like dolphins, dolphins can swim

One of the devotional activities I do for the dead who belong to Dionysos is read accounts of their lives, whether they come down to us second-hand through the likes of Plutarch and Livy, or more intimately through votive dedications, temple inscriptions, funerary monuments and the like. After all, as Elie Wiesel observed in Night, “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”

Sometimes these readings bring tears to my eyes, such as this epigram for a divinely named deceased boy from Bithynia:

Dionysos, you cared about me, Dion, when I was alive; both when I danced with the boys and carried the nectar of Bromios at the symposia. But now I set you up beside my tomb, so that even when I am dead and in my future existence, even then I might see you. (SEG:Ecit. 34.1266)

Doesn’t that just hit you right there in the feels?

Sometimes they’re very educational. For instance, there was this honorary decree for a Lesbian from Methymna:

Since Anaxion, son of Anaxion, who was chosen as president of the chellestus, took all precautions that the sacrifices for the ancestral gods be performed and that the chellestus be run with all diligence, and in addition to all this he paid for the choral liturgy from his own funds, the organization voted: 1) to crown Anaxion, son of Anaxion, at the Dionysia before the image of Dionysos is carried around the theater; and 2) to announce that the chellestus of the Phoikeai crowns Anaxion, son of Anaxion, on account of his excellence and goodwill toward them, with a golden crown and inscribed statue; and giving to him and his descendants … (IG XII 2.503)

Temples, festivals, spectacles and public works were all maintained through the support of individuals from the community, and what we’re doing at Many Gods West is no different. It simply is not possible without you.

And so I’ve come up with a way to honor you for you benefaction.

We’re going to be putting together a little handout with some of the devotional poetry that will be used in the ritual as well as some literature providing mythic context and some promotional material on the thiasos of the Starry Bull – now on Tumblr as well as Facebook! – keeping the tradition of Bacchic evangelism alive. And, well, it occurred to me reading about Anaxion that we should have something celebrating our generous donors in this. So for a $50 contribution we’ll include your name or the name of your group and for $100 we’ll print a line of text for you. (Within limits, of course. Your money isn’t worth offense to Dionysos and his retinue.)

Additionally during the ritual while everyone’s off doing their free-form ecstatic worship I will approach the shrine and petition him to bless each of our contributors regardless of the level they were able to contribute.