How did the ancients standardize the etiquette of wine tables?

"If you don't drink, you won't give me face." "Everyone drinks, why don't you drink?" I don't know when, such words filled the wine bar where the host and guest should have enjoyed themselves, and drinking changed from a fun thing to a bullying way. Especially some middle-aged people, relying on their qualifications and status, advised them to drink more.

Not long ago, a bank employee revealed his experience. As a teetotaler, he stuck to his principles after the leaders advised him many times, but he was scolded and slapped by the leaders. What makes him even more chilling is that other colleagues also echoed this farce and openly suppressed him. Even after the incident, many people think this is normal. This culture has always been on the wine table. If you can't accept it, you are unruly and unworthy of work.

But is this wine table culture really desirable? The ancients said, "Du Kang alone can solve it." At first, wine was just a drink, and drinking was also for recreation. Even if it later becomes a culture and is integrated into the daily life and etiquette system, it should be rich in connotation and should not be as insulting as this young man faces.

Drinking is fun.

If we want to discuss whether the current wine culture is desirable, we should first look at what the original wine culture looked like. In ancient times, although there were often poems such as "300 cups a day" and "drinking and laughing with you for 30 thousand games", they seemed to be very indulgent, which made many people in modern times have the impulse to imitate. But the efficiency of ancient wine-making is actually very low. Most people drink thin wine, the degree is not high, almost equivalent to the current alcoholic drinks.

Therefore, drinking in ancient times was a very daily thing, and almost everyone could have a few drinks. Moreover, drinking is not necessarily to drown my sorrows. You can also drink when you are happy. Du Fu wrote the poem "Singing my songs again, drinking my wine, and taking me home on that green spring day" at that time, because he was called again and was in a good mood, and drinking wine did not delay his work.

In addition, because literati often accompany wine when writing poems, they are sometimes very poetic. If we see someone sitting under a tree with a bottle of wine, or a group of people suddenly take out their glasses when they are on the boat, we will feel very strange. But in ancient times, literati, as a tool to express their feelings, drank in the company of beautiful scenery. Before the flowers bloom under the moon, the lotus pavilion, bamboo forest, quiet house and painting house are all good places to drink. "Flowers from a pot of wine" and "Until, raise my cup and I ask the moon" are the most poetic places.

At the same time, it is not a good time to drink when the clouds are clear and the moonlight is windy. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai went to the pavilion in the middle of the lake to enjoy the snow during the heavy snow. He met like-minded people and drank three glasses of white wine. The attendants around even sighed: "Don't be silly, let alone silly."

As the saying goes, "Drink moderately and recite poems boldly". For the ancients, drinking was used to enjoy life and add interest, and sometimes it was an elegant thing. Although the pace of life of modern people is much faster than that of the ancients, because of this, the role of alcohol should be biased towards relaxation, making people feel some pleasure outside of daily life.

Folk wine ceremony

Although many times, the ancients drank for fun. However, with the wide spread of wine culture, in some formal occasions, drinking etiquette has also become standardized to facilitate the distribution of government decrees, orders from elders, the distinction between high and low, and the recommendation of talents.

For example, the villagers' banquet about sacrifice, where everyone gets together to drink, is not as wanton as when a person drinks, and the drinking etiquette is very comprehensive. First of all, there are four steps: worship, sacrifice, vomiting and death.

To respect is to make a gesture of respect to wine to show respect.

Sacrifice, which everyone is familiar with, is to pour a glass of wine on the ground and thank the earth for its richness. On some occasions, it can also be the god of ancestors, or mountains and rivers. For example, there is a poem that says "a bottle is returned to Jiang Yue". But if you drink on a formal occasion, you need to be respectful, raise your glass and say your prayers.

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Cui: Of course, it doesn't literally mean to drink and then spit it out, but to taste the wine provided by the host family, and then the wine is mellow. At this time, it has begun to be active.

Zujue: As the name implies, it means to drink it all at once. The ancients often said, "Respect first", that is to say, to respect others' wine, we should also respect ourselves.

In the History of Wine written by Feng Shihua in the Ming Dynasty, "If there is one drop left in the glass, one cup will be fined". In other words, if you can't drink a toast, you will be fined. Of course, people who are toasted should not only receive gifts, but also have a drink by themselves.

Of course, this etiquette does not apply to every glass of wine. You can say congratulations or thank you, but you can't make a toast, which loses basic etiquette.

At the same time, toasting also has corresponding etiquette, that is, avoiding seats, paying bills, drinking, traveling and drinking.

Avoid seats: It is also a kind of respect for the toaster to leave his seat, stand in the same place or go to the other side to toast.

Reward: The host rewards the guests by toasting the guests under his seat.

After drinking the wine, the guest can also pay back the money to the host.

Travel reward: halfway through the wine fair, it will be more casual at this time, and the host and guests can toast each other.

roast

Wine: If a person shows respect, he can propose a toast to the guests present in turn, starting from the elders and measuring three cups.

Of course, if it is really inconvenient to drink, you can't force people to drink. The other party took two sips to show respect.

Politeness under the wine ceremony

There are etiquette rules for drinking, but there are also ways to express politeness under the wine ceremony. The ancients drank too much, and gradually figured out how to drink politely and show full respect to everyone.

For example, when pouring wine for others, you can't pour it too full, and you can't pour wine for others just after a sip. Pour wine too often, and it is inevitable that there will be persecution. When the host arranges the seats, the young and the old should be orderly, so that the younger generation can toast and send blessings to the elders with their hands. At this time, out of respect, the glass is lower than the other party.

At the banquet, of course, the host should warmly entertain the guests and make the scene lively, but he should not lose his mind and insist on persuading those who don't want to drink too much. The ancients said, "Be small and casual, don't set any difficulties". Whether it's pressure on your identity or "why don't you drink when everyone drinks", you are sacrificing your will to satisfy your vanity. Only by fully respecting the wishes of the guests can the whole banquet go on happily and leave a good memory for everyone.

Some people drink well, but in order to tidy up etiquette, they will also drink properly at the banquet to avoid losing their manners after drunkenness, which is understandable. The so-called "a lot of binge drinking, not impressive", even if a thousand cups are not drunk, is not something to show off, and can be used to ridicule those who are not good at drinking.

The taboo of wine field is bitter advice and bad banter. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Shi Chong sent beautiful women to persuade wine. The guest killed the beautiful woman without drinking. Those who can't stand it can only get drunk. This is an ugly example. But in modern wine table culture, people often get drunk. After the atmosphere is warm, whoever doesn't drink will become the target of public criticism. I have to say that the essence of wine culture has been completely lost.

The Decline of Wine Bureau Culture

In the traditional culture of China, people really don't object to drinking, and even support people to regard drinking as a kind of enjoyment and sacrifice on some occasions. They think it is a virtue to worship God and serve the elderly with wine. Moreover, people are against excessive drinking.

As early as "Jiugu in Shangshu", people were warned to "abstain from alcohol" and "abstain from sexual indulgence", that is, even if they drink alcohol, they should keep healthy and have peace of qi and blood, and they should not drink too much.

However, with the improvement of brewing technology and the development of society, people not only failed to control drinking, but also made the wine bureau more and more politicized and utilitarian. The closer you get to the center of power, the more terrible it is. The taboo of persuading wine repeatedly emphasized by the ancients has also been forgotten. Needless to say, the danger behind women being persuaded to drink in restaurants, even the oppressed men themselves are willing to borrow alcohol and stomachache in exchange for the recognition of others in interpersonal relationships, even for power and status.

After enduring for decades, they became masters in the wine industry and oppressed the next generation with injuries. They have to say that they are male "daughter-in-law". This not only destroys the harmony of interpersonal relationships, but also makes the serious workplace smoggy, which has always been spurned by people who really love wine, and also makes everyone feel pain.