#feast of dionysus

[liberalsarecool]

Conditional outrage and performative politics of the perpetually aggrieved and petty 'christians'.

"... you are not serious people." - Logan Roy

[ambro-xia]

If you got mad about the Olympics opening ceremony ,kindly unfollow me or block me.

It wasn't the last supper, it was a dionysian feast.

Here are some comments I saw, and my answers:

"But, but the last supper photo!"

not only Jesus owned along table yknow...

"Turned it into a drag show!"

You are telling me dionysus isn't the God of the theys and gays anymore?

"What does that even have to do with the Olympics??"

Please, please use your tablet time for something better. Read a book.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Feast of Dionysus was what they were intended to convey, NOT The Last Supper.

[amagnificentobsession]

Dearest Gentle Reader,

I’m about to step on some toes in regard to the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics.

The headless woman was Marie Antoinette. She ruled over France and was found guilty of treason, conspiracy, and stealing from the country.

Sound familiar?

Also, it was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise!

And if you didn’t know, a Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. The parties often spanned several days which honored the god of wine, Bacchus (the blue guy covered in grape vine). He is also known as Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure.

And finally, it was not Death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, Goddess of the Seine, the River in which the boat precession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana.

Loosen the clutch on your pearls.

Yours truly,

Lady Francis

••••••

@i-dream-of-sheeny anything I’ve forgotten my dear?

“Paris is back on its feet, jubilant, flamboyant, creative and open. Free,” - Thomas Jolly, the artistic director.

[themysticgeek]

I've seen the reactions to the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony. If you're feeling emotionally activated or think, "OMG, they just mocked The Last Supper," take a moment to breathe, ground, and allow those feelings to move through you.

When we perceive things that we hold dear to our sense of self as being challenged, it can lead to a minor inner crisis. So, I get the visceral response.

For those of us raised in the United States, Christianity is so baked into our society that we sometimes see it as the "default" for our culture - even when we're supposed to be a melting pot/salad bowl of people who are free to follow whatever religion they want (or no religion, even!)

For your information, Dionysus is the god of wine and celebration. His mythos involve things like his body being consumed, death, and rebirth - elements that we see in other religions (including Christianity)

The strong response toward the Olympic opening ceremony shows more about the offended than the thing that caused the offense. Some Christians viewed an artistic performance that used motifs from other religions and cultures through the lens of their own worldview rather than trying to understand the overall context.

This is why a nation that espouses freedom of religion needs to be open to education about a multitude of religions, not just Christianity.

[mother-fluffing-queen]

I have terrible news for Christians. Not everything is about you.

[bittyinchrist]

Fellow Christians, please listen.

I’m sure you’ve all seen this from the 2024 Olympics in Paris:

Lots of conservatives are mad. Republicans, Christians, the like. Why? Because they believe this is mocking The Last Supper.

I’ve been seeing a lot of information to debunk this, saying that this is supposed to be the feast of Dionysus from Greek mythology. They’re saying that the Christians are mad because “they’re seeing that they took something from somewhere else and claimed it as their own” or something similar.

However, what they are saying as I’ve looked, is that what Christians took was the PAINTING of the Last Supper, not the scripture about it in the Gospels.

Here is the Last Supper and Feast of Dionysus paintings side by side:

My point is, that people are NOT saying that the Last Supper ITSELF was made up (some think the whole Bible is a lie but that’s not relevant here). They are saying that we appropriated the painting from the one about Dionysus.

Have a good day, Christians and everyone else who sees this :)

[i-merani]

My two cents about the whole Olympics Dionysus feast being interpreted as the last supper is that, as someone who grew up in a very christian nation and christian culture, I would never in a million years, look at a big blue man with bright beard rolling in fruit and go "they are mocking the Christ". It would never cross my mind because why would I think about my god when seeing something that's so out of pocket? I would never insult my religion and my god like that (speaking from a christian's point of view).

As a christian, if you saw all that and thought of the holy jesus and the last supper, I truly think your mind is a little bit twisted and you don't really respect your god to be seeing him in something so vulgar. (Because you denounce it as vulgar right? Yet you saw it and saw your god in it? Have you no shame?)

These religious people crying that the olympics was insulting christianity are the ones who are actually insulting it because it is them who saw something holy in something so "vulgar". Is your religion so vulgar now, that you see your god in a naked blue man surrounded with fruits? And as a Christian, I would accuse you not only of hypocrisy but of blasphemy. Who's the sinner now?

[aleck-le-mec]

For a culture so heavily built on iconography you’d think they’d recognize the blue guy in the center of the table isn’t Cristian nor Catholic.

[auratale]

Okay, first of all, the group that performed at the opening to the Olympics did not portray "The Last Supper." It is clear as day that it is the "Feast of Dionysus" to me, and I'm surprised that people think it resembles "The Last Supper."

For one, there are far more people in the Feast of Dionysus opening performance than in the painting of the Last Supper. And for another, there is direct posing purposefully done in the "Last Supper" that is not at all displayed in the performance. And lastly, the man of the hour himself, Blue Man, aka Dionysus.

Second, even if they were parodying the work of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper", it wouldn't even be as offensive as other parody portraits that have been made by other people, like Adi Nes or David Lewis.

To be honest, da Vinci's "Last Supper" is offensive in itself as it portrays Jesus as an idol (which goes against the original preachings of Christianity that was essentially abolished during da Vinci's time due to the godlike status of the Church), and it also portrays everyone in the supper as white. I don't fault Leonardo for this though, he may have never even met anyone from another race... but I'm sure the people in power were certainly finding joy in eradicating the image of Jesus being anything but white back then.

Now let's come to today. We have a guy who is in his 80s that is being depicted clear as day as the messiah, who's image is erasing even the white face of Jesus from 1000 years ago. A man who is absolutely one of the most offensive people to walk this earth this millennia is currently getting his face plastered on Jesus imagery everywhere he walks. Donald Trump has dozens of portraits of him being Jesus, some being sold for auction at ridiculous prices. But some Drag Queens on stage performing "Feast of Dionysus" is offensive for "mocking" the "Last Supper" when it clearly isn't!?

This is absurd and is just more hate against drag people, and it's ridiculous to think that these same people are okay with Jesus trump portrayal.

[kyriefae]

*This is a TL;DR maybe trauma dump kinda post so fair warning. 😉

I have been no-contact with my parents for about a year and a half now. I'd say in that time I've found peace I wasn't affording myself before and I hadn't consciously been able to figure out why. I held on to a sense of guilt and obligation they imbedded in me; indoctrinated into my brain.

I let them go at the age of 32.

I let them know my reasoning but I also note on here a very important thing they were and will likely never know: they don't know I'm nonbinary and they don't know I'm bisexual.

Their acceptance isn't something I crave because I have long since lost it. I've grieved it's loss a thousand times over; many sleepless, tear-filled nights wore away at the desire to feel their acceptance like rain to stone.

It started with "Mom, Dad...I'm not Catholic" at 16 and snowballed from there. The amount of therapists and counselors and priests they sent me to and the sheer distance emotionally they created with me had profoundly negative consequences on our relationship. Not to mention the heightened sense of awareness I began to note as to how much they wondered or cared about my preferences or my day or my thoughts on things. They established a power dynamic and believed they could throw money at the problem; but their "problem" was me. A non-dogmatic child.

I say all of this to build at least a semblance of context around the significance that a couple of days ago, I re-downloaded the book of faces to my phone. I generally don't care to use the app but friends of mine remain connected through messenger. Anyway, my mother reblogged the prototypical Christian supremacy thought line on the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Specifically the part where she and so many other people, fueled through hatred, see a drag showcase of the Feast of Dionysus and think of it as an abomination unto her lord.

...

It's a quiet pain.

Quiet because I expected as much but I know now I was correct. Correct to preserve myself. To look after my own safety; to walk away.

...if she'd heard her youngest child who staunchly accepts agnosticism is ALSO "one of those queers" well ...she'd have a downright panic attack. The phone calls I would receive alone would send me into a spiral. Instead...I know where I stand. I know where she and my father and my siblings stand.

Over there in their echo chamber of heteronormative, god-fearing obligations, duties, and restrictions. Atop their pedestals looking down upon the rest of us that live our lives in every other sort of manner.

While I'm over here. Loving the beauty that exists out there in the world and genuinely moved by what I've been seeing these Olympics. Especially the opening ceremony.

Gojira!? Are you kidding me? I fucking love them. Whales are in the sky!

If you've read this much, know that I'm sending you the positive vibes I plan to instill in my day. You're included and you're valid. 💞

Kisses.

[dowsingfordivinity]

The Feast of Dionysus

I’m having so much fun trolling people who found the Feast of Dionysus at the Olympics “shocking”. Like, what is wrong with people? If you look at photos of the event, it’s quite clearly Dionysus and the other Greek gods of Olympus, unless you’re completely ignorant of Greek mythology, or you assume that absolutely everything is related to your religion because you’re so incredibly ignorant of…

[sittinwithyou]

FRFR, the fact the the whole video of the 'Feast of Dionysus' from the Olympics isn't available at a casual Googling says a lot about the still INSANE power of religious people complaining.

No wonder they make wars so easily.

[themysticgeek]

I finally had a chance to write down my thoughts on this in long-form. You can read the full thing on Medium.com at https://medium.com/@the-mystic-geek/the-olympics-opening-ceremony-a-pagans-perspective-2b3d101aecd7

[evilios]

"If someone doesn't want to come to Dionysus [to worship him], then Dionysus comes to them" is a terrifying way to phrase the concept of Dionysus being the force that changes the space around in order to change the person.