Dionysian Feasts by Keazim Issinov
February is the month of wine and roses, with Valentine’s Day celebrated on February 14. This day is also when Bulgarians celebrate Trifonovden, a day focused on vineyards.
Many theories abound about the origins of winemaking. Scholars debate who first brought viticulture to the region of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. Some speculate that when Thracians populated the area, they brought grapevines, cultivated them, and began wine production.
What is less debated is that Trifonovden originated from spring-awakening rituals. Thracian Rozalii performed these rites in forests to celebrate Zagreus, the god of wine and fertility, more popularly known as Dionysus. People commonly associate these celebrations with Maenads, wild woman often depicted in a state of madness, who ripped animals apart and ate them raw.
That’s the god’s dark side.
Violence was not always the case in Dionysian celebrations, however, and a lighter side reflected ideals of life and transformation. One train of thought is that the god’s followers, consumed both wine and drugs to intensify their emotions. These substances transported them from a state of mind concerned with daily matters to one of euphoria. The worshipers danced wildly with others as a way of expressing their ecstasy as they transformed from one state of being to the next.
This continued until they obtained self-forgetfulness. It was only then that the worshippers could identify and unite with Dionysus. In this state they became beings who escaped into the world of nature.
Certain celebrations and rituals may have been performed during special phases of a man’s life. The god was there to ensure the transition from one phase of life to the next was a happy occasion.
Wine, in this situation, has been said to be a metaphor. In order to produce the drink, one must grow and prune the vines to ensure a bountiful crop. After being harvested, the grapes are crushed to release their juices, and finally poured into vats where, with time, they ferment into wine. The fruit must die to become something stronger and perhaps better. All these things reflect the transformation of those who participated in the Dionysian rituals.
Sources:
Henrichs, Albert. “Loss of Self, Suffering, Violence: The Modern View of Dionysus from Nietzsche to Girard.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 88 (1984): 205–40. https://doi.org/10.2307/311453.
Isler-Kerényi, Cornelia, and Wilfred G.E. Watson. “DIONYSOS IN ARCHAIC GREEK ART: A SUMMARY.” In Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding through Images, 209–34. Brill, 2007. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76w9x.12.
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