Anthesteria 2009: Khoes
by Foxglove with adapted traditional stories

Roles:
Priest of Dionysos / Priestess of Hestia / Cup/Wine bearer / Dionysos / Ariadne / Story teller			

Set-up
The altar is decorated with flowers, jugs and statue of Dionysos.

Ritual

Priest of Dionysos: Come ye gathered friends let us make our way to the Anthesteria!

All: To the Anthesteria

Priest leads the way to the main ritual site followed the rest of the group.  He will playing tunes on the recorder whilst others play drums and other percussion instruments. 

Once the procession reaches the main ritual site, each person will wash their hands in Khenips with the words:

Hekos O hekos este bebeloi!

They then enter the ritual space and form a circle around the altar and fire pit.

Priest of Dionysos: let us prepare our temple!

He takes the salt water and walks the perimeter of the space with the words:

Hekos O hekos este bebeloi!

He then lights the incense and takes it around the perimeter of the circle with the words;

Hekos O hekos este bebeloi!

He takes up the wheat and scatters it around perimeter with the words

Hekos O hekos este bebeloi!

Priestess of Hestia moves to altar and lights the Hestia flame.  She then takes a candle and lights it and moves to the fire pit and ignites it as she does so she says:

Priestess of Hestia: Fire the sacred gift from the Gods above!!! Hail Mighty Immortals

All:  Hail Mighty Immortals!

Priestess of Hestia reads the hymn to Hestia.

Priestess of Hestia:
Daughter of Kronos, venerable dame,
the seat containing of unweary'd flame; 
In sacred rites these ministers are thine,
Mystics much-blessed, holy and divine
In thee, the Gods have fix'd a place, 
strong, stable, basis of the mortal race:
Eternal, much-form'd ever-florid queen,
laughing and blessed, and of lovely mien; 
Accept these rites, accord each just desire, 
and gentle health, and needful good inspire.

Priest of Dionysos throws an offering of incense into the flame saying:

Priest of Dionysos: Hail Hestia, the first and the last!

All: Hail Hestia

Priest of Dionysos reads the hymn to Dionysos

Priest of Dionysos: 
Terrestrial Dionysos hear my prayer, 
Awakened rise; with nymphs of lovely hair:
Great Bacchus, annual God, 
who laid asleep in Persephone's abode,
Did'st lull to drowsy and oblivious rest,
 the rites triennial, and the sacred feast;
Which roused again by thee, in graceful ring, 
thy nurses round thee mystic anthems sing;
When briskly dancing with rejoicing powers, 
thou move’s in concert with the circling hours.
Come, blessed, fruitful, horned, and divine, 
and on these rites with joyful aspect shine;
Accept the general incense and the prayer, 
and make prolific holy fruits thy care.

Priest of Dionysos throws incense into the fire saying:

Priest of Dionysos: Hail Dionysos!

All: Hail Dionysos!

Priest of Dionysos: Hail Mighty Olympians, if it be so in your hearts, come and bear witness to the anthesteria!! 

Pours libation

Priest of Dionysos: Sponde Olympians!

All: Sponde Olympians

He picks up wine vessel and raises it above his head saying:

Priest of Dionysos: O Great Dionysos, Bless this wine, your sacred gift! May it fill us with wonder and reveal to us the mysteries of life!
Thou who is thrice born, nestled in the bosom of the realms of death, Here we give thee homage!

Sponde Dionysos! (Pours libation onto fire)

All: Sponde Dionysos!

The cup bearer takes the jug and moves around the circle and fills each person’s cup. He then returns the jug to the PoD.

Priest of Dionysos: We have celebrated our young and welcomed them into our community.  Now we come to celebrate life!  We shall witness the union of Dionysos and Ariadne.

Note: the Athenians in the story are represented by those gathered! 

Story teller:
It was to the isle of Dia Theseus fled with his betrothed Ariadne. Having defeated the Minotaur and eloped with the King of Cretes daughter Theseus arrived upon the shore in high spirits. With him travelled a band of young Athenians whom he had rescued from their fate as offerings to the Minotaur. The young people spent their first evening on the island celebrating Theseus victory and their escape, reveling in drunken merriment by a blazing fire upon the beach.

Drummer beats a wild beat and everyone dances within the circle. As people dance past the altar they take a handful of flower petals and toss them high! They should also partake of their wine!

When drumming stops the story resumes. Only Ariadne continues dancing.

As the music played and the wine flowed, the beautiful and wise Ariadne danced to the beat of the drums. Having given Theseus the means to defeat the Minotaur and escape the Labyrinth she was free from her father and his court for the first time in her life. She lost herself in the music. Her movements were graceful and her figure a delight to behold. The Athenian men and women admired her, throwing flowers at her feet giving thanks for her aid in their rescue and recited poetry in honour of her beauty and wisdom. 

But it was not just mortal eyes who gazed on the dancing Ariadne. For on this island it happened that Dionysus was visiting. Attracted by the music and the sounds of wine filled revelry he came to look upon the mortals and at catching sight of Ariadne he instantly became enchanted and fell madly in love.

Dionysos is standing atop the rocks looking down, story teller gestures to where he is so that we can see him.

The God soon realized that Theseus intended to take Ariadne as his wife as soon as they returned to Athens. So it was that Dionysus set about to claim Ariadne for his own.

Theseus and Ariadne lay down on a cow hide and are seen to sleep.  Dionysos comes down to circle space and stand above him, Theseus is seen to struggle in his sleep.

In the early hours of the morning when the fire had died low and the Athenians had fallen asleep, Dionysus entered the dreams of Theseus. In these dreams Dionysus plagued Theseus with visions of disaster, Athens in ruins, his fathers decimated body, the rescued Athenians slaughtered about him and he, Theseus crouched in the centre of this slaughter clinging to the tortured remains of Ariadne. Crying out Theseus asked what he must do to avoid such a fate and it was Dionysus who answered and declared that Theseus must leave Dia at sunrise leaving Ariadne behind without waking her and without explanation.

Theseus pleaded with the God, declaring his love for Ariadne and that he intended to honour her choice to abandon her father and leave with him to become his wife. Dionysus responded by declaring that he to was in love with Ariadne, stating that while Theseus could make her a Queen he could make her a Goddess! Theseus intended to challenge the God, but Dionysis clouded his mind with the same terrible visions, threatening to make them real if Theseus did not do as the God commanded.

Theseus awakes and escapes

Defeated, Theseus woke before dawn and silently stirred each of the sleeping Athenians charging them to be silent as they made their departure. Taking one more look at the sleeping beauty Ariadne, Theseus left Dia with a heavy heart and without changing the colour of the ships sails which would alert his father of their victory in Crete.

As the sun rose over the island, Ariadne stirred and stretched her arms in search of her betrothed. But they never found the warm body of the man she expected to find by her side. Confused, Ariadne awoke and began looking for Theseus. Her search became more frantic as she noticed that she was the only soul left by the cold smoking remains of the previous nights fire. 

Ariadne runs all over the place trying to find Theseus

Distraught, Ariadne began to weep and frantically ran the coastline in search of the ships that took her from her fathers Kingdom. She climbed to the top of the cliffs, but not a sail could she see. Falling to her knees, Ariadne cried out in despair casting Theseus from her heart she screamed in rage. Abandoned by the man she loved and without hope of being accepted back into her fathers court she resolved to end her mortal life and throw herself from the cliffs into the merciless sea below.

It was at this moment that Dionysus appeared before her, surrounded by his joyful retinue and bearing a golden cup filled with wine. He bade Ariadne not to be afraid and knelt before her. Dionysus professed his love for the mortal woman asking her to become his wife. He raised the golden cup towards her and bade her drink from it if she accepted.

Casting a furtive look to the churning sea below Ariadne was overwhelmed by the propitious change in her fate. She too knelt before Dionysus and drank deeply from the golden cup. 

Dionysus rejoiced and lifted Ariadne to her feet as a great cloud rose up around them all and bore them to the heights of Mount Olympus.

There Dionysus took the beautiful Ariadne as his wife. He gave to her a golden wreath bearing diamonds made by Hephaestus. On presenting his wife to the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, Zeus the King of the Gods as his wedding gift to the newly wed couple made Ariadne immortal.

Dionysos and Ariadne make their way to the bower and wait for the Celebrants to come and pay them homage.

Priest of Dionysos: Children of the Earth, we have witnessed the story of Dionysos and Ariadne, Let us make our way to the heights of Olympos, where we may seek the blessings of the Vine God and his betrothed.

Each person makes there way 1 by one or in couples and asks a boon of Dionysos.  He gestures to them to drink of the sacred wine and hands them a ribbon to tie upon his Thyrsos.

The boons will be generated and release when everyone has left and Dionysos and Ariadne are joined in union.

Whilst everyone is waiting, there is drumming, dancing and drinking.

The last person to ascend to Olympos will be the Priest of Dionysos, when he returns he says: 

Priest of Dionysos: People of Hellas, the time has come for the Vine God and his love to become one in celebration of life!  Let us leave this sacred place so that magic can be made!!!

The procession lead by the Priest of Dionysos makes it way back to the main site to prepare for dinner.