We have talked about the history and culture of wine, but this is our first post about the religion of it. Because believe it or not, there are a ton of wine gods & goddesses of wine in various mythologies, as it was such an important part of every religion.
But of course, there is more to them then being associated with wine. A lot more.
Gods & Goddesses of Wine in Various Mythologies
Dionysus
He wasn’t just the god of wine. He was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking, ritual madness, and ecstasy. Yes, that sounds like a lot, but that is because he is from Greek mythology, which we all know tends to make things crazier than they should be. The same thing happened to Dionysus god.
The main thing about his lore is that he was way too kind. The god of wine traveled the world just to tell people how to make wine. And even though he was welcomed sometimes, others viewed him as an enemy at first.
But when people rejected him and got aggressive he still kept his calm. He remained relaxed even in the most stressful situations and showed kindness to the people around him. This way everyone learned to trust and learn from him sooner or later.
His journey ended when everyone knew how to make wine and he returned to the sky. People thanked him for the knowledge and remembered him in an interesting way. By getting drunk and singing. So if you are one of those people who likes to drink a little too much and let your voice out then now you have a reason to do so.
Honoring the God who gave all of us wine.
Varuni
She is from the Hindu religion. She is a goddess of wine and winning ways.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say about her, as Hindu doesn’t have a specific sacred book we could learn from. Instead, it has sacred texts where small instances are written about. But we can only learn so much from them.
One thing, in particular, is that she seduces people and makes them addicted to her (sexually of course). Mostly because of the wine.
Geshtinanna
She is a Sumerian goddess of wine. In her mythology gods didn’t have several things to expertise in, therefore she could only become the goddess of wine. Even though that’s only a small part of what she is actually good at.
She was an excellent brewer. But she didn’t only make wine, instead, she was the greatest at making any kind of alcoholic beverage. Beer, mead, wine, you name it. She was the one for you.
She is the equivalent of Persephone from Greek mythology. In her case she doesn’t marry the evil overlord, instead, she protects her brother, Dumuzid, who is pursued by demons from Kur (the Sumerian Hell). She agrees to take his place for half a year, only returning to Heaven for the other half. The Sumerians believed that when she was in Heaven the world became barren and dry. Thus causing the season of summer.
Liber
He is a Roman God. And of course, he is based on Dionysus. You might have already heard his more common name, Bacchus. While the god does use that name, Liber is the one that was originally given to him. He only started using Bacchus after he became infamous.
He is the god of fields, fertility, freedom of speech and wine. These all connect together interestingly enough.
First of all, he had an interest in vines and started learning about winemaking early on in his life. After that, he started promoting the freedom to drink and to do whatever people please while drunk. Here comes the freedom of speech and the fertility part. But even though he fought so hard for people to be able to speak it still turned out… Pretty anticlimactic. People aren’t really smart while they are drunk, so in these cases, he still ended up with a couple of idiots talking slurred nonsense.
Also, the god actually has a festive day called Liberalia March. It is on the 17th of March and if you are in the mood you can raise a glass to honor him.
Sesmu
Egyptians were not that famous for their alcoholic drinks, hence why this god is almost completely forgotten nowadays. He is the god of pressing oil and wines. Although, we only really care about the latter.
Quick trigger warning: Skip the next paragraph if you don’t feel comfortable with violence.
The god is an interesting god though. He is originally from the underworld, which is why people call him a demon god. His ways were a bit weird, as in the case justified dead he gave them red wine to drink. But if he ever crossed a wrongdoer he tore their heads off and threw it in a wine presser, squeezing out the blood as if it were grape juice. He used that to make his own wine which gave him strength and power.
Yeah, Egyptian mythology is pretty brutal. But thankfully that’s the only bad part of Sesmu’s lore. He was a pretty decent god besides that.
He provided people with perfume and oils. The latter was used for the embalming process, which prevented the dead from becoming a skeleton. These oils were able to slow or completely stop the rotting process, saving the person’s body as it is.
His name is also connected to an Egyptian drink. Shedeh. We don’t know much about it, as all that’s left of that beverage is an inscription in Dendera’s temple. We can only speculate, but scientists think that it was probably made from red grapes. But that is about all the information we can find out about this peculiar drink.
Acan
Now, this guy is quite hard to find if you are looking for “god of wine”. Do you know why? Because he is specifically referred to as the god of mead. Which is otherwise known as honey wine. We digress, this Mayan god is confusing enough either way.
But warriors used to drink it before every battle. No wonder Mayans are considered to be brave warriors, they didn’t even know they were riding into battle. Probably.
The Mayan god is originally responsible for Balché, a honey-based cocktail that the Mayans used to drink. Although, we prefer to call it mead in its’ early phases. We really don’t recommend that you try it though. It’s very intoxicating and can make any person sick nowadays.
Acan was a god responsible for this honey wine, but he also had other qualities. The god was famous for making a fool of himself while being drunk. But his name also means “groan” or “bellow”, which he did a lot of in the morning after.
Yidi
This Chinese deity is the god of wine and alcohol.
His lore began when the Emperor’s daughter wanted to present her father with an amazing gift. This prompted Yidi to take action and start experimenting with brewing and fermentation. As a final result, he got a spicy and strong drink, which we know as wine today.
He gave it to the Emperor, in hopes of it pleasing him. The Emperor was trying to hide his disgust at first, as this drink was very potent and he couldn’t really handle his alcohol well at the time. He said that his heirs won’t be able to drink it, as it’s “almost too strong for him even”. Thus, Yidi was forbidden from ever brewing again.
But of course, that didn’t stop him and he continues experimenting, eventually reaching the level of a god.
It’s good to know how our favorite drink was first discovered. So even though these stories are likely not true, they can still have some slight truths in them. In the end, who cares? They are entertaining at the very least and you have once again learned a lot about wine!
So raise your glass to all of these gods & goddesses of wine in various mythologies and bottoms up!
Thank you for reading! What did you think about these gods & goddesses of wine in various mythologies? Do you have a favorite (maybe even one we didn’t talk about)? Tell us down in the comments below!
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