Andrew Blade Bacchus (Βάκχος), or known by his Greek name Dionysus (Διόνυσος,) was the god of the harvest of grapes, the making of wine and the festivities that followed. Although he was only worshiped until 1000 BC, his influence is still very much alive in our culture. And again, as you might have guessed, he was seen as a male god with feminine qualities. “Aaaagh”, I here you say, “so he was gay.” Maybe stretching it a bit, but yes he was always portrayed with flowers around his head, naked, flapping and acting. Some even call him the god of the theater. He was definitely weird and there was something jolly, happy and gay (as in the old meaning of the word) about him. Sometimes he was portrayed as an older man with a robe and beard, but mostly he was seen as young, vibrant, womanlike and of course; naked.
Another interesting fact about him was his inability to be contained in the normal order of things. He would arrive late or early, but always just as he pleases. Nobody ever knew from hence he came or in what direction he will depart; south or east, your guess is as good as mine. He was foreign, different and without a doubt an enemy of all forms of normality, order and the status quo.
Since I know you do not read this article to better your knowledge on Greek mythology, I will come to the point. Do we need Bacchus to live, to live happily and to enjoy life? Do we need our god of the theater, festivities, wine and song or is life without it/him just as joyful? Personally I enjoy my drink (as you can imagine red wine, no less) and I enjoy it a lot. But........would it have been the same without? I doubt it, but let us think about it for a minute or two.
Negatively seen, how many car accidents could have been avoided without alcohol? Some say up to 40%. How many incidents of domestic violence would not have been there without our drinking god? Some say 70%. How many acts of vandalism, violence, crime, murder and rape were influenced by alcohol? Some say 90 %. So, in retrospect, wouldn’t life be better without this nasty substance that brings us all this pain into the world?
And yet, from a positive perspective, what would a party be without it? I need no better argument here, now do I?
I am struggling here. Is it better to have parties and vicious crime or better to have no parties and no crime? What would you choose? Silly question; what do you choose every day, every week and every weekend? Do you choose for alcohol and crime or soberness and peace?
Luckily for me, and I guess for you, there are something in between and it is called moderation. Firstly, boys and girls, this is not a sermon. I do not care what you do to your liver, your boyfriend and your car. I do however care what you do to my car, my health and my boyfriend. If you can not drink in such a way that you are not threatening my life, then you are too young to drink. For some of you, you are too young to drink even though you are eighty years old. If you can’t take your liqueur, take your ass home.
I always had this idea that you get only three kinds of drunks. Firstly the ones that get aggressive; you should stick to water and lime, love. Secondly the ones who get flirty, friendly and amusing; you may drink, but have a sober friend that tells you when is enough. I suggest it, because if you get flirty with my man, your consumption is making me aggressive, you might just end up in hospital. Lastly you get the ones who get sleepy; now you guys are allowed to drink as much as you can; sleep never killed anybody. So yes, drinking is a definite must for a lively party and no; without moderation it is not a party anymore.
Medically speaking, science confirmed the above long ago. People who drink in moderation lives far longer than those who drink too much and get this, longer than those who do not drink at all. Health fanatics, who stopped drinking, reconsider. Moderate drinkers are the party animals of the future; the rest of you will be long dead while we will still be sipping our wine.
Bringing me back to Bacchus, was he foreign because he came and he went away in an disorderly manner or were the party goers just too drunk to see him leave? Did he leave the party disorderly or was the old god just smart enough to go home when he had enough? I think the god of wine was not that disorderly after all; he just wanted to party forever.
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-Andrew Blade’s Weekly Cobra-bite-
Taken from Andrew’s Column in
The Gayly Mail
Cobragay
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