The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

36 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)Survival ofDionysiac ritesamong the modernThracian peasantry.[026]Drama annuallyperformed at theCarnival in thevillages roundViza, an oldThracian capital.The actors in thedrama.The theory that in prehistoric times Greek and Thracian kingsor their sons may have been dismembered in the character ofthe vine-god or the corn-god for the purpose of fertilising theearth or quickening the vines has received of late years someconfirmation from the discovery that down to the present time inThrace, the original home of Dionysus, a drama is still annuallyperformed which reproduces with remarkable fidelity some ofthe most striking traits in the Dionysiac myth and ritual. 111 Ina former part of this work I have already called attention to thisinteresting survival of paganism among a Christian peasantry; 112but it seems desirable and appropriate in this place to draw outsomewhat more fully the parallelism between the modern dramaand the ancient worship.The drama, which may reasonably be regarded as a directdescendant of the Dionysiac rites, is annually performed at theCarnival in all the Christian villages which cluster round Viza,the ancient Bizya, a town of Thrace situated about midwaybetween Adrianople and Constantinople. In antiquity the citywas the capital of the Thracian tribe of the Asti; the kings hadtheir palace there, 113 probably in the acropolis, of which somefine walls are still standing. Inscriptions preserved in the moderntown record the names of some of these old kings. 114 The date ofthe celebration is Cheese Monday, as it is locally called, whichis the Monday of the last week of Carnival. At Viza itself themummery has been shorn of some of its ancient features, but111 See Mr. R. M. Dawkins, “The Modern Carnival in Thrace and the Cultof Dionysus,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxvi. (1906) pp. 191-206. Mr.Dawkins describes the ceremonies partly from his own observation, partly froman account of them published by Mr. G. M. Vizyenos in a Greek periodicalΘρακικὴ Ἐπετηρίς, of which only one number was published at Athens in1897. From his personal observations Mr. Dawkins was able to confirm theaccuracy of Mr. Vizyenos's account.112 Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 333 sq.113 Strabo, vii. frag. 48; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Βιζύη.114 R. M. Dawkins, op. cit. p. 192.