Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Dionysus, the god of college merriment?

I don't always follow Wikipedia, but I love their description of Dionysus: the god of wine, parties, festivals, madness and merriment. That kind of describes a drinking crowd, I suppose. I thought I had read once that one of his descriptions was the god of intoxication as well, which makes sense given the others. He originally came about to celebrate the harvest of the vine. However, I have started to wonder if we were to worship the Greek gods today that Dionysus might be popular in the college crowd.

I know in our state, some schools are known as being the "party" school. What I also find is it depends on the location of the survey for which school is classified as such. What I tell people is that it is a part of any college culture. First time out of the house and kids sort of lose control for a few years. The hope is that they don't go too crazy and that their upbringing will ultimately control their decisions.

When I went through college, I did find pockets for the academics, where I stayed…but I have never promoted myself as anything but a nerd—in fact I proclaim it as a strength. I suppose my crowd would worship a different god in my scenario.

As a god Dionysus is appealing, much like the objects he oversees. But, I think it is good to notice he is in charge of celebrating a harvest. But, like all aspects, it can quickly turn to madness...and, I find, shortly followed by regret.

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