 The initiation began at the beginning of Spring with instruction on the Lesser Mysteries, which mostly celebrated the arrival of Spring and allowed for initiates to atone themselves in preparation for the Greater Mysteries later on in the Fall.After these preliminary steps, and one month before the procession in Boedromion, special messengers, called the Spondophoroi, were sent out from Eleusis to herald the coming of the procession all around Greece.Finally, on the 13th of Boedromion, priestesses of Demeter and Persephone carried baskets of Sacred Objects, called the hiera, from Eleusis to Athens in preparation for the procession and the rites of the Greater Mysteries.