The Christian Century

In a famous 1970s television commercial, legendary movie actor and director Orson Welles held up a glass of wine. While Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony played in the background, Welles declared in his deep bass voice, speaking on behalf of a winemaker: “We will sell no wine before its time.”

On the darkest day of the year, the Incas tried to tie the sun down. The Zunis kept their fire indoors and let the trash pile up in their dwellings; Zoroastrians stayed up all night and read poetry. Wild women tore the god Dionysus to pieces and ate him. There were winter solstice rituals that involved pig snouts, ghosts, the river Nile turning into wine.