Way Down Under The Ground. The
tale of
Orpheus's journey through the Underworld has been retold so many times, on
stage, in
film. Tennessee Williams saw it as
Orpheus Descending.
Neil Gaiman took the myth on in the
pages of
Sandman. Today, we have
Hadestown, a new album from
Anais Mitchell. Mitchell recorded "Hades & Persephone" for a
previous release, but
Hadestown is a fully-realized
folk opera, five years in the
making, a collaborative effort featuring contributions from
Greg Brown,
Ani Difranco,
The Haden Tripletts and Justin Vernon (the voice of
Bon Iver).
[more inside]
posted by grabbingsand
on Mar 9, 2010 -
18 comments
Oprheus, is said to be the
founder of
The Orphic Mysteries, or
Orphism.
While in school most students are taught the
Theogony of Hesiod, but as in most religions, a differing account existed:
The Orphic Theogony, summarized somewhat in this short
video (
nsfw? abstract nudity). The
Orphic Reform to the
Dionysian Mysteries included vegetarianism, abstention from sex, and restraint from eating eggs and beans — which came to be known as the
Orphikos bios, or "Orphic way of life".
Initiation into the
Mystery school was needed to teach the
Road to the Lower World, through
Bone Tablets and
papyrus remnants of Orphic
Hymns. The Orphic Mystery has been seen as very similar to
other
religions.
(
scroll about 2/3 down the page or search for Orphics).
posted by ozomatli
on Feb 17, 2006 -
7 comments
