Nyctelia

Nyctelia

( Νυκτέλια ), the name given to the festivals of the ancient Greeks observed in. honor of Bacchus, were so called, from Ἐν Νυκτὶ Τελεῖν , because the sacrifice and other ceremonies were performed in the night. These feasts were celebrated every three years in the beginning of spring, with lighted torches, drinking, and the worst of impurities, for awhich reason the Romans prohibited the observance of them in Italy. See Broughton, Hist. of Religion, s.v.