Aeginetarum feriae

Aeginetarum feriae (Αἰγινητῶν ἑορτή), a festival in honour of Poseidon, which lasted sixteen days, during which time every family took its meals quietly and alone, no slave being allowed to wait, and no stranger invited to partake of them. From the circumstance of each family being closely confined to itself, those who solemnised this festival were called μονοφάγοι. Plutarch (Quaest. Graec. 44) traces its origin to the Trojan war, and says that, as many of the Aeginetans had lost their lives, partly in the siege of Troy and partly on their return home, those who reached their native island were received indeed with joy by their kinsmen; but, in order to avoid hurting the feelings of those families who had to lament the loss of their friends, they thought it proper neither to show their joy nor to offer any sacrifices in public. Every family, therefore, entertained privately their friends who had returned, and acted themselves as attendants, though not without rejoicings.

[L.S]