Eros Day
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Eros Day is a holiday that celebrates passionate love and sexuality. On Eros Day, celebrants honor Eros, who is both a great and powerful God, according to classical mythology, and a little phallic planetoid, according to modern astronomy, as well as the Spirit of Eros, the idea of love and eroticism. The holiday of Eros Day is celebrated annually on or around January 22, when the planetoid 433 Eros is closest to Earth. The Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles, Californiais the primary temple of Eros Day celebration.
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[edit] Ancient origins
Celebrations of Eros, the God of Love and Life, were held in Ancient Greece perhaps as far back as 1800 BCE, most notably in Thespiae, as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries and in Athens where Eros shared a popular cult with Aphrodite. These erotic ceremonies and ritual gatherings continued until ca. 390 AD when Roman Christian Emperor Theodosius forbade the practice of all other religions except Christianity under penalty of death.
Ancient Festivals of Eros shared many similarities with the modern holiday of Eros Day, most notably a ritual coming together of people wishing to express their appreciation of and desire for the principles of love and lust in their lives. However, these early revels did not necessarily take place on or around January 22, as the planetoid 433 Eros had not yet been discovered by astronomers.
[edit] Modern origins
The modern holiday of Eros Day originated in the mind of Italian filmmaker, author and classicist Alberto Ferro, a.k.a. Lasse Braun. A longtime devotee of Eros the God of Love and Life, when Braun first learned about the planetoid 433 Eros and its January 22 proximity to Earth, he began honoring that date, though only by himself or with a girlfriend or two.
At the turn of the millennium, Braun introduced the idea of Eros Day to sex educator, therapist, talk show host and filmmaker Susan Block, a.k.a. Dr. Suzy. Together, they held the first communal celebration of Eros Day on January 22, 2000, with about 60 participants, at the Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences in Downtown Los Angeles, also known as Dr. Suzy’s Speakeasy. Festivities were broadcast live on the Internet at drsusanblock.com.
Since that fateful night, the Block Institute has celebrated Eros Day every year on the Saturday night closest to January 22, with anywhere from 10-300 people participating in person, while hundreds of thousands have shared in the festivities online. Eros Day, usually the biggest annual event at the Block Institute, is known for its high orgiastic revelry. Porn stars, professors, artists, musicians, swingers and scientists come from all over the world to participate in this “Classical Tribal Astrophysical Celebration of Love, Lust & Blue Values.” Participants wear togas, spacesuits, lingerie, tribal fetish wear, clown costumes or nothing at all. After Block welcomes the guests and explains the holiday to the uninitiated, there are various entertainments, music, art presentations, political satire and dancing, as well as sexual performances, from tantric rituals to spontaneous expressions of lust. Often, the Eros Day Prayer is recited as phallic candles are lit and held high by nude celebrants. In recent years, female ejaculation has been popular form of expression of the “Spirit of Eros Day” at the Block Institute on Eros Day.
[edit] Meaning of Eros on Eros Day
In the context of Eros Day, Eros is classical, astronomical and spiritual.
[edit] Eros the God
The Classical Eros, according to Hesiod’s Theogony, written around 800 BCE, is one of the four original Creators of the Universe, all of whom emerged from Chaos. The other three are Gaia the Earth Goddess, Uranus the Sky God, and Tartarus the God of the Dead. The fourth Great Creator is Eros, God of Life, Love and Sex. Eros blows the Breath of Life into all creatures, even the Gods. This is what Block refers to as “The Original Blow-Job.”
In other Greco-Roman myths, Eros is portrayed in more human form, a handsome, sexy, mischievous teenager with large wings and a potent quiver of arrows to pierce the hearts of paramours with desire. His closest relationship is with his beautiful mother Aphrodite, Venus to the Romans, Goddess of Love, Sex and Beauty. This more human Eros also becomes the husband of Psyche, Goddess of the Soul. Eros’ father is uncertain, in keeping with his swinging character; it could have been Zeus, Ares or Hermes or any one of his mother’s many lovers. Eros becomes Amor in Rome, and later, Cupid. Even later, Cupid is portrayed as a cuddly little angel, or a troop of cuddly little angels who fly around shooting their arrows of desire into the hearts of people everywhere to make them fall in love. These little angels even manage to make their way into the heart of Christianity through Valentine’s Day and other images of romance.
Representations of Eros as the original life force, the naughty young man with wings, and sweet loveable “Eros Angels” of all genders abound on Eros Day at the Block Institute. Though there is always one official “Eros” and “Aphrodite” for the night, there are many unofficial Eroses cavorting in wings and Aphrodites dancing nude in the celebrations. Other revelers dress up and portray other Greco-Roman gods and goddesses, such as Artemis/Diana, Zeus/Jupiter, Proserpina/Persephone, Hermes/Mercury, Dionysus/Bacchus, Thanatos (Death) and Pan.
[edit] Eros the planetoid
Eros Day celebrates the proximity of the planetoid 433 Eros to Earth. A planetoid is bigger than an asteroid, but smaller than a planet. The Planetoid 433 Eros was discovered by Carl Gustav Witt in 1898. It measures 25.3 by 9.1 by 8.8 miles, is shaped like a curved penis (though astronomers usually say it is shaped like a banana or a peanut), and spins on its own axis. It is especially intriguing to astronomers because, despite its large elliptical orbit, it comes closer to the Earth than any other body of comparable size, except the moon.
433 Eros is also one of the most elongated asteroid/planetoids in our solar system, “the better to penetrate our hearts,” says Block. A few years ago, NASA’s NEAR spacecraft made astronomical history when it swung into orbit around this little dildo-shaped planetoid, taking photos and movies of Eros in space, some of which reveal a heart-shaped depression about three miles long. Every year, around January 22, the Planetoid 433 Eros is at its closest distance to the Earth and its energy is strongest; this is when Eros Day is celebrated at the Block Institute and around the world.
[edit] Spirit of Eros
In addition to Eros the God and Eros the Planetoid, Eros Day celebrates the Spirit of Eros, an essential human drive that Sigmund Freud referred to as the libido. The idea, feeling or “Spirit" of Eros is our inherently libidinous drive to mate, to create, to produce and construct, as opposed to Thanatos, the Spirit of Death and the desire to destroy.
[edit] Eros Day stars and celebrations
The Stars of Eros Day are the people who play Eros and Eros’ Mother and Lover, Aphrodite (Venus). These people may be porn stars, schoolteachers, comics or models. Every Eros and Aphrodite displays different talents and personalities. They might sing or dance or ejaculate “holy water.” The only requirement for both Eros and Aphrodite is that they be completely nude throughout the celebration, except for a pair of wings (Eros) and a gold belt (Aphrodite).
Following is a list of former Eros Days, including the people who have played Eros and Aphrodite at the Dr. Susan Block Institute:
2000: The First Eros Day On this first Eros Day, Braun explained the meaning of Eros Day to Block and the guests on her show. Spontaneously, Block cast her guest adult actress and former Playboy centerfold Teri Weigel as Aphrodite and her husband Murrill Maglio as Eros. They performed an Olympian-style sex scene on the bondage cross surrounded by candle-holding Eros Day celebrants reciting the Eros Day prayer. Braun and Block co-directed the DVD about Eros Day 2000, the first official public Eros Day celebration.
2001: Eros Day Passion Play: Story of Eros & Psyche Norman Alexander Gibbs (one of the “Jive Brother” stars of the movie Airplane) played Eros and Elizabeth Smith (then a sergeant in the U.S. Army) played Aphrodite in Block’s Commedia dell’Arte-style Passion Play of The Story of Eros and Psyche, featuring Kim Mendoza as Psyche and Lasse Braun as himself: “Eros Man.”
2002: Intimate Eros Day This was the smallest Eros Day, with only Eros (Russell Johnson) and Aphrodite (Keisha) in the studio with Block and the tech crew. The lack of a crowd focused attention on Eros and Aphrodite whom Block directed in an intensely passionate sex scene. Braun joined the intimate celebration by phone from Rome.
2003: Eros Carnaval Eros Day 2003 marked the return to large Eros Day parties, and featured, among other festivities, the Wedding]] of Laura Moore and Jared Hoffen, performed by Block, a Universal Life Church minister. Braun joined the festivities by phone again. Eros is portrayed by two men, Elisha and Geoff, the Black and White Eroses. Actress Sara Sue Robertson played Aphrodite, wrapping and unwrapping herself in the American flag, starting an Eros Day tradition of erotic political satire.
2004: Eros Day Parade Singer and composer Regan, a.k.a. Mistress Selena Minx, reigned over the Eros Day Parade as Aphrodite, with Caddy as her frisky but devoted Eros. A large variety of erotic characters perform for Eros and Aphrodite who sit with Block on her bed, reviewing their artistic and erotic talents. A highlight was Regan as Aphrodite playing her harp in the nude.
2005: Eros Day Counter-Inaugural BALL Big D and Leila Swan, both stars of Dr. Suzy's Squirt Salon, played Eros and Aphrodite at the Eros Day Counter-Inaugural BALL, held on the same weekend as the United States Presidential Inauguration of George W. Bush, which Block’s Eros Day Ball presented as the inauguration of Thanatos, spanking and mock-torturing celebrants wearing Bush and Cheney masks. The Eros Day Ball was also an art opening for the erotic works of Jirayr H. Zorthian, featuring classical nude dances of the Nymphs of Zorbacchus. D and Swan made love practically all night long in Block’s bed as various celebrants joined or watched them. Swan initiated an Aphrodite tradition of female ejaculation, allowing some celebrants to drink of her “holy water.”
2006: Eros Day Circus of Sex Like a three-ring circus, there were almost always several events going on simultaneously, including clowning, erotic performance art, body-painting, female ejaculation, hula-hooping, drumming, spanking and bondage play. Adult actress and another star of “Dr. Suzy’s Squirt Salon,” Annie Body starred as Aphrodite with Brad Baldwin as Eros.
2007: Eros Day Operetic Orgy This was the biggest celebration thus far, with about 200 celebrants, with a very special mix of musical and erotic entertainments, including pure opera, political satirical operetta, rock and trance, as well as a candlelit Eros Day prayer and Eros Day Greetings from Jesus Christ. Performance Bartender Tulsy Ball was Eros and Nude Model Shay Lynn was Aphrodite. Though this Goddess of Love did not squirt, the tradition of female ejaculation as Eros Day holy water continued with at least three other Eros Day '07 celebrants, Annie Body, Tai Ellis and Kayla Raynes, squirting for Eros[citation needed].
[edit] External links
- Eros Day 2007: The Operetic Orgy Adult content
- Resist Thanatos! Celebrate Eros! Adult content
- Of Thee I Swing The LA Weekly
