Komos

: kōmoi) was a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers in ancient Greece, whose participants were known as kōmasts (κωμασταί, kōmastaí).

The earliest reference to the kōmos is in Hesiod's Shield of Herakles, which indicates it took place as part of wedding festivities (line 281).

[1] In the performance of Greek victory odes (epinikia) at post-Game celebrations for winning athletes, the choral singers often present themselves as kōmasts, or extend an invitation to join the kōmos, as if the formal song were a preliminary to spontaneous revelry.

Demosthenes upbraids the brother-in-law of Aeschines for not wearing a mask during the komos, as was the custom (On the Embassy 19.287),[3] suggesting costume or disguise may have been involved.

It is now widely thought that kōmos and κωμῳδία – komoidia, "comedy", are etymologically related, the derivation being komos + ᾠδή - o(i)de, "song" (from ἀείδω – aeido, "sing").