Lenaia, Maenads, & Thracian Tattoos

As some of you know, I celebrated Lenaia this past weekend, and part of that celebration was henna tattooing some maenad tattoos on myself as a devotional act to Dionysos. The process was both very easy and very difficult.

So, first, we do know maenads had tattoos–especially those known as Thracian. We see it in art of the time; we have pottery showing tattooed Thracians killing Orpheus, and in Dionysian ecstasy.

Step one went great! We know of tattoos!

Step two was to select and pick a design. Which is much harder.

See, the maenads with tattoos in pottery often followed a theme, but two depictions showed exactly the same design. Snakes, and animals in general, were common. So was the sun sign, interestingly. Sometimes, though, there were just arrow shapes going down arms, or checked patterns on forearms and legs. This could certainly just be an artistic choice, making figuring out the design even more difficult.

Finally, I picked my design. It was modeled off the two depictions below (with what I replicated is in pink); One snake, two suns on the ankles, one sun on my arm.

The first thing I realized was that this would be MUCH easier with the help of a friend.

The second thing I realized was, wow, I want to be a devotee of Dionysos.

And finally, henna is excellent, and I should do this for every holiday. (I already try to, but I often forget).

So, my results:

So, there it is! It was a little wonky, because I was hand doing henna on my own body, but I’m proud of the work, and now I kind of want these as real tattoos some day

You thought you’d seen the last of me but it’s Lenaia!!!!!!!

Hi!

I was gone. Life is chaos, the world is on fire, my body said “no.”

I return from my slumber to be very excited about Lenaia–it’s possibly my favorite festival of the year!

Lenaia is a four day festival, starting on the 12th of Gamelion (Janurary 15/January 16 at sunset) and ending on the 15th!

It’s in honor of Dionysos and the maenads, and is likely the origin of the Greater/City Dionysia! It stretches over the full moon/Dikhomenia too, which is wonderful and very Dionysian.

I’ll try to update and talk about it more over the course of the festival! So far, my plans are:

1. Henna historic maenad tattoos onto myself (I’ll provide details on those when/if I share them!)
2. A ritual on the 14th of Gamelion (full moon/Dikhomenia) with as many friends as I can find who are comfortable celebrating women-only festivals–I often half-joke that I’m a gyne only for festivals, and that definitely applies to the Dionysian ones!
3. Redoing my prayer beads/bracelet for Dionysos
4. Pouring Dionysos a libation (red vinegar)
5. Be gay, do crimes

Blessed Lenaia to all! Io Dionysos, and khaire!