Charila takes place once every 8 years. It includes a scapegoat ritual, in which a doll takes the part of the scapegoat. The origins of the festival are tied to the famine and drought that afflicted the Delphians. According to the story, a girl named Charilla, who had been struck by the king, hanged herself, and the prophetic priestess advised appeasing her spirit.
The festival involves a purificatory sacrifice, the distribution of barley and pulse by the king, the striking of the doll representing Charilla, and its burial at the site of Charilla's grave. The Charila festival, along with the other enneateric festivals, served as a means of purging and renewing the city and the land every eight years.
The Charila festival is one of three ninth-year festivals celebrated in Delphi, following the Herois festival. It is likely held in late autumn or early winter. The month of Daidophorios has been chosen based on it being the the end of the drought season (see Fontenrose $^{70}$), and the 9th as this is a Dionysian festival, and 9 is a number commonly connected to Dionysos ( as is 13, but the 13th already has an annual festival).
<aside> <img src="/icons/hourglass_pink.svg" alt="/icons/hourglass_pink.svg" width="40px" /> More on the timing of The Great Year
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The origins of the Charila festival can be traced back to a time of famine and drought that plagued the Delphians. In the midst of this hardship, the people turned to their king for assistance. However, when a poverty-stricken orphan girl named Charilla approached the king for help, he callously struck her with his sandal and cast it in her face. Devastated by the king's cruelty, Charilla, despite her desperate circumstances, displayed noble character (by ancient Greek standards) and chose to end her own life rather than suffer the shame of her humiliation.
As the famine persisted and diseases began to spread, the Pythia at Delphi issued an oracle advising the king to appease the spirit of Charilla, the girl who had been wronged by the king. Upon discovering the name of the child who had been struck, the Delphians instituted a sacrificial rite combined with purification, performed every eight years.
During this festival, a king assumed a ceremonial role, sitting in state and distributing portions of barley-meal and legumes to all. A doll-like image of Charilla is brought before the king, who strikes it with his sandal. The leader of the Thyiads, a group of women associated with Dionysos, then takes the doll to a location filled with chasms, ties a rope around its neck, and buries it at the site where Charilla was interred after her tragic death.
The significance of the Charila festival lies in its piacular nature, serving as a means of purification and renewal for the city and the land. Together with the other ninth-year festivals, such as the Septerion and Herois, it contributes to the cyclical cleansing and revitalization of Delphi every eight years. By engaging in these rituals, the community seeks to purify themselves of any misfortunes, diseases, and negative influences, thereby restoring communal prosperity and ensuring a fresh start. The hanging and burial of the puppet representing Charilla in a ritualistic manner is an example of the ancient traditions of using scapegoats to symbolically carry away the collective misdeeds or troubles of a community.
The nexus of death, rebirth, and communal prosperity underlay a second performance of the Thyiades, played out more publicly in the enneateric festival commemorating Charila.
– J. McInerney, Parnassus, Delphi, and the Thyiades ****$^{3}$
Who was “Charilla” among the Delphians? The Delphians celebrate three festivals one after the other which occur every eight years, the first of which they call Septerion, the second Heroïs, and the third Charilla. Now the Septerion seems to be a representation of Apollo’s fight with the Python and the flight to Tempê and pursuit that followed the battle. b Some indeed affirm that Apollo fled because he desired purification as a consequence of the slaughter he had done, others that he was following the wounded Python as he fled along the road which we now call the Sacred Way, and was only a little late for the monster’s death; for he overtook him when he had just died from the effects of the wound and had been buried by his son, whose name, as they say, was Aix. The Septerion, then, is a representation of these matters or certain matters of a similar nature.
The greater part of the Heroïs has a secret import which the Thyiads b know; but from the portions of the rites that are performed in public one might conjecture that it represents the evocation of Semelê.
The story of Charilla which they relate is somewhat as follows: A famine following a drought oppressed the Delphians, and they came to the palace of their king with their wives and children and made supplication. The king gave portions of barley and legumes to the more notable citizens, for there was not enough for all. But when an orphaned girl, who was still but a small child, approached him and importuned him, he struck her with his sandal and cast the sandal in her face. But, although the girl was poverty-stricken and without protectors, she was not ignoble in character; and when she had withdrawn, she took off her girdle and hanged herself.
As the famine increased and diseases also were added thereto, the prophetic priestess gave an oracle to the king that he must appease Charilla, the maiden who had slain herself. Accordingly, when they had discovered with some difficulty that this was the name of the child who had been struck, they performed a certain sacrificial rite combined with purification, which even now they continue to perform every eight years. For the king sits in state and gives a portion of barley-meal and legumes to everyone, alien and citizen alike, and a doll-like image of Charilla is brought thither. When, accordingly, all have received a portion, the king strikes the image with his sandal. The leader of the Thyiads picks up the image and bears it to a certain place which is full of chasms; there they tie a rope round the neck of the image and bury it in the place where they buried Charilla after she had hanged herself."
– Plutarch, Greek questions $^{43}$