ut will now point out the
general relationship of sun worship to the religious festivals and
mythology of the Ancients. This relationship becomes important when it
is appreciated that the sun worship expressed in the mysteries is also a
part of phallicism. On some of these festive occasions the phallus was
carried in the front of the procession and at other times the egg, the
phallus and the serpent were carried in the secret casket.

* * * * *

The Ancients expressed their religious beliefs in a dramatic way on a
number of occasions throughout the year. The festivities were held in
the Spring, Autumn, or Winter. These were to commemorate the activities
of the sun, his renewed activity in the Spring calling forth rejoicing
and his decline in the Fall being the cause of sorrow and lamentation.
As well as the festivities, there were the various mysteries, such as
the Eleusinia, the Dionysia and the Bacchanalia. These were conducted by
the priests who moulded religious beliefs and guarded their secrets. The
mysteries were of the utmost importance and the most sacred of
religious conceptions were here dramatized.

Mythology also gave expression to the religious ideas of the time and we
find that the most important myths, dramatically produced at the
religious festivals, were sun myths.

The annual festivities and mysteries will be discussed together because
both were intended to dramatize the same beliefs. Both were under
priestly control and so were national institutions. The festivals were
for the common people but the mysteries were fully understood only to
the initiated.

While no very clear account of the mysteries has been given, a certain
theme seems to run through them all, and this is found in the myths as
well. A drama is enacted, in which the god is lost, is lamented, and is
found or returns amid great rejoicing.[15] This was enacted in Egypt
where the mourning was for Osiris; and in Greece for Adonis, and later
for Bacchus. All these are, of course, sun gods, and the whole
dramatization or myth is in keeping with the activities of the sun.

On these occasions, the main object seems to have been to restore the
lost god, or to insure his reappearance. The women took the leading part
and mourned for Osiris, Adonis or Bacchus. They wandered about the
country at night in the most frenzied fashion, avoided all men and
sought the god. At times, during the winter festival, the quest