"Since time immemorial, drink had been - in the words of the Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev in the tenth century - 'the joy of the Russes'. Successive generations of Western travelers and residents had found drunkenness almost universal in Russia. Peasants, priests, boyars, tsar: all were participants. According to Adam Olearius, who visited Muscovy in the time of Peter's grandfather Tsar Michael, no Russian ever willingly missed a chance to take a drink. To be drunk was an essential feature of Russian hospitality. Proposing toasts that no one dare refuse, host and guests gulped down cup after cup, turning their beakers upside down on their heads to prove that they were empty. Unless the guests were sent home dead drunk, the evening was considered a failure."-Robert Massie, from his biography of Peter the Great, pg. 123
Thursday, February 25, 2010
[Broad generalization] On Russian drunkenness
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3 comments:
This is embellished, right?
Funny you should ask - I hosted a party the other night and, as some people were leaving, one of the Russian guests asked me if Americans always leave parties sober. I said not necessarily. But then I pointed out this passage from the book and she was in firm agreement.
I want to see pictures of the party you hosted. Nay, I demand them.
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