Fertility was an integral part of the festival. As Demeter was a goddess of fertility, she would have had the power to promote virility. Much of the celebrations were aimed to please and honor her so she would bestow her gifts onto these women and help them conceive and bear healthy children.

One of the most well known rituals of Thesmophoria was the sacrificial offering of pigs. The animals would be lowered down into sacred pits, then the remains would be retrieved during the next year’s festival. The rancid meat would be mixed with seeds and planted, in order to provide nutrients for the plant’s growth.