Charila

Charila (Greek Χάριλα) is the name of an orphan girl in Greek mythology and the name of a festival that is celebrated every eight years in Delphi and named after her.

Plutarch tells about the origin of the festival that at a time when there was hunger, the people came to the king to ask him for food. The king distributed flour and pulses, but only to the better citizens. When a poor orphan girl named Charila persistently asked the king for food, the angry king hit the girl in the face with his sandal, whereupon Charila went into the forest and hanged herself with her belt. As a result, the famine became unbearable and the oracle was consulted for advice. The oracle's saying was that Charila must be reconciled. After some research, they found out who Charila was and eventually her body was also found. To reconcile the spirit of Charilas, the process was repeated: the king distributed flour and pulses, but this time to everyone, citizens and strangers alike. As soon as that was done, he hit a straw doll depicting Charila in the face with his shoe. The straw doll was taken to the site of Charila's suicide and buried with a noose around her neck. This rite has been repeated every eight years since then.

References

Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae (Αίτια Ελληνικά, "Greek Questions") No. 12
Literature

Hermann Steuding: Charila. In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Ed.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology. Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 872f. (Digitized version).
Otto Kern: Charila. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity science (RE) Volume III, 2, Stuttgart 1899, Col. 2141.

Greek Mythology

See also : Greek Mythology. Paintings, Drawings

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