A Bacchante By The Italian Comic Book Writer And Artist Milo Manara

A bacchante by the Italian comic book writer and artist Milo Manara

Faun Whistling to a Blackbird (1875) by Arnold Böcklin

Arthur Hacker, A Bacchante

Anthesteria’s first day: Pithoigia, the Day of Opening Jars

We shall sing Dionysus On the holy days Him who was twelve months absent Now the time has come, now the flowers are here.

It begins with a procession.  They come to the waters, the motley fellows of the propompoi — maenads, satyrs, nymphs, and bacchantes, restless from the restrictions of winter.  There at the edge of the waters they find Him — the Masked Man, awaiting them in the marshes where earth and water meet.  Raising him up, they escort him back into the city once again, with song and dance, the maenads and bacchantes waving their ivy-wreathed thyrsoi, the satyrs hurling merry insults at bystanders.  They take Him to the sanctuary.

Once in the sacred place of Dionysos, the jars are brought out — the pithoi, great clay jars, casks, bottles, all full of wine that was buried over the winter to ferment, sent into the Underworld with Dionysus.  The first libation is poured out to Dionysos Limnaios, he of the marshes, Fair-Flowering, the Reveller, the Stormer.  Then the priestesses of the mystery, wine-stained maenads, mix the wine according to the secret rites, and all may drink.

There is dance, and song, and music, and merriment; even the restless spirits of the city’s faceless dead come to join in the revelry amid the flower petals and the lovely scent of wine.  The Eleusinian Mysteries are performed in secret, sacred places.  The Anthesteria has begun.

This is a Festival of Flowers, though it will also be a Feast of the Dead as it winds its way through three days’ celebration…

Also today we celebrate the divine conception of Dionysus, for this is when Zeus lay with Semele and together they conceived their divine son.

Enola from San Francisco (USA), thanks for the submission!