A toast to customs

The New Year parties are over and it’s time to put the fancy pipes  back in the showcase, where they’ll wait for another special event. While you bundle up your bottles, let me ask you this: have you ever thought about how drinking traditions and superstitions came into existence?

Alcohol is deeply knotted with changes in human culture. It’s no wonder that interesting and varied customs and common superstitions are developed wherever alcohol is consumed — which could well be everywhere on Earth! From religious ceremonies to family gatherings — they all fall under the gambit of customs.

For example, in the West and Europe, a ‘toast’ is deep rooted in culture. It’s generally considered as a positive move, as well as a sign of good health. Making eye contact while toasting is polite in many countries, and penalties from deviating from this practice can be severe.

I’m certain many of the young ones here in India believe in making eye contact for a better sex life while toasting. The common superstition is also popular in France and Germany, where drinkers believe you’ll have seven years of ‘bad sex’ if you break eye contact during a toast. In Spain, many even believe the same fate will befall those who toast with glasses of water — teetotallers beware!

The Haro wine festival takes place in Spain every year in June. While the day has religious significance throughout the Catholic world, Haro’s residents celebrate the occasion in a unique fashion. There are water trucks that are filled to the brim with wine, in order to distribute them with water pistols and back-mounted spraying devices. This wine is put into buckets or anything else that can hold the drink, and then distributed.

As you travel northward to colder countries like Russia and Ukraine, another unique custom can be noticed. One must not put a full shot glass of alcohol back on the table, nor leave an empty bottle. If an open bottle happens to sit on the table, one must ‘empty’ it.

Ukraine also has fun drinking games that revolve around the social gathering that weddings bring along. If a guest manages to nab one of the bride’s shoes while she’s seated, the thief can make some light-hearted demands from the wedding party and close friends. Chief among these is drinking from the shoe. Now before you cringe in disgust, let me tell you that no one literally drinks out of the shoe itself. Instead, a glass is strapped to the footwear, allowing guests to drink from the bride’s shoe, without actually drinking from the shoe.

In the Far East, customs have their own, unique twist. Say for example in Korea, if an elderly person offers you a drink, you’re expected to be respectful and stand up — or rise to a kneeling position — and take the glass with both hands. In neighbouring Japan, there’s a rather new custom that involves sipping wine in a glass with ice. Wine on the rocks has become a popular trend, thanks to its simplicity and brisk taste.

However, one of my favourite customs for obvious reasons is a common practice from Russia, which says that departing guests must take a last shot for good luck. Who can say no to this?

Ketan is the food and beverage manager at MARS Hospitality