Other than being a very sensual archetype, the giver of viticulture and viniculture is very obviously bound up in the early Christian development of the sacraments. The chalice, the wine, the dying and rising, all of it meshed very well with the imagery later employed by the Church.
The Dionysian Mystery parties of ancient Greece were not to be missed.
Hymns to the diety called "phallicae" were sung by throngs of half-naked revellers...accompanied by a procession of worshipers bearing gigantic..."ahem"...knobs...known as "phalos". Just imagine the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with lots more skin, drunk dancers, and ding-dong shaped balloons - and you'd be halfway there.
Underneath the very entertaining rituals, however, there was more than a desire to throw a naughty bash. The adherents of Dionysus were onto something that the contemporary Gnostic will no doubt appreciate. The festivities in honor of this god began in the woods by sacrificing a wild boar or hog. Curiously, pork was also roasted and offered to another dying and rising god - Osiris in Egypt. Pigs were not eaten by the Egyptians except in honor of their resurrected god. These traditions would make interesting dinner conversation the next time you slice the Easter ham at mum's house.
The hardcore followers of Dionysus engaged in a bloody supper of raw meat (not pork) after the main festival, finding deeper communion with the divine in the surreal banquet of warm blood, flesh and wine. It is difficult for us to imagine this scene, but we must consider the reasoning behind it. To eat the sacrificial flesh and blood was to consume the divine incarnate. "Sound familiar"?
Dionysus was beloved because he returned from death and gave the people wine. He was worshipped as the god who bequeathed a tool to break away from the usual, material existence and explore (admittedly drunken) paths to other worlds and other ways of thinking.
Given the sizable margin of victory in this poll, it seems that Dionysus' cult of wine, pork and smut continues to attract its fair share of admirers.
Source: http://pagan-space.blogspot.com
