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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 53, lines 5–7 · Crying euoi in the circling seasons
53.5
The Orphic Hymns 53.5 · Crying euoi in the circling seasons
When the feast comes round again, the god wakes, sings with his nurses and leads the dances.
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δʼ1
d’
And
you
αὐτὸς2
autòs
yourself
, ἡνίκα3
hēníka
when
ἐγείρῃς4
egeírēis
you rouse
τὸν5
tòn
the
τριετῆ6
trietê
three-year
κῶμον7
kômon
revel
πάλι8
páli
again
, τρέπεαι9
trépeai
you turn
εἰς10
eis
to
ὕμνον11
hýmnon
songhymn
σὺν12
sỳn
with
your
ἐυζώνοισι13
euzṓnoisi
well-girdled
τιθήναις14
tithḗnais
nurses
, εὐάζων15
euázōn
crying euoi
τε16
te
and
κινῶν17
kinôn
stirringsetting in motion
χοροὺς18
choroùs
the dances
ἐνὶ19
enì
in
the
κυκλάσιν20
kyklásin
circling
ὥραις21
hṓrais
seasons
. And you yourself, when you rouse the three-year revel again, you turn to song with your well-girdled nurses, crying euoi and stirring the dances in the circling seasons.
And you yourself, when you rouse the three-year revel again, you turn to song with your well-girdled nurses, crying euoi and stirring the dances in the circling seasons.
Interpretation
And you yourself, when you rouse the three-year revel again, turn to song with your well-girdled nurses, crying euoi and stirring the dances in the circling seasons.
The god does what his worshippers do: he cries euoi, the ritual shout of the Bacchic rites, and sets the dances going. His company are his nurses, the nymphs who reared the infant Dionysus. The Iliad already knows them; it tells how King Lycurgus chased "the nurses of raving Dionysus" down the holy mountain of Nysa. Here they are "well-girdled," an epithet Homer gives to women, and the same well-girdled nurses keep the night watch with Silenus in the next hymn.
53.8
The Orphic Hymns 53.8 · Come with a beaming face
The prayer: come to the rite, the god of green and ripening fruit.
· · ·
But, blessed one, green-fruited, horned, fruitful Bacchus, come to the rite of all the gods with a beaming face, teeming with holy, full-ripe fruits.