One of the most celebrated festivals contributed to Dionysus, is the Great Dionysia festival. It took place during on the 10th through 17th of the Greek month of Elaphebolion (roughly March). The Greeks had a lunar calendar that does not correspond to ours, so their holiday dates are a bit diffrent. This festival honored the introduction in Athens of the cult of Dionysus Eleuthereus. Two days before the festival began, the proagon was held. During the proagon poets would begin to announce to the public which theatrical works they were going to be presenting on the day of the festival. The next day would include time devoted to a reconstruction of the journey by which Dionysus made his way from Eleutherae to Athens. They would do this by carrying the statue of the god outside the city walls and at night (by torches) the worshipers would bring the statue back to its temple. During the first day of the festival, all the Athenians took part in a procession to the sanctuary of Dionysus during which the atmosphere was festive. The main feature of this parade was that the celebrants held mock phalluses in honor of the God. Once they arrived at the sanctuary, sacrifices were made and the dithyramb competitions would soon begin. When the victors of these competitions where announced, the crowd would pour out into the streets of the city celebrating. After the competitions, the remainder of the festival would consist of performances in the theatre. These performances included: five comedies by five different poets, and on the last three days a competition between three tragic poets and each of these poets presented a tetralogy consisting of three tragedies and a Satyr play.

There were also theatrical performances during the Lenea, a festival held during the 12th through 15th of the month of Gamelion (January). This festival was a symbolic thanksgiving that celebrated the readiness of the wine. A competition would then ensue at the theatre where two tragic poets (each with two tragedies to present), and five comic poets (each with one comedy) would see who was the better playwright.

Another festival, Anthesteria, took place on the 11th through 13th of the month of Anthestrion (February). During this festival the Athenians were invited to a banquet, which consisted of wine drinking and a ceremony in which wreaths were offered to the god being honored. There was also a symbolic wedding between the god and the wife of the archon-king, during which the entire city was regarded as being in communion with Dionysus. This would help ensure the people that the soil of Athens would be fertile during the coming year.