As natural as it is for a harvest to follow a season of growth, human ritual succeeds the harvest itself. Everywhere and always a cause for festival, feast, or fete, harvests represent the fruit of many months of hard labor and a healthy dose of luck. The cultural observances that have grown up around the world’s many harvests often involve excesses–both material and otherwise. The harvest of grapes in particular inspires strong cultural rites, as the bounty of a moment can be preserved and matured into wine. Ancient Israel was no exception, and the grape harvest there was cause for such celebration that it often entailed shouting.
Above all other sources, the Bible is surprisingly informative about ancient Jewish wine traditions. After being liberated from bondage in Egypt and crossing the desert, the Israelites arrived in the land their God had promised them and quickly adopted a sedentary, agricultural life. The grape and its harvest were cornerstones of this rustic society. In fact, the vintage was so important that ancient Judaic law even exempted a man from going to war if he had not yet tasted the wine of a vineyard he planted. Deuteronomy 20:6 asks, “Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.” (NIV)
Grapes were well suited to the rocky hills of the Holy Land, and the hot Mediterranean climate didn’t hurt. Viticulture was even a complimentary agricultural activity as other crops could not grow on the rocky slopes where vineyards thrived. Once the grapes ripened, typically in late August or September, they had to be picked quickly. Then, straight from vine to vat–vineyards had wine presses hewn out of a stone nearby.
Some wine presses were fairly complicated. During Greek rule of Israel, mechanical presses used a wooden beam and weights to crush the grapes. Later, Romans developed a wooden screw. The vast majority, however, required the farmer to press the juice with his body weight by treading the grapes. In Galilee, screw presses were common, but in Judea to the south, most wine presses required treading. The Old Testament divulges that the people who treaded the grapes did something rather unique–they shouted.
Sometimes called the vintage-shout or the “shout of the wine,” several Bible passages reference the cultural practice of vocalizing while mashing freshly harvested grapes beneath one’s feet. While it is easy to imagine someone singing while doing their work, the Bible always uses some version of the word for shouting.
In some contexts, the vintage-shout is harsh, even violent. Jeremiah 25:30 reads, ‘The Lord will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth.” (NIV) Here, the shout is that of an angry, vengeful god. While such a cry seems out of place, there are plenty of comparisons of wine presses and blood baths in the Bible, one being Lamentations 1:15. “The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah.” This bloody imagery is reinforced by Isaiah 63:2 which asks a God who is covered in the blood of the people of Edom “Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?” To top it all off, one of the Aramaic words used to describe the wine-treader’s shout is usually used in military contexts. In these examples, the shout of the wine is a shout of violence, crushing the blood from grapes, conquering the caprices of nature, controlling the life of the land.
On the other hand, the vintage-shout could be joyful. We find mention of the shout in Isaiah 16:10, “Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.” (NIV). The joy of the grape harvest is inferred by the sadness that reigns when the vintage-shout ceases. Jeremiah 48:33 echoes this idea identically. The prophets used the common joy of wine as a threat against Israelites who might stray from their covenant with God. To be able to tread grapes and shout was a blessing from YHWH. If cause for the shouting ceased, the Israelites must have forsaken their God.
Biblical scholars have interpreted this unique shout from the wine press in a variety of ways. The god of the ancient Israelites, YHWH, had evolved out of a storm-god. The shout, perhaps, mimics thunder and lightning in a sort of rain-dance of thanks for the harvested crop. Alternatively, it may have been a victorious holler of the conqueror having trampled his enemy under foot. Wine was the victor’s loot. Lastly, these shouts may have just been joyous exultations at the end of a laborious agricultural process.
Without a doubt, some part of the vintage-shout was joyous. Song and dance occurred in tandem with the harvest of grapes and pressing of wine. Lyres and harps, timbrels and flutes are all mentioned as harvest-time entertainments. Taken together–a vineyard echoing with songs and shouts and full of dancing figures–the vintage-shout must have been a cathartic moment for those bearing their feet to the grapes. Treading grapes with feet is nearly an extinct practice in modern day viniculture, but shouting while treading is definitely a ritual of the past.
Grumett, David. “Introduction.” Material Eucharist. : Oxford University Press, 20. Oxford Scholarship Online. Date Accessed 14 Feb. 2022 <https://oxford-universitypressscholarship-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198767077.001.0001/acprof-9780198767077-chapter-1>.
PANTOJA, JENNIFER METTEN. The Metaphor of the Divine As Planter of the People : Stinking Grapes Or Pleasant Planting?. Leiden: Brill.
Schwartz, Joshua. “A Holy People in the Winepress: Treading the Grapes and Holiness.” A Holy People: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Religious Communal Identity, 2006, pp. 39–51. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001513484&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Walsh, Carey Ellen. “The Grape Harvest.” The Fruit of the Vine. Brill, 2000. 167-207.
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