“Silenus, whom the merry maids had raised upon an ass, rode along, holding a golden goblet, which was constantly filled for him. Slowly he advanced, while behind whirled in mad eddies the reckless troop of vine-clad revelers. You, reader, who are well educated and familiar with descriptions of Bacchanalian orgies or festivals of Dionysos, would not have been astonished by this. At the utmost, you would only feel a slightly licentious thrill at seeing this assembly of delightful phantoms rise from their sarcophagi to again renew their ancient and festive rites, all rioting, reveling, hurrahing Evöe Bacche!” — Heinrich Heine, Die Götter im Exil
That picture above is lovely…
Not surprisingly, the more fay-like depictions of, well, pretty much any deity really do it for me, personally.
And now that I think about it further, your mention of “goblins” above makes me see a further connection: Jareth (David Bowie) in Labyrinth was very much of that sort of character, both visually and otherwise…
David Bowie/Jareth as a syncretism of Dionysos…
Well, you know what they say: “Dance, magic, dance…”!
*smiles* Ever notice how often I post Bowie videos in a Dionysiac context? There are other reasons too, but largely it’s because of Labyrinth.