Pithoigia - Tumblr Posts
Kantharos showing Dionysos on the throne. (Apulian, about 335–325 B.C; now in the Boston Museum…)
Today 21 February, ΔΙΟΣ (Thursday), Ἑνδεκάτη/ Πρώτη Μεσοῦντος, XI day From today’s sunset: eleventh day of Anthesterion. Beginning of the Anthesteria- I day: Pithoigia, opening of the pithoi, libations to Dionysos and tasting of the new wine. “Near the sanctuary of Dionysos en Limnais, the Athenians used to mix, taking it from the barrels, the new wine, which they have carried there, for the God and to taste it themselves. From this, Dionysos was called Limnaios, because the sweet wine, having been mixed with water, was drunk for the first time as a mixture. Because of this, the sources were called Nymphs and nurses of Dionysos…satisfied with the mixture, they sang hymns to Dionysos, danced and invoked Him, calling Him Flowery, Dithyrambos, Reveller, Bromios…” (Phanodemus, FGrHist 325 fr. 12) “Among the festivals of the Homeland, there are the Pithoigia, during which it is not lawful for a servant or salaried to refrain from enjoying wine, but, making sacrificial rites, it is customary that all participate in the gift of Dionysos.” Schol. Erga, 368 “Also the eleventh and twelfth are both excellent, alike for shearing sheep and for reaping the kindly fruits..” “Of the numbers after the decade, the eleventh refers to the first element of the monad. Thus, (Hesiod) has praised this one too, as it has analogies with that (the monad), inviting to the shearing of the sheeps and to the reaping of the fruits of the earth…Both aim to take care of the body, the one to the food, the other to protection. They are typical of the eleventh day since this is the beginning of the third pentad, the one that most enhances the light of the moon…” Schol. Erga, 774-776
First day of Anthesteria - Pithoigia, the Opening of the Jars and Bottles
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.
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.