#adonia

[arodude]

An old piece of one of my witch characters.

[poedandruffsnorter]

Some adonia bassel stuff for animation practice

[sylviaplathreincarnate]

The weather where I am is miserable atm but I’m excited to celebrate Adonia when it gets warmer!!

[ironmaidenhead]

the reign of the phallus: sexual politics in ancient athens by eva c. keuls

[mikeybooch]

Aphrodite & Adonis 

This illustration was inspired by a mirror at the MFA in Boston depicting Aphrodite shielding Adonis with her veil. The scene in the mirror has more urgency to it, but I wanted to convey something a little more playful and romantic. 

There are many versions of this myth, particularly in the manner in which Adonis is killed. He is usually killed by a boar during a hunt, but who sends the boar and (in some cases) who that boar is, is up for debate. In some versions, it is Artemis sending a boar to take revenge on Aphrodite for killing one of her favorite mortals Hippolytus. Sometimes, Artemis tells Ares of Aphrodite’s affair and he turns into a boar and kills Adonis himself. Sometimes the messenger is Persephone, jealous that Adonis is spending his time with Aphrodite. After his death, Aphrodite created the anemone in his memory. In Ancient Greece, women would celebrate the Adonia in honor of his death. They would create small gardens which they would place on the roofs of their houses where the gardens would soon wither and die. Women would then publicly engage in ritual lamentation at the passing of Adonis on behalf of Aphrodite. 

[starofmithras]

The ancient custom of reviving Adonis, a young god of beauty and vegetation, was a widespread ritual in the Near East and Mediterranean world, often associated with the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth. It involved mourning his death, followed by celebrations of his return or revival. This ritual was often linked to spring festivals and agricultural cycles.

The myth of Adonis, a beautiful youth loved by the goddess Aphrodite, is central to this custom. His death at the hands of a boar was mourned, followed by his eventual resurrection or return.

Rituals included lamentations, usually by women, and in some places, the symbolic burial and then retrieval of an image of Adonis. In other places, the ritual might involve a young man taking on the role of the god; he would lay on the ground, mimicking death. After ritual mourning provided by onlookers, he would rise to his feet and be crowned with a floral wreath, symbolizing the god's return.

The myth of Adonis' death and rebirth, as well as the revival rituals, are often interpreted as reflecting the cyclical aspect of nature, particularly agricultural cycles. The winter months represented a time of death and decay, while the spring brought the revival of life and vegetation, represented by Adonis' return.

The Adonis cult, or variations of it, were practiced in Phoenicia, Greece, and other areas of the Mediterranean and Near East. These rituals were sometimes incorporated into broader spring festivals and fertility rites.

Art: "Venus and Adonis" (1729) by François Lemoyne

[progenitrix]

i also want to give my two cents on something!

i, truthfully, do not think that with reconstruction you have to celebrate festivals on the exact date they were in Ancient Greece if you know the cultural context as to why they were celebrated then.

Let’s talk about Adonia - my fav holiday.

its origins lie in Mesopotamia - originally brought over to Greece through the modern day Levant and Cyprus. The cults of Ashtart and Tammuz likely brought those festivals into greece to mourn the death of Tammuz and his descent.

These were held in Mesopotamia around the late spring/early summertime. the land would become extremely hot, barren and dry. Since Dumuzid was a god of fertility - this was connected to his death as fertility was draining out of the area.

Now, Adonia, due to the climate of Greece being different than Mesopotamia - was set a bit later in the summer and shifted to acclimate to the Aegean climate. The weather being that dry and hot was incredibly important to the rituals taking place.

now - i live in florida. Central Florida. We are wet as FUCK.

i am going to do Adonia most likely in the next coming weeks as we shift into Summer. Late May is one of our hottest and driest times of the year here, and as florida gets deeper into summer - it gets wet as fuck.

as long as you know the context, there really is no reason you shouldn’t shift and acclimate to where you live. i am working with a fundamentally different continent and climate than the ancient Aegean and im trying to build a relationship with this land. When i am doing festivals tied to nature - i filter it through the perspective of the land and how it functions.

[percymmon]

Adonia