Bacchus by Hendrick Goltzius 1558-1617

"A less common festival was the orgy. In fact this was a festival of worship of the God Dionysus. As described in the Bacchae by Euripides the festival is somewhat different than commonly described.

    • Participants wear a wild fawn skin and carry a thyrsus.
    • The festival is held upon a bare mountainside.
    • Women lead the festival but men follow.
    • A sacrifice is made by tearing a young hill goat apart.
    • Wine is consumed and participants dance and pray.
    • The festival celebrates the fact that Dionysus “…found the liquid shower hid in the grape. He rests man’s spirit dim from grieving when the vine exulteth him. He giveth sleep to sink the fretful day in cool forgetting."
    • the activities are justified by the fact that “Prophesy cleaves to all frenzy, but beyond all else to frenzy of prayer."
    • Sexual license is not the purpose of the activities because “in the wildest rite cometh no stain to her whose heart is pure.”

There is commonality between the festival of Dionysus and the images of festivities from the Minoan culture. The suspicion is that there is some connection. In spite of the heavy involvement of wine, drunkenness is not the goal. Rather a loosening of the spirit that involves insight and prophesy is the goal. Sexual promiscuity is not that appropriate either because fertility is not the goal either. The sacrifice is rather a matter of recognizing the continuity of life. This involves the birth, life, death, and rebirth cycle."

-taken from rwaag.org link below

Bacchus by Hendrick Goltzius 1558-1617. MET Museum.

Source:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/373160


Quote:

https://www.rwaag.org/festival#Orgy