Wine festivals

For the Athenian of the 5th century bc, festival days in honour of the gods at set times of year gave the sort of relaxation now provided by weekends. Many of them were associated with wine drinking, vine-growing, and the harvest. The most important of these, the Anthesteria, in honour of Dionysus, celebrated the opening of wine jars in February to test the new wine. It included processions and ritual wine drinking contests and was probably closest to the modern idea of a wine festival. None the less, at the heart of the festival was the serious business of the dedication of the new wine to Dionysus.