The Eikas — dinner on the twentieth.
Epicurus endowed it in his will: money set aside for a monthly gathering of the school in memory of himself and Metrodorus. It is the oldest continuously named observance in Western philosophy and it is still kept.
Epicurus's will, quoted in full by Diogenes Laertius, sets aside revenue for two observances: offerings for his family, and a meeting of the whole school on the twentieth of every month in memory of himself and Metrodorus. That is a founder deliberately building a calendar, and it is why the Garden functioned more like a community than a faculty. The word Eikas simply means "twentieth". It is still observed: the Society of Friends of Epicurus publishes an essay marked "Happy Eikas" on the twentieth of each month, and small groups meet to eat together, which is a rite reconstructed from a will rather than handed down.
...for the customary celebration of my birthday on the tenth day of Gamelion in each year, and for the meeting of all my School held every month on the twentieth day to commemorate Metrodorus and myself according to the rules now in force.
Epicurus, will, in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers X.18, R. D. Hicks translationThe founding document of the Eikas, and the reason a philosophical school had a monthly calendar at all.
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