Page:The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).djvu/21

.] These twin festivals, held each spring and winter throughout the Attic villages, were the original home of the Greek drama. In character they were simple rustic gatherings, drawn together in honour of the god who blessed the labours of the countrymen, and made the earth fruitful and productive. The proceedings began with a procession to the altar of Dionysus, where a goat was sacrificed. A country maiden led the way, adorned with golden ornaments, and bearing on her head the sacred basket, containing an offering of cakes, a chaplet of flowers for the victim, and a knife for the sacrifice. Other people followed with rural gifts, such as grapes, figs, and jars of wine. The phallus, the universal symbol of Dionysus, was carried aloft. During the sacrifice dances and songs were performed in honour of the god of the vineyard; then came the country sport of dancing upon greased wine-skins; and the day concluded with general drinking and merriment.

In the Attic festivals of Dionysus, with their pastoral simplicity of tone, the Bacchic worship appears to have lost most of its oriental character, and to have been modified into conformity with Hellenic tastes. But this was not the case in every part of Greece. In many places the Asiatic origin of the cultus showed itself without disguise, and especially in Phocis and Boeotia, at the 'trieteric festivals,' which were observed every alternate year along the slopes of Parnassus and Cithaeron. The spirit of these celebrations was one of wild and ecstatic violence. They were held in winter, during