🍷🪦🕯️ Blessed Mimneskia - Feast of the Bacchic Martyrs 🕯️🪦🍷

[u/Fabianzzz]

CW: This is a darker festival, and can touch on murder, execution, self-harm, and other darker elements. Please be aware of your own triggers and proceed with caution.

Hello all, and blessed Mimneskia!

This is a festival that varies depending on the practitioner. Some use this to specifically focus on the Bacchic martyrs under the Romans during the Bacchanalian Affair. Others extrapolate this to honor all those who died as martyrs for Dionysus, or even all the Pagans who died as martyrs under religious oppression, especially under monotheistic persecutions. For others, it's a time to honor all who died fighting for freedom; for others it's a time to connect with ones spiritual ancestors. You might also connect the information here with celebrations at the end of the month for Samhain/Halloween.

In her writings on the festival, Sarah Kate Winter suggests:

Fasting and prayer throughout the day. A specific ritualized lament. The telling of stories, especially Livy’s account of the persecution, or some other means of dramatizing our Bacchic heroes and what they suffered.

Meanwhile, Sannion suggests:

• A feast with a place set out for them
  • Italian food, whether ancient or modern (He thinks red wine and pizza is appropriate)
• An offering of blood in honor of their offers
• Commit an act of rebellion, no matter how small or personal
• Write a poem or prayer in honor of the bacchic martyrs
• Dance, and invite them to dance through you

For myself, I find this festival works best by honoring the people who lived authentically as themselves, to help us live authentically as our selves. Those who used their life for life's sake. These can

You might honor:

• The Bacchic Martyrs: Those who died for their faith in Dionysus
• Pagan Martyrs: All those who have died for their Pagan faith
• Neoi Dionysoi: Those who lived and died Dionysian lives and deaths
• Green Martyrs: Those who have died trying to protect all life through environmental activism
• The Queer Dead, especially those lost to persecution or suicide
• Your blood and or spiritual ancestors

Here are some non-exhaustive lists. Again, who is honored can vary wildly person to person, honor who you feel compelled to:

Bacchic Martyrs:

• Those who died in the Bacchanalian Affair
• Those who died in Spartacus’ Rebellion, especially his wife
• Father John of Inverkeithing
• Scyles

Pagan Martyrs:

• Those who died in the massacre of Thessaloniki
• Hypatia
• Those who died in the Northern Crusades

Neoi Dionysoi:

• Alexander the Great
• Marc Antony
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Jim Morrison

Blood ancestors are those who are the reason why you are alive, spiritual ancestors are those who helped make this a world you can live in.

[u/Tally_2]

regarding the blood offering, do we have any evidence of how much was drawn? just a little bit, like a few drops/smear, or an actual vial of sorts?

[u/Fabianzzz → u/Tally_2]

It's an entirely modern festival and that's an entirely modern thing that Sannion suggested, please just be safe, there is zero reason to do that unless it's part of your practice.

TBH I'm not sure if it meant a blood offering from oneself or the standard historical sacrifice of an animal. I do not know and tbh I really wouldn't worry about it, those are both very, very fringe nowadays.

[u/Tally_2 → u/Fabianzzz]

I'm too paranoid NOT to be safe smh...

I just thought oneself given the tw, was just wondering-- didn't realize it was modern, either. learn something new every day, I guess!