Heh alison, you might have a point there. Bacchus/Dionysus would be pissed (pun intended), though.

As for the monks, I am familiar with that practise. Apparently some of them use a rather nasty brew, from the urushi tree, or lacquer tree, which is full of urushiol, the same blistering, corrosive poison found in the poison ivy, oak, and sumac (and in traces, its also found in the sap of the mango, some people are extremely sensitive, and even the mango, which is one of my favourite foods, will cause irritation) slowly, to achieve some sort of preservation procedure in addition to the mummification. Basically makes what is left far too poisonous for any critters to feast on.

Not something I would want to drink...nasty.