On Sunday, June 12th we here in Eugene will be celebrating the Rhodophoria in honor of the goddess Aphrodite. This is something I came up with last year, combing two originally distinct festivals for her. The first element comes from Athens, Kypros and other parts of the Greek world where they would take the cult state of the goddess from her temple down to a nearby river and bathe it to renew her purity and power. The second element comes from the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman Rhodophoria or Rosalia festival which celebrated the blooming of roses and was marked by grand feasts, beauty pageants and lover’s trysts. We find different goddesses being honored with this festival in different locations – Isis, Hathor, Aphrodite, the Kharities, etc. suggesting that it was the seasonal themes that took top priority. Since I have a much stronger connection to Aphrodite – especially in her role as goddess of fertility and vegetation – I’m keeping the festival in her honor.
On Sunday we are going to go around town collecting wild flowers. Then we’re going to take my statue of Aphrodite and bathe her in the holy waters of the Willamette river. Then we will present her with lavish offerings including beeswax candles, jasmine flavored mead hand-crafted by my lovely partner, local, organic gourmet chocolates, honeyed cakes, strawberries and other seasonal fruits, and any other appropriate treats we can think of. I shall then recite a special hymn I’m going to compose for the occasion, and then we’ll sing and play music as an offering to her. Afterwards we’ll escort the purified and enfertiled goddess through the lovely Owens Memorial Rose Garden so that she can bless the land and flowers.
Now, I would love for this to be a community-wide celebration with everyone who wishes participating. So if you feel an inclination please say a prayer and make an offering to Aphrodite wherever you find yourself in the world on Sunday, June 12. If you would like to more directly participate in our Eugene Rhodophoria you can send your offering to me and I will present it to the goddess on your behalf. You can submit pictures or photos, stories or poems, prayers or a simple message you’d like passed on to her. Stuff you’ve created yourself or something that has deeply touched you. Anything having to do with beauty and flowers and love and fertility is appropriate. My e-mail address is sannion@gmail.com – please indicate in the title that this is for Aphrodite on the Rhodophoria.
This is the first reimagined festival for her I’ve felt drawn to – I’ll definitely be participating. The kids and I will take my idol to the ocean to bathe her, and I think some rose oil anointing might not go amiss. :)
Oh how wonderful! I do very much wish that we lived closer to the ocean, considering her strong connection to it. Every time I read about the bathing and anointing of the statue I’m reminded of those lines from the Kypria. And it’s perfect that you’ll be doing this with your children since I’m fairly certain that the procession at Athens was led by youths.
Beautiful idea! I hope you’ll be sharing photos of the event with us here at your blog.
By the way, I just added an article on Inuit gods and goddesses to my blog. I think someone with your Dionysian orientation might be intrigued by the Initiation tradition of the Inuit people, a tradition overseen by the god Tornarssuk. Here is the link – http://glitternight.com/2011/06/06/the-top-12-deities-from-inuit-mythology-2/
(Here’s my periodic reminder to my fellow readers that I’m not a spammer. Sannion has been kind enough to encourage me to let him and his readers know when I add new mythology posts.)
Oh yes, there will definitely be pictures. And that was fascinating, especially the intriguing parallels with some Classical Western traditions. I can appreciate a lot of Alaskan and Pacific Northwest indigenous traditions but there’s something very eerie and otherworldly about them – especially their masks – that I find more than a little unsettling. Of course, I like unsettling, so that’s not a criticism. :D
Hmm./ I don’t have a statue of Aphrodite, but I would definitely like to participate. I’ll think of something.
Wonderful! I’d love to hear what you decide to do!
OK, I will do something for Aphrodite on June 12. I recently acquired two floral statues. Art Nouveau style nymphs of spring entwined with flowers. The rose statue is for Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. The lily statue is for Aphrodite. So I guess I will be celebrating “Aphrodite of the Lilies” this weekend. Actually, there are similarities between the two goddesses. I am not going to venture into syncretism land and make any claims about any possible relationship between the two, but you never know….
*nods* When I was doing research for a poem that Rebecca commissioned in honor of Flora a while back I definitely noted some interesting parallels with Aphrodite En Kepois.
I’d love to participate here on the east coast. I don’t have a statue of her, but I honor her in my garden when I can. Aphrodite is a classy lady and she’s blessed me in more ways than I’ve probably thought to recognize. I’ll send something along–I’m not sure I’d get to the post office in time, but a photo and a few words will at least go per email.
Awww, you’re the best! And yes, Aphrodite is definitely a very classy lady and great assistant to gardeners if the Athenians are to be believed.
I would love to participate. This is lovely. I am going to the western North Carolina mountains to work on our tiny house. I think I will bring my Aphrodite statue and bathe her with water from our spring.
Ooooh, what a lovely idea!
I have a modern statue of a woman holding a rose that I keep under our wild rose bush. This will be a great time to clean that statue up…
Sounds lovely! I’d enjoy seeing a pic of it if you have one.
Posted a pic of it on my blog
http://4ofwands.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/rhodophoria/
Oh, that is absolutely lovely! Thank you so much for sharing that.
I really love the third photo above…
Aphrodite and I don’t really have a relationship; I’d not mind one, but thus far in my life, “fertility” has only been a metaphorical matter, and love/sex have been few and far between experiences. But, what do I have to lose? I’ll send you something to include…
[Hathor and I have had some relationship, which is certainly nice...but then again, despite some syncretistic equations, I think of the two as very distinct. If I may be somewhat mundane and even a bit vulgar, Hathor is the very attractive woman who is a friend and a confidant and will actually talk to me, whereas Aphrodite is sort of the most beautiful and popular cheerleader/popular girl in school, who hasn't even looked at me, and I suspect only would if she needed help with homework. But, you know me: I enjoy helping the gods with their homework! ;) ]
Though I’ve always had a fondness for Aphrodite to some degree, it was only recently that I developed a strong relationship with her and that was largely through my study of Greco-Egyptian culture and to some extent her syncretization with Hathor. That kind of opened my eyes to all these other aspects of her which I’d never really taken notice of previously.
Love your high school metaphor, though!
Glad you like it! Indeed–I may have to use it as the core of whatever I end up writing, to some extent…It does describe where I’m at presently, and there’s no better way to write something addressing a deity than from such a position of presentness and honesty. (And, it helps if it can also be funny in its metaphors as well, but anyway…!?!)
[...] mentioned that he is celebrating a modern version of this festival to [...]
Yes ! I love to participate to global ritual like this ! (like we did with Bast)
I wrote a little something. Should I send it here or to your email ?
Your offering was absolutely gorgeous. Thank you so much – I’m sure the Golden One will be very pleased with it.
:)
You know, my own little religious practice has days in honor of poets, and I’ve been wanting to figure out some way to do something honoring Sappho and Aphrodite together. This is as good a time as any. :) So I’ll pour her a libation, decorate my altar with flowers, and have a recitation of Sappho’s Hymn in her honor.
Oh, that’d be perfect considering Sappho’s close relationship with the Paphian Queen. Please let me know how it goes!
I’ll definitely be participating somehow, though I don’t have a statue/altar currently, so it will have to be a bit different. If I have the time to finish it in time I’ll try to make a painting for her instead. The idea of a global ritual is just lovely. ^^
Wow, I can’t think of a more perfect offering than doing a painting for her! I do hope you’ll share a picture of it when it’s finished.
[...] to Aphrodite. An offering I had wanted to make a musical offering. I decided to participate in the Rhodophoria festival because hey, I like the idea of celebrating something globally for once, even if it is [...]
[...] to my good friend Sannion’s calendar, today is the Rhodophoria. This isn’t a festival that I have celebrated previously, nor is it one that I had originally [...]
[...] A little prayer for Aphrodite in this festive time. To learn about Rhodophoria. [...]
Had a beautiful time at our Rhodophoria celebration today – here are a couple of pictures from the event:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v196/harmonyfb/Rhodophoria%202011/
this link requires a password…
Argh! That’s supposed to be a sharable link. Stupid photobucket! ::kicks it::
Looks like it defaulted to ‘private’, so I’ve re-set it. Try it again.
The 3 photos were lovely.
[...] own rituals to honor the Golden One on that day. As you can see, close to a dozen folks chimed in here with their plans and I got equally that many who wrote to me privately. In fact there were so many last minute [...]