A three-day festival restricted exclusively to married women. On Day 1 (Anodos), women descended to underground chambers. On Day 2 (Nesteia), they fasted, sitting on the ground. On Day 3 (Kalligeneia), they retrieved the rotted remains of pigs thrown into pits months earlier and mixed them with seed grain as a fertility charm. Men were forbidden on pain of death. One of the oldest Greek rites, predating the Olympian religion.
