Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Modern Dionysia

In college I took a class on Greek tragedy and our professor confessed to us that he had originally planned to introduce himself and the curriculum by sticking phallic symbols to sticks and parading in to class with them. No, he wasn't a pervert, but instead a bit of an eccentric who sought out ways to creatively teach literature. The aforementioned ritual was associated with the Dionysia in ancient Greece which payed homage to Dionysus, the god of the vine.  

The ancient Greeks had a love hate relationship with Dionysus. He brought joy and merriment to his followers but also destruction and chaos. None the less they worshiped him each year in a festival called the Dionysia that involved dancing, singing and drama and apparently a procession of phallic symbols on sticks.

While we don't worship the pantheon of Greek gods anymore, Dionysus included, perhaps we can find a modern day equivalent to such rituals in daily life. While it is a bit of a stretch the "Wine Walk" I went to yesterday was a celebration of the vine, complete with food and music. It would be cool if they would also preform Oedipus or Antigone complete with a 50 person chorus, but I think that might be a little weird for most patrons.




The town of Claremont has many colorful boutiques and shops to visit which always makes "wine walking" a pleasure. One of my favorite places is a cute old fashioned ice cream parlor and candy store which serves wine infused sorbet. In Southern California it is still 90 plus degrees so the sorbet is a welcome treat after walking around in the hot weather.






The following pictures feature some of the architecture that I adore most in the village. I like how the first building is named the "Verbal" building, it must be quite loquacious! There is also an artist rendition of the building being attacked by UFOs!  Next is Claremont's historic train station, now a commuter light rail stop, followed by its city hall. Last, you will see Claremont's quaint multi-ethnic folk music shop, ripped right out of the 1960's and also a featured place on Huell Howser's California's Gold series.






Now on to the slightly more obscure. These various places/things piqued my interest while we were walking, although perhaps at this point I had a little too much vino. 


So many wigs to choose from! Which one is for me?


Why can't I have hours like this? Not coming to work when it is raining sounds like a great idea to me, although it doesn't rain that much here.


Random, unexplained hanging object. Not really sure what it is! It was in a restaurant's beer garden.




Gallery with local artist's work on display. I am not really sure what I am standing next to but it looks cool to me!


Climbing the stairway to heaven in: Dress: French Connection, Shoes and belt: J. Crew, Purse: J. Crew Tartine, Bracelts: J. Crew and ASOS

6 comments:

  1. A little gallery and store hopping, a little wine tasting - sounds like fun!

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    1. Yes, it was the perfect pairing of events for the evening!

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  2. great pics - walking around and wine? sounds like a perfectly civilized way to spend a day!! :)

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    1. Thanks phiphi! You are quite right about it being a perfectly civilized way to spend the day. I need to spend more days like this!

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  3. What an awesome idea! Boy, I wish our weather was nicer up here to do something like that! Your outfit is just lovely, as always. And i think I would've died of laughter had my college professor done something like that..

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    1. Yes, they have these at a few of the smaller towns in our area. Sorry to hear about your weather. You could always organize your own wine walk :)

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