A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), CABEI´RIA , CHEIROTON´IA , CHELIDON´IA

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CHELIDON´IA

CHELIDON´IA (χελιδόνια), a custom observed in the island of Rhodes, in the month of Boëdromion, the time when the swallows returned. During that season boys, called χελιδονισταί, went from house to house collecting little gifts, ostensibly for the returning swallows (χελιδονίζειν), and singing a song which is still extant. (Athen. 8. 360; compare Ilgen, Opusc. Phil. i. p. 164, and Eustath. ad Odyss. xxi. sub fin.) It is said to have been introduced by Cleobulus of Lindus, at a period when the town was in great distress. The chelidonia, which have sometimes been called a festival, seem to have been nothing but a peculiar mode of begging, which on the occasion of the return of the swallows was carried on by boys in the manner stated above. Many analogies may still be observed in various countries at the various seasons of the year.

[L.S]

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. William Smith, LLD. William Wayte. G. E. Marindin. Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890.

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A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890)
William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed.

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CHELIDON´IA

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed.

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CHELIDON´IA

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890)
William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed.