Chalceia
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The Chalkeia festival (also spelled Chalceia), the festival of Bronze-workers, was a religious festival devoted to the goddess Athena and the god Hephaestus. It was celebrated on the last day of Pyanepsion (October or November in the Attic calendar). The festival celebrated Athena and Hephaestus, in honor of both gods as patron deities of Athens, and as deities of handicrafts.[1][2]
Each year, preparations were begun for a specialized peplos (a robed garment worn by Greek women), which was made to be offered to the goddess at another festival, the Panathenaea.[3]
Though Hephaestus was involved, the festival's main focus was Athena, specifically under the epithet Athena Hephaistia[2] and Athena Ergane.[4] The offerings recorded for each day were always for Athena, not her male counterpart. Also, the main focus of the festival (the sacred peplos) was for Athena, while Hephaestus wasn't given any gifts.[5]
'Athena Hephaista' was the epithet given to Athena in this context as a special association with Hephaestus, the god of the smiths. A statue of this aspect of Athena was constructed in the Hephaisteion next to the cult statue of Hephaestus in 343 B.C. [2]
‘Athena Ergane’ was a specific title given to Athena as the patron of crafts, particularly weaving. Under this moniker, she was the goddess of all handicrafts, or functional artwork. To honor this, on the day of the festival, a loom is set up by the priestesses of Athena and the Arrephoroi. From the loom, a great peplos is warped and woven. The Arrephoroi were young girls, not much more than seven years old, and had been chosen by the archon basileus from four aristocratic girls nominated by the Athenian people. Because of their youth they were not really directly involved with the weaving, but it was believed that the beginning of the work was blessed by their presence. It was considered a great honor to be chosen to be an Arrephoros; there are honorific portrait statues and inscribed statues that have been found that commemorate various daughters’ involvement as child servants of Athena.[4]