God of the Month: Dionysus

As ever, huge thanks go to Arlette and Triantafillos from Restaurant Paradiso in Agia Galini for helping us to come up with May’s God of the Month. There was a tough selection process - we discounted all female Gods for starters (it was a bloke’s turn this month), and eliminated Poseidon in the semi finals (this decision may come back to haunt us). We finally fixed on Dionysus (once again it was a very good lunch!). Dionysus is the ancient Greek God of wine who inspires ritual madness and ecstasy and supposedly frees you from worry (Editor says ‘that’s the one for me, then’!). Dionysus is known as Bacchus amongst the Romans but we’re not going to get Roman at this point, partly because our counting in Roman really isn’t terribly good, (we run out of fingers when we get to XV) but let’s not fret about this right now. Aside from the wine, he / she (there are a few gender issues on the go here) is the patent deity of agriculture (if you think about grapes, this might not come as much of a surprise) and theatre (this might be a bit more of a surprise). Dionysus is also associated with the bull, serpent, ivy and leopard skin (no comment, or at least not one that is printable).

But what about Dionysus’s parents? Well, Zeus, our all round Cretan weather God was dad, naturally enough. As for mum? Well, the stories vary - as you would expect with Zeus being papa. One story says that Dionysus was the son of the mortal Selene, another says that mum was Persephone, Queen of the Greek underworld. In any case, Zeus’s wife - Hera - was less than impressed with the new arrival, and much of Dionysus’s childhood was spent in hiding from her. Aside from that, though, compared to other Greek Gods, Dionysus’s upbringing was nothing out of the ordinary. Hermes was given the task of being the babysitter, Hermes then passed Dionysus on to King Athamas and Ino, who raised Dionysus as a girl. As a young adult Dionysus went mad for a bit, travelled to India, then found himself (as you do) and set about teaching people how to cultivate the vine. The rest is history (or mythology!).

Looking Further Ahead: Wine Festival and Renaissance Festival, June and July

Whilst we’re on the subject of wine…. The Rethymnon Wine Festival will take place between 21st and 27th June in the Municipal Park. As we reported last year, the Wine Festival has undergone a complete transformation from the ‘drinking jugs of barrel wine and dancing on the tables’ summer knees up it used to be. There will still be plenty of wine to taste and if last year is anything to go by it will also be a lot of fun. However, the emphasis is on showcasing Cretan viticulture and local produce. Throughout the week there will also be several cultural, educational and musical events running in parallel. Hopefully by the end of this month we will have details of the full programme so that we can bring it to you in our June edition. And as ever, we will update you online on our Facebook group wall with the details as soon as we get them.

It’s hard to believe, we know, but the dates for the Renaissance Festival have already been confirmed, too! This year the Festival will take place from July 12th - 27th (or 28th!). For those readers out there who don’t know about the Renaissance Festival, it is one of the highlights of the Rethymnon cultural calendar. The Festival is a fabulous combination of music, drama and art. It brings together some of the finest international performers of Baroque and early music. This along with theatre at the Fortezza and the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies make it a truly special event. You can read more about last year’s Festival in our July and August 2009 editions, and you will find videos of both the Wine Festival (2009) and the Renaissance Festival on Facebook on the Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle group wall (plus a link to follow for those who like to volunteer to help at the Festival). Next month, we hope to be able to give you the full programme, and hope to provide profiles of some of the performers.

Paradise Singers Come to Crete: June 5th

A date for your diary! The PARADISE SINGERS will be giving a concert in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Hania on Saturday June 5th at 8.30pm. This is the 'ad hoc' group of UK-based friends who have been to Crete twice in the past to work with Bob Scott (Kokkino Horio) for a week before putting on a concert of unaccompanied choral music. The programme will be a mixture, as before; some sacred, some secular, some serious, some funny and even 'a song from the shows' this time around! It is an interesting programme and your support will be greatly appreciated by Bob and the 22 singers. The concert, as usual, will be free although there will be a collection for charity if you wish to contribute. Please tell any friends that you think may be interested! Thank you. To find out more you can contact Bob Scott on 6944506554.