Myth, Ritual and Communication: Exploring the religious significance of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Brauronia

This paper explores the shared communicative purposes of ancient Greek myth and ritual and evaluates their interdependence, through an examination of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Brauronia. I begin by attempting to define the distinction between a myth and a story, before exploring the aetiology of both myth and ritual by reviewing the theories of Jane Harrison, a key figure in ritual studies and one of the ‘Cambridge Ritualists’. Afterwards, I concentrate on the Eleusinian Mysteries, discussing the relationship between the origin myth and the actions of the ritual itself, and I evaluate that in this case the ritual serves predominantly to represent the myth, which I argue is the more effective tool of communication. Subsequently I examine the Brauronia, especially its role as a rite of passage for young Greek girls, and discuss whether this particular ritual requires the presence of the origin myth, or whether its nature as an expression of the transition from girlhood to womanhood gives it independent efficacy. I conclude that, although each ritual is different, in the majority of cases the authority of ritual is maintained by the presence of myth, which gives context to otherwise incoherent actions, connects the ritual to state religion, and elevates the connection to the divine.