Schedule
This year’s Lenaia Rite to Dionysos will be February 3rd, 2024. You are welcome to join us in-person at Cedarlight Center or on Zoom.
- 2:00 PM: Doors open to the public at Cedarlight Center.
- 4:00 PM: Zoom room opens.
- 4:15 PM: Pre-ritual briefing
- 5:00 PM: Imbolc Rite.
- 10 PM: Doors close at Cedarlight Center.
- Cost: $20.00 suggested donation.
Times are subject to change, please check our website blog, our Event Calendar or our Imbolc Facebook event for the most up-to-date information on the ritual.
Times are subject to change, please check before you leave.
We ask that those who are sick please stay home and join us through Zoom. Thank you for bearing with us through the last 4 years. Here’s hoping that the worst has passed but as we learned at Yule, Covid, the Flu, and other colds/viruses are very much in circulation.
***IF YOU FEEL SICK, PLEASE JOIN VIA ZOOM!
All are welcome to join us via Zoom.
Zoom Info
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 468 067 1478
Suggested Offerings
- Recite Orphic Hymns 30 or 45,
- Recite Homeric Hymns I, VII or XXVI (all to Dionysos),
- Recite modern hymns or of your own creation.
- Performance offerings of theater, poetry, dance, or song (see Chief Liturgist prior to ritual for approval)
- Seasonal foods/dishes: Grapes, fruit, but also warm dishes in crock pots to warm the belly.
- Incense, Flowers, & Herbs
- Libations ( wine, cider, fruit juice)
- Early spring flowers (snowdrops, crocus), seeds to be taken home and planted
- Bring a candle (decorated, if you wish) to be blessed by Dionysus and taken home.
Lore of the Season & Ritual Information
Prayer: Breaking old notions that no longer serve us and enter into the new year refreshed, renewed and reborn
Deities of the Occasion
- Dionysus
Our hearth culture will be Hellenic. The main offering will allow participants to… , whether through performance, bringing a project to decorate the altar, and/or as a written note to be burned.
The high rite in February is based around the ancient Athenian festival dedicated to Dionysus called Lenaia. Historically, Lenaia was a 4 day festival in honor of Dionysus and his maenads (a group of women who followed the god and are associated with madness, sex and ecstasy) and included theater competitions, dancing processions and midnight women’s rites. We will be celebrating Dionysus and encouraging him as the Giver of Increase (Dionysus Auxites) and the God of the Grape Vine (Dionysus Staphylites) to awaken from his winter slumber to bring rejuvenation and creativity to all. We encourage revelry, cross dressing, dressing as maenads or satyrs, theatrical displays and other bardic offerings. By inviting Dionysus into our lives, we hope to break old notions that no longer serve us and enter into the new year refreshed, renewed and reborn. In honor of the grape vine, we encourage wearing purple and green, but all colors are welcome. How do YOUR unique skills and experiences enrich our community? Let’s celebrate each other and our roles within the whole. All that we do in service is valued and appreciated.
Please dress for the weather, purple and green colors are encouraged but all bright colors would work.
Children and Pets
Children are welcome to all CedarLight events, but small children must be attended at all times because our center is not child proof, there are stairs, fires, candles and small items that could be swallowed. We do not yet have children activities planned for this event however that can change if we know they are coming.
Pets however, are not allowed because we have learned from past mistakes that not everyone knows how to approach an animal and not every animal will behave predictably with many strangers around. Thank you for understanding. Service animals are, of course, welcome.
PLEASE NOTE: We take oaths very seriously. Any oaths given as an offering MUST be cleared with the Senior Druid prior to the High Rite. Please see Sean-Paul or Caryn upon arrival if you plan on giving an oath.
What to Bring
Other than what was discussed above, please bring a dish (4 to 6 servings will be plenty!) to share for the post-ritual Revels. ** We have folks with severe allergies and food sensitivities so a list the ingredients if available is much appreciated.**
Suggested Seasonal Food:
- Warm Stews and Foods to fight the cold
- Dairy-based Dishes, Sides. and Desserts
- Greek Foods
- Anything Seasonal!
There are cans of sodas and bottled water available at the Grove for $1.00 each. Feel free to contribute beverages to the Grove!
Please wash your dishes when you are finished eating and PLEASE take your leftovers home with you when you depart for the evening. We’d rather you take it home and enjoy it than throw it away!
Dress for the Weather if you are joining us at Cedarlight Center. The High Rite will be done outdoors (either in the Sanctuary or under our pavilion), and it may be chilly and damp. February weather can change drastically, so be sure to check the weather one last time while you are packing up your car to head to CLG.
If you have a chair you’d like to sit in during the High Rites, we suggest bringing that too, though some plastic outdoor chairs are available on site.
Ritual Etiquette
- Do not honor deities of different pantheons than those being honored at this rite
- PLEASE KEEP YOURSELF MUTED ON ZOOM unless you are giving an individual invocation as part of the liturgy or performing a praise offering. Group call and responses should remain muted unless otherwise requested by the Chief Liturgist. Attendees who continually disrupt the ritual with background noise because they are unmuted will be removed from the Zoom room.
- Offerings will be mainly given in silence as a group, but if you have something you wish to say, sing, or recite, let the Chief Liturgist know ahead of time so they can make time for your offering
- Do not declare any oaths during the rite without expressed permission from the Chief Liturgist well before the rite
After Ritual
If participants wish to hang out after the rite, the Zoom room will remain open for socializing. Feel free to bring dinner and make it a virtual potluck! We won’t even nag you about washing the dishes!
Cost/Donations
All CedarLight events have a suggested donation of $20 per person. This can be contributed to Dagda’s Cauldron either at the Grove, or online via paypal to cedarlightgrove@gmail.com. All donations go towards CedarLight Center bills and upkeep, or to a designated charity as specified for an event.
