. . . ordinamenta et consuetudo maris?
“Before you
dash off…” dash
off? A guest at Charles’ gentlemen supper was
compelled to give me a lecture on the history and customs of toasting. Here is what I recall.
“Though having a drink is today one of the most common
forms of relaxation, once the act was literally fraught with peril. In Anglo-Saxon England, when a person wanted
to take a drink, he asked the person sitting next to him if he would “pledge”
him. The second person then held up his
knife or sword and stood guard so that no one would attack the drinker while he
was vulnerable. More than just a polite
ritual, this was a necessary service: the Danes had a bad habit of slitting
Saxons’ throats while their heads were tilted back in the act of drinking. In Germanic countries, around the same time,
glass-bottomed mugs, which allowed the drinker to see danger coming, were
invented.
But the history of rituals surrounding drinking does
have a romantic side as well. Whether in
rhyme of prose, the most common form of toast has been to a woman. The very word came about as a paean to a
woman: In the late seventeenth century a piece of grilled bread was sometimes
put into wine to give it substance. One
day, the story goes, in the English city of Bath, while a beautiful woman was
taking the cure, one of her admirers took a glass full of her bathwater to
drink to her health. Another admirer, half-drunk,
tried to jump in with the lady, saying, “Tho he lik’d not the Liquor, he would
have the Toast.” Ever since, toast has its present-day meaning (the
word is used even in France, the dismay of the language purists).
Unlike Americans, for whom toasting has become an
occasional and slapdash matter, most Europeans toast and clink glasses whenever
possible. The most casual toasting is
done when friends meet at a bistro or a bar to share a glass of wine (toasting
is never done with water anywhere in the world-it’s considered bad luck).
In France one says cin,
cin, if informal, or salut whilst
clinking. A latecomer, upon being poured
some wine, clinks his glass against those glasses sitting on the table and says
salut or cin cin as a way of becoming a member of the group. If the gathering is a bit more formal one
would say sante, or a votre sante.
Habits are much the same in Italy. Whether or not one clinks (in both France and
Italy), it is considered ill-mannered not to look someone in the eye when
toasting, even in the most casual setting.
The most casual toast in Italy is cin
cin; this term may have originated there, in a ubiquitous advertisement for
Cinzano.
German wine drinkers a very exacting. The glasses are always lifted high, clinked
against each other and the drinkers look each other in the eye and say prost, or prosit. They may also say zum Wohle.
When drinking beer, however, Germans simply raise their glasses
without clinking but perhaps with an offhand prost and a nod. A great
place to watch this in one of Munich’s enormous beer halls.
Germans have even incorporated toasting into a common
ritual called Bruderschaft, which
means "brotherhood" and signifies the time when two people begin to
call each other by their first names. The two friends who perform this ritual
link their arms, drink, and kiss each other on the cheek; forever afterward
they are intimates.
The English do not share in this Continental
conviviality. They, like Americans, are slightly self-conscious about vocal
acknowledgment of pleasures to come and do not therefore make much of casual
toasts. They don't often clink glasses, and unless they are eager young lovers
they hardly ever look one another in the eye. An indifferent "cheers"
is the most common beginning to a round of drinking, although you might also
hear the odd "bottoms up." The
contingent of Sloane Rangers, however, cultivate a more European demeanor; they
clink glasses, make a point of direct, unblinking eye contact, and say cin cin or some other foreign toast.
As uncomfortable as the English are about informal
toasting, they are absolute world champions at giving formal toasts, the most
prevalent of which is the Loyal Toast to the sovereign. This toast is
incorporated into all formal dinners, most especially those with a ceremonial
setting, such as guild hall or university dinners. The Loyal Toast dates from
medieval days, when drinking to the health of the queen or king was an
important statement of allegiance. Today it is a pro forma ritual and signals
the point in the dinner after which it is permissible to smoke. It is always
given-usually after the pudding course-by the person in charge of the dinner,
who says, "Gentlemen, the Queen." Everyone raises his glass, drinks,
and then lights up, preparing to listen to the endless speeches that follow.
The Germans are not far behind the English when it
comes to formal toasting. At a formal, seated dinner, particularly a business
dinner, toasting begins after the eating is finished, and often everyone
present is obliged to participate. The president of the company might start
things by standing up, raising his glass, and offering a sentence or two about
the corporate merger, or whatever matter is being celebrated. Afterward,
everyone else stands, one by one, and makes his own toast, which is, again,
usually business related.
The farther north you go in Europe, the more formal
the toasting habits. In Sweden the rules for toasting are followed to the
letter: you raise your glass of wine (never beer or water) to chest level-where
the third button on a soldier's uniform would be-look your companion in the
eye, say skoal, drink, lower the
glass to chest level, and nod your head. (The Swedish expression skoal comes from the ancient
practice-adhered to until the eleventh century-of drinking from the skull of an
enemy that has been killed.) The only optional part of this ritual is the
clinking of glasses, and it is important to maintain eye contact throughout. In
an informal setting, the Swedes like to sing drinking songs throughout the
meal.
All over the world, when gourmet societies meet,
formal toasts are an important part of the proceedings. At such gatherings,
there is always a strict rule that when toasting with white wine or champagne,
one must hold up the glass by the stem or the base, in order not to warm the
wine during the time that the toast is being given. (True oenophiles almost
always hold their glasses of champagne or white wine by the stem or base, toast
or no toast.)
If a toast is being given in your honor in the United
States, you are not allowed to lift your glass, but must graciously accept
every one's good wishes without drinking. However, throughout Europe no such
unfortunate restrictions exist, and the person being toasted is allowed to
drink along with the group.
The elaborate quasi-poetic toast-whether from
literature or from the heart-is found less and less around the world, but it
still has currency in the more civilized circles of some countries. It had its
heyday in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the early
twentieth century, until Prohibition virtually eliminated the widespread
practice. Until then, every well-heeled man and woman memorized several toasts,
each suitable for a different occasion.
There are many of us who feel that a dinner without a
formal toast-as opposed to the impromptu and abbreviated variety-is like a book
without a dedication. To enjoy the custom, however, one must be comfortable
being the center of attention and not mind that after such a toast-or after a
few extemporaneous words to honor a person or an occasion-there will be dead
silence around the table. It's usually an awkward moment.”
An awkward moment followed. I said thank you very much and I did not have
the heart to tell the good gentleman that most of my toasting and hosting would
be with gentlemen who are strict followers of the laws of the Qur'an.
Perhaps I better get acquainted with the social
ritual of smoking a hookah?
