How do you feel about dressing up for Hellenic rituals?  Do you have special clothes that you prefer to wear for ritual?  Do you ever dress in garb inspired by the ancient Greeks?  Do you only dress up for certain occasions?  Why or why not?

In day-to-day practice I wear clean "street" clothing.  Occasionally I'll don a wreath when the mood strikes me.  I enjoy wearing ancient Greek inspired garb for some public rituals.  I feel it sets up the right mood for ritual, and, frankly, I enjoy it.  I'm a bit of a clothes horse, truth be told.  

If Laurelei and I get this Midwest Hellenic Fest for 2011 off of the ground I plan to wear garb for the duration of the festival.  I understand that there is a danger of appearing like I'm nothing but a faire re-enacter.  It is difficult to dispute that observation, but I see my desire to dress in garb as an impulse that comes from a deep love of scenes like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssYmVCLZw8,
and less from ones like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpkrq9-u67o&feature=related
*boggles* It's like the SCA for guys who love 300 a little too much!  

Glaux, I am in 100% agreement with you!!  its almost as if we are twins...LOL!!  so much so that the Rural Dionysia Gathering I am running this year I too will be dressed appropriately for the whole weekend!  

i also agree that it is not necessary but it is something I enjoy doing for the most part.  for daily worship i wear what ever I have on but for certain rites I will "dress up" as it shifts focus

Here in Australia Hellenic recon is still very much an uncommon path.  Many people here know the Myths and may work with the Gods in a Neo-pagan way but to actually let people learn about this magnificent path I have decided that the best way to introduce people to it is to give them a chance to experience it!  Last year I ran an Anthesteria gathering which was a great success but due to time constraints of having to hold 3 seperate rituals in one day we were unable to do anything by way of workshops etc.  So to change this, I decided to do a gathering with 1 main celebration were we could have an avenue to learning about Hellenic practices etc!

the gathering I am running is a 1 and a half day event from Friday afternoon- Sunday afternoon in June (winter time here).  I am planning an agora for the saturday morning and since most people who are attending are not recons but rather just pagan there will be a small variety of workshops based on Hellenic (and some Roman) topics.  So far there is a workshop which details deity Iconography and Gemmatria for the lay person.

The main ritual will consist of the men carrying a HUGE phallus in a procession which leads to an area where it will be set up (similar to a maypole) where we will make offerings, dance, sing, chant etc.  then the procession will lead to an ampitheatre where there will be several forms of entertainment such as singing, fire twirling/acrobatic display, drumming and even a short comedic play the we sojourn back to the main hall for feasting and drinking.

The venue has the BEST ampitheatre I have ever seen for a camp ground. so I am looking forward to it!!

I dont usually like using forums like this to find friends on facebook but if you (or anyone else of course) use FB feel free to have a look at the events page at http://www.facebook.com/khalkas?ref=profile#!/event.php?eid=192726584052 there isnt alot of information on there but it gives you an idea of whats happening!!  if by chance the Gods move mountains and you can attend, then I am more than happy to waive the entry fee as the cost of getting here would be too much  

Glaux and I have the same take on garbing for ritual. I don't feel like it is necessary, but it is a component I like to add for certain aspects of larger festivals.

I'm a "sensual" person, and by that I mean that I am a sense-based person. When it comes to ritual, I feel that it is very helpful to engage as many of the senses as possible. Special ritual clothing appeals to me both in a visual and tactile way. It helps me shift my awareness from the everyday in a way that wearing everyday clothing cannot do.

Does that mean that I have to wear a khiton? No. But they hang as nicely as any sundress, and I don't have to fuss with sleeves that catch on fire. They allow for good freedom of movement, and I can have one or two special garments that I only wear for special holidays.

I don't care much for modern clothing, nor do I like wearing "costumes". If I can't be nude, I prefer recreated period clothing, in natural fabrics which are more suited to both my taste and to the needs of ritual.
 Synthetic fabrics are an abomination the flesh.

Laurelei wrote on 03/13/10 at 04:58:02:


There are good reasons for taking a good look at natural fabrics besides keeping traditional occupations and skills alive.

For fun, some alpinists recreated the fabrics Mallory used in his effort to be the first to scale Mt. Everest.  They were actually lighter than a comparable synethetic fabric and every bit as effective.  Not only that, the tailoring was far, far better than contemporary gear mass-produced in Chinese factories.  That they are biodegradable is an improvement on Gore-Tex whose PTFE fabric--even if it does work--just doesn't decay in landfills.

Here's a case where traditional practices with archaic religious references might be revived to point out that not all prosaic modern technology is as good as its advertisers claim.

And so many of the ancient designs were practical as well as beautiful.

Aias wrote on 03/22/10 at 00:39:06:


And this is the dual-basis of their appeal for me.  

Designing clothes is also a kind of Art, and I feel very happy when I design and make something for myself that is strongly inspired with the antiquity (Roman-Greek) period...

I simply feel better wearing something that has the looks of these periods... And if something makes me feel good, then there must be something in it. Wearing such clothes is like a symbol of my spirituality and artistic inspiration.

And when I'm tying my sandals, I often think about Hermes and his sandals with wings. And then I think... May my sandals take me to the right paths today...