This one’s for all my greek mythology fans and for all the rest of you, fret not! This tale is fit to be loved by all. It’s a tale of the sillest God in all of Olympus. He’s probably the first “chill guy” to have ever existed. You know the effortlessly cool, always down for whatever guy everyone wants at the party. I can practically hear all my greek geeks chanting his name. Dionysus! He was one of the million children of Zeus, and by the way he wasn’t always as cool and happening as you’re led to believe.
You see, like all siblings the rivalry was real except here it’s with God level skills. Crazy competitive right? Tell me about it, and there admist all the greatness and power stood our man Dionysus, with not a title to his name, not a single battle won, oh! what a shame. Dionysus would quite literally loiter around looking for a purpose. He wandered with satyrs and nymphs, who basically were chaos-loving forest dwellers. One hot afternoon on Mount Nysa, Dionysus noticed a vine. The berries were tiny and purple and looked too tempting. A Satyr didn’t resist the urge and picked one and tried it. Immediately he made a face like he’d bitten into disappointment. Curious, Dionysus plucked one and squished it between his fingers, the juice splattered all over a rather angry nymph’s face. To Dionysus’ surprise, she didn’t yell. She giggled and said “it feels tingly.” He took many of these berries back to his “lab” which was actually just a hollow tree trunk. He threw the berries in and made the Satyrs jump up and down to squish them. He poured the juice in a carved out log for later and then guess what? Obviously distracted Dionysus forgot all about it.
Days later he returned to find the log oozing foam. Dionysus shrugged and began drinking it. The Satyrs and nymps whispered among themselves, “is he mad?” “It’s bubbling, bubbling is never good.” For one whole second the air was quiet, not a sound was made, and the next? Cackling. Dionysus laughing a great victorious laugh. The laughter didn’t end until ofcourse a nymph punched him to his senses. They all asked “is it good? Is it really that good?” “Try for yourselves” he exclaimed and poured wine for them all. Chaos erupted, there were Satyrs dancing, nymphs rolling in the grass, singing dramatically. Oh but this wasn’t chaos, no not to Dionysus. He felt like his drink had power, not to create chaos but to make people feel more deeply. He shared his drink with everyone and the world went mad. Dionysus found his purpose and gained many titles for sure but the world changed. He gave people a temporary escape from sadness. The poets wrote deeper, people danced without shame. All because Dionysus squished a berry that hit a nymph’s face.
Author’s note: There are too many versions of how Dionysus discovered wine and I never know which to believe. This is how it happened in my head 😉
Picture credits: Pinterest, Cassia.
