Talk about the "wine culture" as you see it.

In ancient China, wine was considered a sacred substance, and its use was more solemn than sacrifices to heaven and earth, ancestral shrines, and offerings to good guests. The customs and styles of ancient winemaking activities were formed. With the general rise of the wine industry, wine gradually became a part of people? s daily use and drinking activities were also widespread, and were programmed by people's ideological and cultural consciousness, forming more systematic wine customs. These customs involve many aspects of people's production and life. It is lively in form and full of gestures. Our country has a long history, splendid culture, many ethnic groups distributed throughout the country, brewing colorful folk wine customs. Some wine customs have been handed down to this day.

1, the foundation of traditional drinking culture - wine virtue and wine ritual

Historically, Confucianism has been regarded as the orthodox view of governing the country, and wine customs have been influenced by Confucian wine culture. Confucianism emphasizes the virtue of wine.

The term "virtue of wine" first appeared in the Shangshu (Book of Songs) and the Shijing (Classic of Poetry), which refers to the need for drinkers to be virtuous rather than "subversive of virtue and light on wine," as Wang did. It embodies the Confucian virtues of drinking, namely: "drink and sacrifice" (drink only when sacrificing); "no barbaric wine" (drink infrequently, drink sparingly and save food in normal times, and drink only when you are sick); and "group drinking" (?). prohibiting mass gatherings for drinking); "no indulgence" (prohibiting alcoholism). Confucianism is not against drinking. It is a virtue to offer wine to the gods and to serve guests in old age.

Drinking alcohol as a food culture has developed an etiquette that everyone had to follow in ancient times. Sometimes this etiquette is tedious. But if you do not observe it on some important occasions, you will be suspected of making trouble. And it is important to develop drinking etiquette because it is easy to create chaos when you drink too much and can't control yourself. Yuan Hongdao of the Ming Dynasty, seeing that drinkers did not observe drinking etiquette when drinking, felt that elders had a responsibility, so from ancient books? collected a lot of information and wrote a special article called Zheng Zheng. Although it was written for drinkers, it also has some significance for ordinary drinkers. In ancient China, there was the following etiquette for drinking:

When the host and guest drink together, they should bow to each other. It was called drinking when the younger generation drank in front of their elders. They usually bow first and then sit second. The elders order the juniors to drink, and the juniors can raise their glasses; the juniors can't drink before the elders finish the wine in their glasses.

There are four steps in ancient drinking etiquette: worship, sacrifice, spitting and death. That is, first make a gesture of worship and homage, then pour out a little wine on the ground to offer thanks for the virtue of the earth; then taste the wine and praise the wine to make the host happy;? Finally, he raises the cup.

At a banquet, the host makes a toast to his guest (called a reward), and the guest returns to his host (called a wei). When the toast was made, he also said a few words in honor of the guest. Guests could also toast each other (called traveling rewards). Sometimes you have to take turns giving toasts (called drinking).? When making a toast, both the toaster and the toaster have to stand up "away from the table". A normal toast is based on three glasses.

Among the 56 ethnic groups in the Chinese family, all of them, except the Hui who believe in Islam, drink alcohol. The custom of drinking has its own unique style.

2, Primitive Religion, Sacrifice, Funeral and Wine

Since ancient times, wine has been one of the necessary items for sacrifice. Primitive religion originated from witchcraft. In ancient China, witches used so-called "supernatural powers" to perform

various activities, all of which involved the use of wine. There were no witch doctors in ancient times. Wine, as a medicine, was one of the usual medicines for witch doctors. Ancient rulers believed that "the great thing of the country is to honor". In the ritual activities, wine acts as the beautiful East? West, first of all, to the sky, to the gods, to the ancestors. War determines the survival of a tribe or nation. Warriors had to use wine to energize their fighting spirit before going out. This shows the relationship between wine and national affairs. Reflecting the systems of the Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States, Li Zhou had clear rules for the use of wine in rituals. As an example, eight kinds of wine were used for rituals: "qi" and "sanjiu". In ancient times, the person who presided over the rituals had a lot of power, and in primitive societies it was the sorcerer. The main duty of the sorcerer was to worship the gods and pray for the people. Later, there was the "Wine Sacrifice", who presided over the wine rituals at banquets.

It is a common custom among all ethnic groups in China to use wine to worship ancestors and to perform some rituals at funerals. When a person dies, friends and relatives come to pay tribute to the deceased. The Han Chinese custom is to "eat a quick meal", also called "tofu rice" in some places. This is a banquet held during the funeral. Although they are all vegetarians, alcohol is essential. Some ethnic minorities bring alcohol and meat to their funerals. For example, when the Hmong hear a letter of mourning, people from the same village usually bring a few kilograms of wine, rice, incense, etc. to the funeral. A few pounds of wine and rice, incense, etc. should be given to the family that has lost a loved one, and more wine should be given by relatives. For example, a son-in-law should give twenty pounds of white wine and a pig. If you have lost a family member, you should host a banquet for the mourners. In the Nujiang region of Yunnan, if someone dies in the village? Every family brings wine to offer condolences. The shaman pours wine into the mouth of the deceased and everyone drinks a cup of wine, which is called "parting wine". It is an ancient custom to put wine in the grave after the dead are buried, so that the dead can enjoy the pleasure of drinking wine on earth. The Han Chinese must bring wine and meat to their graves on the Qingming Festival.