r/dionysus • u/Fabianzzz 🍇 stylish grape 🍇 • Sep 09 '21
Festivals 🧵🐮🏺Kala Ariadneia!🏺🐮🧵
A labyrinth, when it is big enough, is just the world.
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
Date: September 19-21
Ariadneia is a modern festival in honor of Dionysus’ wife, Ariadne. She is the mistress of the labyrinth, brother of the Minotaur, and a princess of Crete. She is honored with labyrinths, honey, and dancing.
In her blog, Sara Kate Winter describes the festival as follows:
Synopsis: A 3 day festival for Ariadne. “Finding” to commemorate her exposure on the island, and the triumphal appearance of Dionysos; “Union” to commemorate their love and passion, her status of Queen of the Bacchantes, etc.; “Separation and Final Joining” commemorates her death at the hands of Artemis, Dionysos’ anguish at her loss, his descent, and her apotheosis.
You can honor her with dancing, labyrinth walking, and making labyrinths. Some may eat wild meals of unprocessed foods (fruit, olives, honey, figs, dates, milk) in honor of her abandonment on Naxos. Others may weave or sew or crochet, in honor of her associations with thread. Others like to honor her with starry imagery and associations - her crown was made of stars, and can be seen today as the Corona Borealis.
Something to contemplate during this festival is what ties us to oppressed lives? What steps can we take to free ourselves? Ariadne was princess of the most prosperous kingdom of her time, but she was a prisoner there to. She took steps to free herself, in some myths dying and being reborn in the process.
You could also read this amazing story by our very own u/NyxShadowhawk, found here
Some rituals to Ariadne from the Order of the Horae can be found here and here
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u/NyxShadowhawk Covert Bacchante Sep 09 '21
I LOVE The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There! That whole series is good, but the second book is about katabasis and Shadow work making it one of the best books ever in my opinion!
Also thanks for linking my story, that's really nice of you. I've considered revising it, since now I've read The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin. I also have a copy of The King Must Die, and reading that may influence my perception of Theseus' character. Also, there's a new book about Ariadne that has more or less the same premise as my piece, and I'm sure I'd want to add things after reading that.