The True Spirit of...

If you're fed up with ignorant wallies complaining that the true spirit of Christmas has been lost, take heart; here it is and it's never been lost, merely subordinated. This is the lad himself: young Bacchus, known to the ancient Greeks as Dionysus (the god of wine and drunken orgies). When Christians took over the Roman Empire they tried to rebrand the popular Bacchanalia festival as Christmas and cut out the orgies. Office parties may seem tame by comparison with those good ol' Roman days, but we can live in hope. I recall a gang of drunken female louts threatening to debag a driver who'd wandered into an office party! And there's still the mistletoe, a popular hangover from pagan days....