Skira

The festival of the Skira () or Skirophoria () in the calendar of ancient Athens, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June.

== Description == At Athens, the last month of the year was Skirophorion, after the festival. Its most prominent feature was the procession that led out of Athens to a place called Skiron near Eleusis, in which the priestess of Athena, the priest of Poseidon, and in later times, the priest of Helios, took part, under a ceremonial canopy called the skiron, which was held up by a member of the family of the Eteoboutadai or by the priest of Erechtheus. Their joint temple on the Acropolis was the Erechtheum, where Poseidon embodied as Erechtheus remained a numinous presence. The canopy symbolized the protection of the Attic soil from the blazing heat of the sun.