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The House Dionysus Built: the Origin of the Contemporary Wine Club
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Dionysus, the Greek God of winemaking and wine, has been worshipped for centuries under many names, including the Roman "Bacchus." Followers in the Cult of Dionysus, the original wine club, began celebrating wine, libation, fertility, and the Male God's other charms as early as the 15th Century BCE. The Bacchanalia were legendary festivals held several times a year by his followers to honor the god with drinking and many other forms of debauchery that might pale the average contemporary American. Though the order was all but disbanded by conservative Romans and the rise of Christianity, various sects and allusions to the god of wine remain in wine clubs across the globe today.
There are a number of different levels of homage to Bacchus. The most common is including Dionysus as part of a wine club's name. Many local wine clubs name themselves things like the Dionysus Wine Society or even simply the Order of Dionysus. They are harmless and often constitute the kind of social drinking club that many people would find interesting. The primary goal of this kind of group is to find and enjoy wines with good people. Sometimes they are snoody and snobby and raise their noses at certain varieties or anything under a given price point. Sometimes they are just an excuse to drink great amounts of wine and see what fun ensues. The important thing with groups like this is to find one that matches a person's tastes and character - there are enough wine groups that there's no reason to be stuck with people and a style that is unappealing.
At the other end, neo-cults like the Revived Order of Dionysus do more than just drink a lot of wine and have fun. The leaders of this group do their best to make it the modern incarnation of the very group that caused the Roman senate to ban its Bacchanalia because of its utter debauchery. Various ancient sects of Dionysus worshippers also saw him as a god of many other hedonistic activities. Modern worshippers encourage their contemporary Bacchanalia to take similar form. Behind closed doors they, and followers with varying levels of belief in the actual deity and fealty to the idea of wine-loosened pleasure, pay full tribute to the god of wine and fertility.
Though most of modern society is not ready to embrace the latter form of reverence for Dionysus, contemporary wine clubs of tamer varieties offer many of the same experiences at a more palatable level. There is certainly something about humanity that wants an excuse to be a little irresponsible, to savor delicious food and wine in the company of like-minded friends who share those joys, and to feel like it is acceptable in the name of an ancient and once powerful deity.
Wine clubs can be many things, from simple social gatherings, to an opportunity to learn about the art and science of wine and wine tasting, to something much wilder. No matter what your goal is with these social mixers, there is sure to be a fun wine club to help you achieve it.
Modern Wine Clubs Tend to Be a Pale Imitation of the Greek Bacchanalia, But They Are Still Fun. Learn about Wines, Meet New People, and Drink Wine from wine.com.
Article submitted Thursday, February 09, 2012 & read 1 times.
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