A Girl's Gotta Do What A Girl's Gotta Do
Every culture has myths about the creation, use, divine or demonic powers (sometimes both) of alcohol. And women have played a larger part in those stories than most people realize. In fact, according to Ian Lendler ("Alcoholica Esoterica"), "[T]he connection between women and beer is so strong that practically every culture with a beer-creation myth has a female god of beer."
In Aztec mythology, one story about the creation of pulque (a fermented drink made from maguey pulp) involves a god (Quetzalcoatl) who decides to create a drink that will make humanity happy. He recruits a young fertility goddess (Mayahuel) to help, but Mayahuel's grandmother comes after them and kills her granddaughter for leaving without permission. Instead of killing the grandmother in revenge and bringing Mayahuel back to life-the way I would have expected the tale to end-Quetzalcoatl just buries the remains and goes on his way. In time, a plant grows from Mayahuel's grave; humans gather the plant, use it in all sorts of ways, and eventually figure out how to make a fermented drink out of the sap. The version of this story that I found, in "Tales of the Plumed Serpent: Aztec, Inca and Mayan Myths" by Diana Ferguson, ends with the lines:
"And so Mayahuel did not die in vain, for from the plant that grew on her grave came the drink which banishes sadness, which makes the soul sing and the heart surge with joy, which releases us in laughter-as Quetzalcoatl had intended all
along."
(Other versions of this story exist, of course, and comparing them can be quite a lot of fun-and instructive.)
The Zulu have a goddess, Mwaba Mwana Waresa, a.k.a. Lady Rainbow, who handles agriculture, rain, and (a perfect mixture of the first two) beer. In Egyptian mythology, Osiris taught humans to make beer, but Hathor, a goddess, eventually took over as the Goddess of Beer. A woman is credited with discovering wine in the Persian legend discussed in an earlier article.
Prompts For Writers:
What myths and legends exist in your fictional world? And what do those stories say about that culture? Look up stories from other cultures in our world and rewrite them to suit your world, or make up your own. Keep notes for just one day on how many religious, folkloric, mythic, or other fantastic elements crop up in your surroundings and conversations; compare that to the descriptions in your world to see if you have enough depth and color. It doesn't take much; noting that someone has a cross over their door, or a statue of a saint by their fireplace, implies a lot without any explanatory back story. And don't forget about regional variations on the tale; villages and towns, even countries, could be at war for generations because they believe different versions of a single story. (Hmmm . . . why does that sound familiar? Well, never mind.)
A Holy Drunk
The early Greeks believed that "wine was the bringer of liberation and ecstasy" (The Story of Wine, Hugh Johnson), and saw intoxication as sacred; in the Great Festival of Dionysus, the celebratory antics involved men strapping on outsized leather phalluses and chasing the women around, all in a deliberately ridiculous fashion (or perhaps they were always just too drunk to make a serious attempt). In fact, our word "comedy" comes from the word komos: the traditional Festival dance around a gigantic phallus.
Old Norse mythology claims that beer and mead actually contain the essence of the gods. Japanese mythology refers to sake as "The Drink of the Gods," and in a Shinto ritual called O-miki, the presiding priest "drinks sake to imbue himself with the god-force." (From "Alcoholica Esoterica" by Ian Lendler)
Continued . . . .
Every culture has myths about the creation, use, divine or demonic powers (sometimes both) of alcohol. And women have played a larger part in those stories than most people realize. In fact, according to Ian Lendler ("Alcoholica Esoterica"), "[T]he connection between women and beer is so strong that practically every culture with a beer-creation myth has a female god of beer."
In Aztec mythology, one story about the creation of pulque (a fermented drink made from maguey pulp) involves a god (Quetzalcoatl) who decides to create a drink that will make humanity happy. He recruits a young fertility goddess (Mayahuel) to help, but Mayahuel's grandmother comes after them and kills her granddaughter for leaving without permission. Instead of killing the grandmother in revenge and bringing Mayahuel back to life-the way I would have expected the tale to end-Quetzalcoatl just buries the remains and goes on his way. In time, a plant grows from Mayahuel's grave; humans gather the plant, use it in all sorts of ways, and eventually figure out how to make a fermented drink out of the sap. The version of this story that I found, in "Tales of the Plumed Serpent: Aztec, Inca and Mayan Myths" by Diana Ferguson, ends with the lines:
"And so Mayahuel did not die in vain, for from the plant that grew on her grave came the drink which banishes sadness, which makes the soul sing and the heart surge with joy, which releases us in laughter-as Quetzalcoatl had intended all
along."
(Other versions of this story exist, of course, and comparing them can be quite a lot of fun-and instructive.)
The Zulu have a goddess, Mwaba Mwana Waresa, a.k.a. Lady Rainbow, who handles agriculture, rain, and (a perfect mixture of the first two) beer. In Egyptian mythology, Osiris taught humans to make beer, but Hathor, a goddess, eventually took over as the Goddess of Beer. A woman is credited with discovering wine in the Persian legend discussed in an earlier article.
Prompts For Writers:
What myths and legends exist in your fictional world? And what do those stories say about that culture? Look up stories from other cultures in our world and rewrite them to suit your world, or make up your own. Keep notes for just one day on how many religious, folkloric, mythic, or other fantastic elements crop up in your surroundings and conversations; compare that to the descriptions in your world to see if you have enough depth and color. It doesn't take much; noting that someone has a cross over their door, or a statue of a saint by their fireplace, implies a lot without any explanatory back story. And don't forget about regional variations on the tale; villages and towns, even countries, could be at war for generations because they believe different versions of a single story. (Hmmm . . . why does that sound familiar? Well, never mind.)
A Holy Drunk
The early Greeks believed that "wine was the bringer of liberation and ecstasy" (The Story of Wine, Hugh Johnson), and saw intoxication as sacred; in the Great Festival of Dionysus, the celebratory antics involved men strapping on outsized leather phalluses and chasing the women around, all in a deliberately ridiculous fashion (or perhaps they were always just too drunk to make a serious attempt). In fact, our word "comedy" comes from the word komos: the traditional Festival dance around a gigantic phallus.
Old Norse mythology claims that beer and mead actually contain the essence of the gods. Japanese mythology refers to sake as "The Drink of the Gods," and in a Shinto ritual called O-miki, the presiding priest "drinks sake to imbue himself with the god-force." (From "Alcoholica Esoterica" by Ian Lendler)
Continued . . . .
copyright 2009 Leona Wisoker
Leona may be contacted by email at the following address:
leona at leonawisoker dot com (no spaces, of course)
leona at leonawisoker dot com (no spaces, of course)
That Legendary Drunk:
The Mythology, Folklore, and Rituals of Alcohol
The Mythology, Folklore, and Rituals of Alcohol
