Myth Festival
From primitive to modern times, man has always stood in some awe of nature. The rising and setting of the sun, alternating light and darkness, the Myth Festival miracle of vegetation, all are awe-inspiring, cyclical events. Many peoples worshipped nature by building temples and holding ceremonies and sacrifices to appease it. The Greeks, however, brought the unknown divinity closer, and fashioned it in their own human image. They gave it a voice, passions, jealousies and kindnesses; they filled their surroundings with multitudes of both gods and demons, each of which had their own responsibilities and demands.
In the Myth Festival of other countries, one encounters fierce, remote gods representing fundamental values in the society, reflecting its needs and structure. For the Greeks, mythology was the story of everyday life. The gods loved and hated, fell in love and lusted after other people's wives, with mortals watching events curiously like well-intentioned neighbours, with perhaps an ordinary man's affection and admiration for a special friend. In the diaphanous light of Greece, the gods couldn't really have been different, and this was why in the 4th century AD a special law had to be passed to compel the people to convert to Christianity on pain of death. In Greece, it was very difficult to impose worship of a patient god who suffered insults and humiliations, went barefoot and refused the pleasures of the flesh that allow one to forget the day's tribulations. It was very difficult for such a God to replace proud Apollo, who was always dressed in the light of the sun, or Aphrodite who promised so much, not in some unknown future life but right now, or even Dionysus who urged his followers to express what they saw in their unconfessed solitary dreams.
Tag: Myth Festival
