Evil Gods: Attis - Day of Blood


	The worship of Attis, known across the ancient world as "the Good Shepherd", the son of Cybele has always been interwoven with the worship of his Mother, the Queen of Heaven.
	When the largest black meteorite in the world came to Rome in 204 BCE along with the worship of Cybele as Magna Mater (Great Mother) and Protector of Rome, the ceremonies and rituals of Attis came as well.
	Of all the ceremonies and festivals associated with Attis, the most important was known as Black Friday and Dies Sanguinis (the Day of Blood) on or around the 25th of March, nine months before the solstice festival of his birth on 25th December.
	On the Friday closest to March 25th, the image of Attis was carried to the temple and bound to the tree, escorted by "reed-bearers" with the reed scepters representing re-generated phalli and new fertility. During the ceremonies, initiated castrastred themselves in imitation of the castrated god, and presented their severed genitals to the Goddess along with those of the gelded bull sacrificed at the Taurobolium. All these male remnants were deposited in the sacred cave of the Great Mother.
	On Black Friday, Attis, the saviour god died and was buried. He descended into the underworld (Hell). On the third day he rose again from the dead. His worshippers were told: "The god is saved; and for you also will come salvation from your trials." This day was the Carnival or Hilaria, also known as the Day of Joy. People danced in the streets and went about in disguise, indulging in horseplay and casual love affairs. Thus was the Sunday; the god arose in glory as the solar deity of a new season. Christians ever afterward kept Easter Sunday with carnival processions derived from the mysteries of Attis. Like Christ, Attis arose when "the sun makes the day for the first time longer than the night."
	Official Order of Ceremonies-
	From discovered material, dating from the time of Emperor Claudius (41 - 54 CE), the official dates and ceremonies of Attis and Cybele and preserved in official Roman records supporting their importance to the Romans and predating their adoption by Krishnianity.
	15 March - The "reed bearers" enter and a six year old bull is sacrificed.
	22 March - A pine is felled representing the death of the god. The acolytes and initiates proceed to the Temple of Cybele with the sacred pine bearing the effigy of the god in its branches (the god is on the tree). The tree is laid to rest at the Temple of Cybele.
	24 March - The "day of blood". The sacred pine tree and an effigy of Attis is buried in a tomb and a day of mourning, fasting, sexual abstinence, self-flagellation and self-mutilation commemorating the Mother's grief follows. The High Priest playing the part of Attis draws blood from his arm and offers it as a substitute for a human sacrifice. That night the tomb is found brightly illuminated but empty, the god having risen on the third day. Initiates undertake the Mysteries and are baptized in bull's blood at the Taurobolium to wash away their sins whereupon they are "born again". They then become ecstatic and frenzied and recruits to the priesthood, castrate themselves in imitation of the god.
	25 March - Hilaria: the resurrection of Attis and the onset of spring is celebrated with a sacramental meal and a day of joy and feasting. Those who castrated themselves become Galli—cocks—dress in women's clothes and wear perfumed oils.
	26 March - A quiet day of rest and recovery;
	27 March - The conclusion of the festival with a procession in which the statue of the goddess, meteorite embedded in her brow, is majestically carried to her temple and a series of religious dramas and entertainments follows.
	The Galla
	The celebrations of Attis around the Day of Blood, were also significant as the time upon which new initiates to the priesthood of Cybele showed their utmost devotion in cutting off their own genitals in a bloody frenzy and celebration.
	The Galla, also later written as the Galli were the lowest rung in the order of priestly service to Magna Mater on Vatican Hill. The most senior was the High Priestess and then later the High priest under Emperor Claudius.
	Subordinate were the Archgalla (later the role of Bishops and Cardinals), followed by the priestesses, the sacred prostitutes who were "Brides of Attis". The lowest being the ordinary Galla (Galli).
	On the day of blood (dies sanguinis) the Galla initiate forever discarded his male attire; henceforth he wore a long garment (stola), mostly yellow or many coloured with long sleeves and a belt. On their heads these priests wore a mitra, a sort of turban, or a tiara, the cap with long ear flaps which could be tied under the chin.
	The chest was adorned with ornaments, and sometimes they wore ornamental reliefs, pendants, ear-rings and finger-rings. They also wore their hair long, which earned for them the epithet of "long-haired," they sometimes dedicated a lock of hair to the goddess.
	By preference they had their hair bleached. On the day of mourning for Attis they ran around wildly with disheveled hair, but otherwise they had their hair dressed and waved like women. Sometimes they were heavily made up, their faces resembling white washed walls. The galli were also very conspicuous when they showed themselves in the city outside the temple precincts.
	With a procession of enthusiastic followers they wandered about begging; in exchange for alms they were prepared to tell people's fortunes (vaticinari); they performed their dances to shrill music of the pipes and the dull beat of the tambourine. When the deity entered into them and they were possessed by divine power they flogged themselves until the blood came."
	The origin of the Galla and their forced celibacy
	While popular mythology connects the behaviour of the Galla (Galli) displaying extreme devotion primarily emulating the god Attis in cutting off their genitals and becoming women, there existed a much older and deeper function.
	It relates to secret mysteries and powers believed that priests might access if they forever eliminated the distraction of male sexual urges.
	In Sumerian-Akkadian myth the Galla were daemons of the underworld, who disposed of the corpse of the dead. Literally they were the servants of Ereshkigal, Goddess of the Underworld.
	When Inanna's father, Enki, heard that Inanna had descended to the underworld and did not return, He took dirt from under his fingernail and from this made Kurgarra and Galatur [that which repels Galla] and sent them to the underworld where Inanna's corpse was given to them.
	"The Galla were demons who know no food who know no drink, Who eat no offerings, who drink no libations, Who accept no gifts. They enjoy no lovemaking. They have no sweet children to kiss. They tear the wife from the husband's arms, They tear the child from the father's knees, They steal the bride from her marriage home."
	The Galla (Galli) therefore were believed to be able to communicate with the dead, to tell fortunes, to prophecize and to inflict powerful spells. These priestly powers were continued under the revised religion of Cybele of Rome when it became Roman Catholicism.



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