Wine has been a part of religious ceremonies since before history began. And it continues to play a role in sacred ceremonies today.
If religion is the expression of spiritual belief, then wine has been a part of that since long before history. Most religions bring people into a sense of communion, of relaxation, of celebration: a time to forget the every day cares of the world, and give ourselves to a vision of a greater existence. We stop our every day world, and we think beyond ourselves.
To repent is to re-think. What we want, what we should do, how we should live. A sabbath is a day of rest and contemplation--a time to turn our attention to the infinite. A communion is a sharing of spirit. All of these are captured in our approach to wine. As we share a cup over dinner or with friends, we think about what is really important. We share that communion of spirit. And we stop worrying about the kids and the mortgage, to focus on true reality. What if eternity is right here, and right now? And we are living, for just a moment, in that eternity. I think we want a glass of wine in hand, and friends nearby, for that experience.
References to wine and religion exist as far back as Ancient Egypt, where wine was regarded as a gift from the gods. This belief may have been based on the fact that Egyptian wine was only available to the socially (and religiously) elite classes.
The ancients believed that the gods were the inventors of wine. For this reason, wine occupied a prominent position in the religions of the Ancient Near East. Wine was given as offerings and poured as libations, and it played an important ceremonial role in religious events. Vast quantities of wine were brought to the temples, drunk at feasts in honor of the gods, and used in meals commemorating the deceased.
In ancient Greece and Rome, wine was associated with the cult of Dionysus- or Bacchus as he was called by the Romans - the god of wine, fertility, and vegetation. Dionysus was worshiped in festivals characterized by unrestrained behavior, the consumption of large quantities of alcoholic beverages, and orgies held in honor of the god. At times, the contagious sense of excitement led participants to engage in bizarre and even savage acts, such as the consumption of raw meat and, it seems, even human sacrifice.
In the 5th century BCE, the citizens of Athens honored Dionysus with at least five festivals a year. The most important of these was the Anthesteria, a wine-tasting festival that lasted three days and was celebrated at the beginning of spring. On the second day of the festival, jars of wine from the most recent vintage were opened in the god's honor and drunk throughout the city.
The cult of Dionysus was one of the most popular cults in the land of Israel as well, reaching this region in the wake of the conquest of Alexander the Great. Dionysus was considered the founder of the Hellenistic city Scythopolis, which was established near Beth Shean, and for this reason, the city's cult was devoted to him. Excavations of Scythopolis have unearthed a number of marble statues of the god, stone altars dedicated to him, and other cult objects associated with this deity.
"In other respects the festival is celebrated almost exactly as Dionysiac festivals are in Hellas, excepting that the Egyptians have no choral dances and no plays. They also use phalli four cubits [6 feet] high, pulled by ropes, which the women carry around, and whose male genitalia are operated by strings to go up and down. A piper goes in front, and the women follow, singing hymns in honor of Dionysos. The erection of the phallus, however, which the Hellenes observe in their statues of Hermes, they did not derive from the Egyptians, but from the Pelasgians; from them the Athenians adopted it, and afterwards it passed to the other Hellenes. The Athenians, then, were the first of the Hellenes to have an erect phallus...."
Herodotus, The Histories, c. 430 BCE
Sorry, no photo for this one...
Ancient Greece
“The Bacchic dance is taken especially seriously in Ionia and Pontus, although it belongs to Satyric drama, and has so taken hold of people there that, in the festival time, they put aside everything else and sit the day through, watching corybants, satyrs, and shepherds; ”
Send us at your earliest opportunity the flutist Petoun with the Phrygian flutes, plus the other flutes. If it is necessary to pay him, do so, and we will reimburse you. Also, send us the eunuch Zenobius with a drum, cymbals, and castanets. The women need them for their festival. Be sure he is wearing his most elegant clothing. Get the special goat from Aristion and sent it to us. Send us also as many cheeses as you can, a new jug, and vegetables of all kinds, and fish if you have it. Your health! Throw in some policemen at the same time to accompany the boat.
Letter of Demophon to Ptolemaios, c. 245 BCE
A festival is celebrated every year at Acharaca; and at that time in particular those who celebrate the festival can see and hear concerning all these things; and at the festival, too, about noon, the boys and young men of the gymnasion, nude and anointed with oil, take out a bull and with haste run before him into the cave; and, when they arrive at the cave, the bull goes forward a short distance, falls, and breathes out his life.
Strabo, Geographia, c. 20 CE
Some people attend the festival of the god out of curiosity, some for shows and contests, and many bring goods of all sorts for sale, the market folk, that is, some of whom display their crafts and manufactures while others make a show of some special learning---many, of works of tragedy or poetry, many, of prose works. Some draw worshipers from remote regions for religion's sake alone, as does the festival of Artemis at Ephesus, venerated not only in her home-city, but by Hellenes and barbarians.
Dio Chrysostom, Or. c. 110 CE
The Bacchic dance is taken especially seriously in Ionia and Pontus, although it belongs to Satyric drama, and has so taken hold of people there that, in the festival time, they put aside everything else and sit the day through, watching corybants, satyrs, and shepherds; and people of the best lineage and foremost in every city dance, not in the least embarrassed but proud of it.....Each town or region celebrates the festivals of the gods with its own rites; thus, to Egyptian deities generally by lament, to the Hellenic for the most part by choruses, but to the non-Hellenic by the clangor of cymbalists, drummers, and flutists....At Delos not even the sacrifices are offered without dancing. Boy choruses assembled and, to the pipe and kithara, some moved about, singing, while the best performed a dance in accompaniment; and hymns written for such choirs are called dances-for-accompaniment."
Lucian, De Salt., c. 160 CE
Every year too the people of Patrai celebrate the festival Laphria in honor of their Artemis, and at it they employ a method of sacrifice peculiar to the place. Round the altar in a circle they set up logs of wood still green, each of them sixteen cubits long. On the altar within the circle is placed the driest of their wood. Just before the time of the festival they construct a smooth ascent to the altar, piling earth upon the altar steps. The festival begins with a most splendid procession in honor of Artemis, and the maiden officiating as priestess rides last in the procession upon a car yoked to deer. It is, however, not >till the next day that the sacrifice is offered, and the festival is not only a state function but also quite a popular general holiday. For the people throw alive upon the altar edible birds and every kind of victim as well; there are wild boars, deer and gazelles; some bring wolf-cubs or bear-cubs, others the full-grown beasts. They also place upon the altar fruit of cultivated trees. Next they set fire to the wood. At this point I have seen some of the beasts, including a bear, forcing their way outside at the first rush of the flames, some of them actually escaping by their strength. But those who threw them in drag them back again to the pyre. It is not remembered that anybody has ever been wounded by the beasts.
Pausanias, Description of Hellas, c. 175 CE
Most men abandon themselves at festival time and holy days, and arrange for drinking and parties, and give themselves up wholly to pipes and flutes and different kinds of music and in every respect abandon themselves to drunkenness and indulgence.
Clementis Recognitiones, c. 220 CE
I desire to hire from you Tisaïs, the dancing girl, and another, to dance for us at our festival of Bacchias, for fifteen days from the 13th Phaophi by the old calendar. You shall receive as pay 36 drachmai a day, and for the whole period 3 artabai of wheat, and 15 loaves; also, three donkeys to fetch them and take them back.
Letter of Aurelius Asclepiades to Aureleus Theon, c. 295 CE
Wine was used in funeral rites as well. The higher the social status of the deceased, the greater quantity of wine was used to anoint his body and belongings before entombment. Some Pharaohs, such as King Tutankhamen, were given jars of wine in their tombs in order to accompany the royal spirit on its journey to the underworld. The Ancient Persians also shared the belief that wine was a gift from the gods and would make toasts in order to praise those gods
The Book of the Covenant:
During the time of King Josiah, a Yahweh priesthood claimed to have found in a secret archive within Solomon's temple a scroll signed by Moses—a document to become known as the Book of the Covenant. It's hard to imagine how this book was forgotten for two hundred years, but King Josiah treated the scroll as genuine. Authentic or not, the book provided the perfect vehicle for a reaction against the excesses of previous generations. According to the Old Testament, king Josiah, accompanied by a great crowd, went to Solomon's temple and there made a covenant with Yahweh. Josiah ordered all objects of worship that were not Yahwist taken from Solomon's temple, and these were burned in a field outside Jerusalem.
The high priest of Yahwism ordered lesser priests to Jerusalem, and he issued a new code that forbade all subjects of Josiah to practice religious rituals of "foreign" origin. According to the Old Testament, the code's proscriptions included religious ordeals of passing through fire. It included practicing witchcraft, sorcery, using omens, worshiping images of gods in wood or stone, and it included a prohibition against orgiastic fertility festivals—festivals held in the spring and autumn that were accompanied by mass drunkenness and religious frenzy.
The penalty for adhering to any of the newly forbidden practices was death, and death was also the punishment for the priests of rival religions. According to the Second Book of Kings 23:20, king Josiah led the assault:
And all the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them.
Those who had been indulging in the now forbidden religious practices were great in number, and their religious practices had become habits not easily surrendered. And rather than try to force people to completely eradicate all of their old habits, the priests gave Josiah's subjects a new meaning to various rituals that could fit with Yahweh worship. In the place of human sacrifices, animal sacrifices were to be performed. Instead of fertility festivals, they would engage in festivals that demonstrated their gratitude and devotion to Yahweh. The most important of these festivals, the spring festival, became the Passover—a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt led by Moses.
Judaism, Islam and Christianity
Wine plays a major role in the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian cultures. In Jewish ritual, each sabbath begins with a blessing chanted over a cup of wine which the whole family then shares. Specific amounts of wine must also be drunk at Passover, weddings and circumcisions. Although wine is a strong component of the Jewish faith, the Dionysian idea that intoxication is a higher state of consciousness is rejected—except for Purim, when "a person must drink on Purim until he can no longer distinguish between "Cursed be Haman" and "Blessed be Mordechai."
Judaism is replete with images of wine and its power. The Bible has a total of 141 references. The psalmist even declares that "yayin yisamach levav enosh", that "wine gladdens the heart of man."
The Talmud is actually the original source of the classic Jewish toast, "to life" L'chayim (Megillah 16b). And Rabbi Eleazar asserts that aged wine is one of the treasures of Egypt that Joseph sent to his father. There is even a story in the tractate Avodah Zara about a rabbi who is cured of an intestinal ailment by drinking 70-year-old apple wine. Where wine is absent, medicine is necessary, declares the Talmud (BB 58b).
Legends and myths surrounding the mystery of wine abound in Jewish lore and learning. The Midarsh Rabbah of Genesis goes so far as to assert that Adam ate of the vine, not the apple tree. The glories of wine and drink are found in a variety of sources. During the Talmudic period the rabbis actually suggest that wine is helpful in achieving profound thoughts and Rav Huna concurs by asserting that wine helps open the heart to reasoning.
While the "tastes great" vs. "less filling" debate rages on in bar rooms across America, we are confronted with a somewhat similar dilemma in Judaism concerning another intoxicating beverage: Wine.
Although our sages have offered numerous observations about wine and its effects, many of their comments appear contradictory, and we are left with no clear consensus on the matter. On the one hand, the Talmud (Tractate Berachot 40a) states unequivocally, "Nothing brings lamentation to the human race like wine." Additionally, we find that Noah is criticized for choosing to plant a vineyard as his first undertaking following the flood, an action he is subsequently punished for via the incident with his son Ham.
Judaic Ceremonies
"Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who bringeth forth the fruit of the vine."
On the Sabbath morning, before the wedding, the groom goes to the synagogue for the reading of the Torah. After the groom recites the final blessings, it is customary to throw candy raisins at him to ensure a good life for him and his bride.
Traditionally, the Jewish wedding starts with the signing of the marriage contract called Ketubbah. The Ketubbah is a document that describes the rights and obligations of the bride and the groom who then sign this document and keep it safely.
A Jewish wedding ceremony may take place at home or in a synagogue. It is customary for the couple to fast on their wedding day as it is believed to have all their sins forgiven. It has therefore become customary to get married in the late afternoon so the couple fasts for almost the complete day.
The bride and the groom stand under a canopy called Chuppah normally made of flowers and having four poles, held together by the friends of the groom and the bride. They exchange rings under this canopy and take vows. The ring is supposed to be a single piece (a band), having some monetary valued at least a pertah (about one dime). Next, the ketubbah is read aloud. Then they sip from a glass of wine. The ceremony ends with the groom stamping on the wine glass, a reminder of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
Havdalah
The departure of Shabbat is marked by the ceremony of Havdalah. The ceremony invokes our five senses as we bid farewell to Shabbat. Three items are used during the ceremony—a kiddush cup, a multi-wicked Havdalah candle and a spice box full of fragrant spices. The experience of Havdalah is at its warmest when participants stand together in a circle and join in singing the Havdalah blessings.
The first of the four Havdalah blessings is made over wine. In Judaism, wine is a symbol of gladness and joy. The cup of wine is filled to overflowing to symbolize the abundant blessings hoped for in the week ahead.
"Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who bringeth forth the fruit of the vine."
After the blessing over the wine, a blessing is said over the spices, in the only Jewish ritual utilizing the sense of smell. Celebrants smell the spices to console ourselves over the loss of Shabbat.
Next is the blessing over the light of the candle. Celebrants cup their hands and hold them up to the candle to see the reflection of the light, and turn them to see the darkness. In doing so, they observe the distinction between light and darkness, adding to the theme of separation.
The final blessings enumerate various distinctions in our lives, between holy and secular, light and dark, and between Shabbat and the six weekdays. The blessing ends as they extinguish the Havdalah candle with the remaining wine.
After the final blessing, they sing “Eliyahu HaNavi.” This song contains a prayer for Elijah the prophet to come speedily in our days, bringing the Messiah with him. The ceremony ends with the exchange of the traditional greeting shavua tov, meaning a good week.
Historically, it is interesting to note that the Jews of the Land of Israel developed an expertise in wine and there is much discussion of wine, its production and its export. The Jews of Babylonia, however, had more interest in beer.
According to the teaching of the sages: "one cup of wine is a suitable amount for a woman. Two is repulsive and with three she will demand sex explicitly. With four she will show no discernment and settle for a donkey in the marketplace."
The Essenes, a sect who lived an austere lifestyle still celebrated the festival of Tirosh, of the New Wine--fifty days after pentacost. They were strongly against the leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem, and left to live in the Judean desert. It was most likely the Essenes who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Bible attributes to Noah the planting of the first vineyard, from whose grapes he made and drank wine (Gen. 9:20-21). Wine and must (new, unfermented grape juice) were among the agricultural products of the land of Israel which the Torah singles out as a sign of the fertility and abundance of the land (Gen.49:11; Dt.32:28). Archaeological findings confirm that wine production was widespread in ancient Israel.
As a beverage, wine generally accompanied the first meal of the day. It was customary to dilute the wine before drinking it by adding water, up to a third of its quantity. Every place where the Bible mentions "cup" - as in Psalm 23:5, "my cup overflows" - it is assumed that this is a cup of wine, which, it is said, "gladdens the heart of man" (Prov. 31:6), and of must, that it "gladdens God and man" (Jud.9:13).
At the main meal of the day, which was eaten in the evening (in Talmudic times people ate only two meals, breakfast and supper), there were two courses, and with each of them a cup of wine was drunk. Wine played an important role in religious rituals. The Torah sets out in detail the quantities of wine that must be poured out in libation upon the altar for every type of sacrifice (e.g., in Num.28-29). Several basic religious rituals are distinguished by the drinking of one or many cups of wine, over which is said a special blessing: "the Creator of the fruit of the vine" [or "He who creates . . ."] (over grapes one says, "the Creator of the fruit of the tree"). Thus wine symbolizes the cooperative partnership between God and man.
The Sages of the Talmud said, "There is no joy without wine" (in spite of the fact that they warned against excess drinking -- except for on Purim). At the Covenantal Circumcision ceremony, a single cup of wine is drunk. The wedding ceremony after the time of the Talmud consisted of two parts, each of which made use of a cup of wine, and from which both the bride and the groom drank.
There was a custom to give to mourners during the first seven days of mourning (the "shiva") ten glasses of wine. The custom was abandoned after Talmudic times. Shabbat and festivals are welcomed with the saying of Kiddush [Sanctification] over a cup of wine. A cup of wine is used in the Havdalah ceremony which marks the conclusion of the Sabbath, and the Passover Seder is distinguished by the drinking of four cups of wine. Four cups of wine are also drunk at the Tu B'Shevat Seder.
Christianity--wine in the Bible
"God made wine that maketh glad the heart of man."
In Christian ritual wine is also given a role of importance. The first miracle of Jesus at Cana occurred when he turned water into wine at a wedding feast, thereby setting the stage for later use of wine in Christian practices. And Christ served the best wine last—a tradition that is still discussed for every event today.
John 2:1-22
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
The Christian Eucharist also relates to the consumption of wine. The last supper and the symbolism of Christ's sacrifice of himself has many interpretations and different rituals. Many of these, including the Catholic mass call for the use of wine in the performance of the Eucharist.
Genesis 27
27:28
Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine;
Amos 9
9:14
I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
2Sam
13:28
Then Absalom commanded his servants, "Mark when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, `Strike Amnon,' then kill him. Fear not; have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant."
Psalms 10
4:15
and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart.
Qoh
10:19
Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.
Psalm 104:
"God made wine that maketh glad the heart of man." Proverbs 31:6&7:
"Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more" Ecclesiastes 9:7:
"Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do." Ecclesiastes 10:19:
"A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry." Luke 5:39:
"No one that has drunk old wine wants new; for he says, 'The old is nice.’”
The Eucharist
Most Christians throughout history and in our own time believe that the bread and wine is changed to the Body and Blood of Christ.. First, consider the Eucharist. Christ said:
I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51).
Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you... for my flesh is real food, and my blood real drink (6:55).
Does it shake your faith? ...What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before...? (John 6:61,62)
So, the Catholic Church is being faithful to the Scriptures in believing in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It's radical, but fully biblical.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
In Matthew 26:26-28 Jesus said of the bread at the Last Supper, "Take this and eat... This is my body..." and of the cup, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." Giving one's body and shedding one's blood for the forgiveness of sins are biblical expressions which speak of a true sacrifice.
Also, in Psalm 110, clearly referring to the Messiah, Christ is called a priest according to the order of Melchizedek (see Hebrews 5:5-10 as well). Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18) offered bread and wine as a sacrifice to God for a victory celebration. Christ offers his body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine as a sacrifice to God.
Islam
The rise of the Islamic Empire halted, or at least slowed, the production of wine. Since the consumption of alcohol was prohibited by the Islamic code of law and theology, the development of wine making was almost stopped in a geographic area that stretched from northern India to Spain. Wine was prohibited by Islam, but promised to true believers who arrived in Heaven:
[al-Baqarah 2:219]
They question thee about strong drink and games of chance. Say: In both is great sin, and (some) utility for men; but the sin of them is greater than their usefulness. And they ask thee what they ought to spend. Say: that which is superfluous. Thus Allah maketh plain to you (His) revelations, that haply ye may reflect.
[Muhammad 47:15]
A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to Allah) are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of clear-run honey; therein for them is every kind of fruit, with pardon from their Lord. (Are those who enjoy all this) like those who are immortal in the Fire and are given boiling water to drink so that it teareth their bowels ?
[at-Tatfif 83:25]
They are given to drink of a pure wine, sealed,
Prayers such as those of Khwajah 'Abdallah Ansari, the great saint of Herat contained in his Supplications (Munajat) are at once the deepest yearning of the heart for the Ineffable and the Infinite and common devotional prayers chanted by many of the devout in the community and thus belonging to the intermediate level alluded to above:
I live only to do Thy will,
My lips move only in praise of Thee
O Lord, whoever becometh aware of Thee
Casteth out all else other than Thee.
O Lord, give me a heart
That I may pour it out in Thanksgiving
Give me life
That I may spend it
In working for the salvation of the world.
O Lord, give me understanding
That I stray not from the path
Give me light
To avoid pitfalls.
O Lord, give me eyes
Which see nothing but Thy glory.
Give me a mind
That finds delight in Thy service.
Give me a soul
Drunk in the wine of Thy wisdom
When Islam arrived, most of the Arab world drank wine. Here is a text of analysis:
"Islam, in fact came to Arabia at a time when wine was consumed by the great majority of the Arabs. They loved wine more than anything else. What did Islam do to ban wine and stop it? It did not issue a drastic order and stopped it once for all. On the contrary, it applied a gradual process of four steps the final one of which was the prohibition command which acted like magic. People immediately responded and accepted this prohibition so much so that we can safely say that this was one of the first laws in the world that witnessed collective implementation.
"People could not believe their own eyes. All of a sudden, the once most beloved drink of Arabia became the most avoidable abhored drink of all. Islam succeeded when all similar both earlier and later attempts failed. Why don't people today use the Islamic solution to ban drugs? It is the most successful method. What is needed is to change people from within, to make them God fearing, God conscious and make them feel that they are obeying God by boycotting this evil. This is the decisive role Islam can play to save humanity from drug addiction."
And yet it was Arabic scholars who discovered the distillation process, and so showed the rest of the world another way of preparing and consuming alcoholic beverages.
While the Arabs controlled much of the Mediterranean, the old Roman world had collapsed into a individual feudal states. The most successful were often monasteries, which had lower "labor costs" and higher production. These were often on the sites of ancient Roman Villas.
Benedictines: Measure of Drink
Each man has his own gift from God, one this and another that. We are therefore hesitant in deciding how much others should eat or drink. Keeping in mind the weakness of the less robust, we consider that half a pint of wine a day is sufficient for everyone. Nonetheless, those to whom God has given the gift of abstaining should that they will be rewarded. But in a case where the locality or the work or the heat of summer may make a larger allowance necessary, the abbot must decide, taking care that there is no excess or drunkenness. Indeed we read that wine is not a drink for monks, but since monks cannot nowadays be persuaded of this, let us at least agree to drink sparingly and not to take our fill, as "wine maketh even the wise to fall away."
When the Catholic Kings of Spain unified Iberia and drove the Moors from the peninsula, they interpreted their success as a sign of God's blessing. Santiago, the patron Saint of Spain, was carried into battle on banners, and the victories were proof that the Spaniards were better Christians, and therefore more blessed, than any other people on earth.
It’s not surprising, then, that their efforts to colonize the Americas were founded on this missionary zeal. Yes, they sought gold, but they also sought the conversion of the world to Catholicism. To make this conversion complete, they needed priests in every town, every settlement. And to celebrate mass, they needed the basic ingredients for transubstantiation: wheat and wine. Wherever they went, these two crops were critical for their long-term future. Without them, they could not achieve their goal.
Admittedly, winemaking was a primitive affair in those days. The grapes were grown from cuttings, and were harvested when they were ripe and as time permitted. They were crushed in open troughs dug into the ground, and the juice then ran downhill into cowskins, goatskins, or barrels for storage. Sometimes the grapes were crushed in a cowskin (hair side down!) suspended between trees. A hole cut into the middle of the skin then allowed the juice to run free into the skins or barrels for storage.
The fathers were torn between making this a celebration of life and the harvest, and saving enough of the precious wine for their masses for the rest of the year.
Hinduism
Hinduism, the ancient religion of India, may trace its roots back to the civilizations of the Indus Valley some 5,000 years ago. Hinduism does not prohibit anything, neither wine, nor women, nor meat. It, however prepares you for the consequences of your choice of lifestyle.
O Mother Ganga, may your water,
abundant blessing of this world,
treasure of Lord Shiva, playful Lord of all the earth,
essence of the scripture and
embodied goodness of the gods,
May your water, sublime wine of immortality,
Soothe our troubled souls.
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