, or, An universal dictionary of arts and sciences.''' 1728. Pg. 266.)</ref>
==Occasions of Use==
===Memorial Services===
During [[Memorial Services|memorial services]] (requiem services), the family or friends of the departed will often prepare a Kollyva which is placed in front of the memorial table before which the service is chanted, while submitting a list of first names of the deceased loved ones to the [[priest]]. Memorial services are served on the '''third''', '''ninth''', and '''fortieth''' days after the repose of an Orthodox Christian, as well as on the '''one-year''' anniversary.
In addition, there are several [[Saturday of the Souls|Soul Saturdays]] (''psychosabbata'') during the church year, including the two Saturdays prior to [[Great Lent]], the first Saturday of [[Great Lent]], and the Saturday before [[Pentecost]], during which general commemorations are made for all the departed, as well as on [[Radonitsa]], the second Tuesday after [[Pascha]].
These prescribed times are still observed in most Orthodox places.
There is also a practice on [[Mount Athos]] whereby the icons of saints are incorporated onto the surface of the Kollyva offerings made in their honour.
==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Κόλλυβα.jpg|Kollyva, with the initials of the deceased on the surface.
==See also==
* [[Memorial Services]](''Mnemósynon; Panikhida'')
* [[Prayer#Prayer_for_the_dead|Prayer for the Dead]]
* [[PrayerSaturday of the Souls]] (''psychosabbaton'')* [[Radonitsa]]
* [[Slava]]
* [[Birnstan of Winchester]]
* [[Prosphora]]
'''Wikipedia'''
* [[w:Koliva|Koliva]]
* [[w:Colyba|Colyba]]
* [[w:Kutia|Kutia]] (also: ''Kutya'', ''Kutja''; similar to Kollyva; a sweet grain pudding, traditionally served in Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish cultures. Kutia was also part of a common Eastern Orthodox tradition in the Russian Empire, and to this day Kutia is served at funerals across Russia as a dish of remembrance.)
* [[w:Cuccìa|Cuccìa]] (a traditional Sicilian dish containing boiled wheat berries, which is eaten on Saint [[Lucy of Syracuse|Lucy]]'s feast day (December 13).
* [[w:Saturday of Souls|Saturday of Souls]]
* [[w:All Souls' Day|All Souls' Day]]
* [[w:Requiem|Requiem]] (''funeral Mass in the Roman Catholic Church'')
==Sources==
* Rev. Dr. Nicon D. Patrinacos (M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon)). ''A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy - Λεξικον Ελληνικης Ορθοδοξιας''. Light & Life Publishing, Minnesota, 1984.
* Chambers, Ephraim (1680-ca.1740). ''[http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0420&q1=colyba COLYBA].'' In: '''Cyclopædia, or, An universal dictionary of arts and sciences.1728. Pg. 266.* ''[http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/parishinfo/commemorationofthedeparted.cfm Recipe For Kutya (Koliva)---Alaskan Tradition].''St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church (Palos Hills, IL).* '' 1728[http://www.oca.org/OCchapter. Pgasp?SID=2&ID=49 Christian Symbols]. 266'' The Orthodox Church in America.* ''[http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/festivals/anthesteria.htm Anthesteria] '' at Religion Facts. ==External Links==
* [http://www.holytrinitymaine.org/index_files/Page1050.htm KOLIVA: A SYMBOL OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD]. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (Lewiston, ME).
* [http://www.historyofpainters.com/wheat.htm The Symbolic Meaning of Wheat]. HistoryofPainters.com.
* [http://www.enotes.com/food-encyclopedia/bread-symbolism Bread, Symbolism of]. eNotes.com (Encyclopedia of Food and Culture).
[[Category:Church Life]]
