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Felix Ianuaria!

Today is the Roman festival of Ianus, which means I get to roll out my favorite Etruscan votive statue of Ianus once again for your viewing pleasure!

You can read a bit more about the history of this festival (and the others on this date) here, and you can read Ovid’s (and various other people’s) words on Ianus here, both from this blog last year. And, since I’m also feeling like this would be appropriate, here’s another “janiform” sculpture that is one of my favorites: the Corleck Head from Ireland, which I’ve seen in-person on a number of occasions:

It’s more or less impossible to know what being–whether god or something else–the Corleck Head represents, and there are no clear janiform figures in the surviving corpus of Irish mythic narrative…But, perhaps that’s somewhat appropriate to this occasion as well. The “looking forward while looking back” feeling that the new year gives to people is, by definition, a standing at a crossroads and an encounter with mystery–we can’t really know what’s on the horizon, we can only use what we’ve learned in the past to look forward to it, and toward it, and to face it, quite literally…And, it doesn’t really matter who we are or what our nature is in that process. So, Corleck Head, thank you for vividly demonstrating that for us on this day!

Today, in Ekklesía Antínoou terms, is also a festival celebrating the syncretism of Asklepios and Antinous–a syncretism that we have much less information on than many of the others, but which seems very likely to have been Antinous’ aspect as known in some locations. We have placed that festival on this day because of the Roman festival of Aesculapius (i.e. Asklepios), which took place on January 1st. The above statue is of a beardless Asklepios, which, while not unheard of, is nonetheless unusual–it does not depict Antinous in a syncretized Asklepian form (as the Silvanus relief of Antinous does, it being unusual to portray Silvanus as beardless)–and if I am not mistaken, such depictions did tend to occur in the second century CE and later. Is there a connection with Antinous and a vogue for younger, beardless deities due to his influence? Perhaps…but, one can’t ever really know. Thus, if you wish for healing in any manner, and you think Antinous can help, today would be a great day to reach out to him under this form and pray for whatever it is you desire in that regard.

Today is also the dies natalis sanctorum for two individuals. The first is Dr. Lorentz Henrik Segelcke Dietrichson, who was born on this day in 1834. (His death-date is unknown to me at present…if anyone has any further information on that, I’d be very interested in knowing it!) Dr. Dietrichson was a well-regarded Norwegian poet and scholar in medieval literature and history, particularly in Norway, and he was also involved in classical art scholarship as well. But, he is remembered in the Ekklesía Antínoou because in 1884 he published Antinoos: Eine Kunstarchäologische Untersuchung, one of the most important (and, if I am not mistaken, earliest) books solely on Antinous. I was fortunate enough to have had a copy of this book close to hand when I was in Ireland, as it was at my university’s library, and I pored over it a great deal. The line drawings in it are wonderful, and the collection of texts in Greek and Latin in the appendix have been invaluable to me ever since. Dietrichson’s study paved the way for nearly everything that followed it, and thus we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for holding Antinous up as a worthy subject independent of his role in the life and principate of Hadrian (though, of course, we should never forget his inextricable connection to Hadrian either!). I also just love this painting of him–he looks so interesting!

Today was also the dies natalis of Sanctus E. M. Forster, who was born on this day in 1879. Forster is a very well-known English novelist and writer, and he was associated with many individuals of note, including the Bloomsbury Group, and several other Sancti, including Siegfried Sassoon and Forrest Reid (whose dies mortis is in three days). He was a lifelong bachelor, but a closeted homosexual. His literary output was exceptional, and he certainly deserves to be remembered for it!

So, sing Ignis Corporis Infirmat, Ignis sed Animae Perstat for the Sancti Dr. L. H. S. Dietrichson, guide into the world of Antinous for over a century, and E. M. Forster, who advised “Only connect”!

This morning, I also went to the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America for the Hatsumoude (New Year’s) festival. This particular festival is, in certain respects, “not that interesting,” as it is the most basic Shinto ceremony there is; however, the first such ceremony of the year is considered auspicious, and one happens at the Shrine right at midnight. I was not able to make that one (as I have in several previous years), but I was able to make the first one at 10 AM this morning. Thousands of people–literally–will be going to the Shrine today and tomorrow for this purpose, so they have their work cut out for them!

One of the reasons I wanted to go, however, was that this is the Year of the Dragon (water), and I’m a Year of the Dragon (fire) person myself. They have ema (prayer plaques) depicting the animal of the year at the beginning of each year, and I wanted to make sure I got one, as they’re often gone by mid-January; they also have small ceramic bells in the shape of the year’s animal (which I got last year for the Year of the Rabbit to represent the Taoist Rabbit God). They often get these in advance of the new year, and I was hoping that the last time I was at the Shrine for the end-of-year purification that they might have already had them, but they didn’t. This put the kibosh on part of my plans for my Saturnalia wreath, for a complex set of reasons that have basically to do with inter-linguistic puns. The basic Chinese word for “dragon” is Lung–I’m not sure what it is in Japanese–which is interesting to me, because in Irish, the word long (which sounds more like “lung” in English than it does “long” in English) means “boat/ship,” and it’s an Old Norse loan-word, which no doubt comes from the Viking’s “dragon ships.” Isn’t that interesting? But wait, there’s more! So, being that dragons have names that connect them to ships, I thought that getting two of the dragon-bell figures would be perfect for the Saturnalia wreath to represent…the Lares Permarini! (Plus, the Serpent Path has various dragons in it, including the one that Antinoë followed in founding the city-state of Mantineia, and of course she’s Antinous’ namesake, so…!) It was a further way to integrate a number of things into my Saturnalia observances, including the Serpent Path, Shinto, and Irish (and Norse!) matters…but of course, Glykon showed up unbeknownst to me, so that took care of itself. However, now I have quite a little dragon shrine in the corner of my room, and I hope that this Year of the Dragon will be much better than my last one (2000 wasn’t bad, but it had its rocky moments).

Felix Ianuaria! Ave Iane! Khaire Asklepie! Ave Ave Antinoe!

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