Beautiful drinking habits throughout history

In the past, people drank wine to write poems, recite poems, and become talented poets, who are still admired until now.

Ly Bach is famous for his image of “Fairy Poetry”, every time he lifts a cup of wine, he exports it into poems that later people admire greatly

History records a few of them. LuLing drank hundreds of cups of wine and did not know how to get drunk. Later drinkers only claimed to be “Lu Ling’s disciples”. Cao Shi, son of Cao Cao, also drank a lot, wrote a poem: “Returning to Binh Lac’s nest – My cup of wine is ten heavens”  (Returning to open a nest at Binh Lac restaurant – Good wine to drink ten thousand matches). Nguyen Cong Tru drank wine and proudly sang: “There is still heaven, there is still water, there is still a child. And the woman who sold alcohol, he was still drunk.” In modern times, Tran Huyen Tran once dropped an ear and confided in Tan Da:

Cụ hâm rượu nữa đi thôi 

Be này chừng sắp cạn rồi còn đâu 

Rồi lên ta uống với nhau

Rót đau lòng ấy vào đau lòng này…

(English version:

Let’s warm up the wine again

This bee is about to run out

Then let’s drink together

Pour that pain into this pain…)

But the drinking habits of the ancients are completely different from the scandalous “drinking culture” of today. How different?

First of all, in the early days, alcohol was associated with spiritual activities, which were used to sacrifice Heaven and Earth, “no wine without ceremony” (without alcohol, there is no ceremony). Chu Van Vuong said: “To sacrifice, use alcohol. The heavens sent down the order to let our people know that cooking wine was only used for great sacrifices.” Wine sacrifice is an important ritual, but the ancients set up an official in charge of doing that, called “civilian Te tau”. It must be a person of prestige, dignity, and respect!

Alcohol in the mind of the ancients is also a weapon to relieve sorrow and relieve depression, called “breaking into sorrow”. There is a saying: “Success is broken into sorrow only with alcohol” (If you want to break into sorrow, only alcohol is needed). Li Bai spent a lifetime holding a cup of wine, looking at the moon, enjoying flowers, and writing poetry, once wrote: “Human life is self-satisfied and joyful. Mac Su Kim Ton does not oppose the moon”  (Life is full of joy and happiness. Don’t let the golden wine cup run dry under the moon). Yet sometimes alcohol is also ineffective, does not destroy sadness, but creates more pain. It was also Li Bai who wrote: “Extracting the knife cut off the water, the water winged it. Apply to relieve sadness and sorrow”

Alcohol is also a “credible” that binds people to people, the glue that binds friends. The ancients said: “The cup sculpts the cup of enemies”. The owner raises the cup to wish the guest called “carving”, the guest who returns the greeting is called “enemy”. Having a cup of wine to drink with a soulmate is considered great happiness in life. That’s why there is a saying: “Tuu Phung tri millennium smeared. Dialogues start to speculate and sell owls” (Wine to meet a good friend is a thousand cups. Words don’t agree with a lot of sentences).

In another aspect, alcohol is also a catalyst for the inspiration for poetic composition. To Dong Pha on a Mid-Autumn Festival night more than a thousand years ago, raised a cup of wine and sang:

Minh nguyệt kỷ thời hữu

Bả tửu vấn thanh thiên

Bất tri thiên thượng cung khuyết

Kim tịch thị hà niên

(English version:

Minh Nguyet period of the right time

The Holy Spirit’s Liquor

Unaware of heaven and earth

Kim Chi Thi Ha Nien)

Translation:

Vầng trăng sáng có tự khi nào

Nâng chén rượu lên hỏi trời cao

Chẳng biết cung điện trên chốn ấy

Đêm nay đã là đêm năm nao

(English version:

Since when did the moonshine?

Raise the wine cup and ask the sky

Didn’t know the palace was in that place

Tonight is the night of the year)

Further, Ly Bach left a few touching verses about wine like this:

Hoa gian nhất hồ tửu 

Độc chước vô tương thân

Cử bôi yêu minh nguyệt

Đối ảnh thành tam nhân

(English version:

The most beautiful flowers in the lake

Immaculate and incomparable

The loving gesture of bright moon

Turn images into triplets)

Translation:

Có rượu không có bạn

Một mình chuốc dưới hoa

Nâng chén mời trăng sáng

Mình với bóng là ba

(English version:

There is wine without friends

Alone under the flower

Raise a cup to invite the bright moon

I and the ball are three)

The ancients drank wine in such an amateur way, drank, and then wrote poetry, leaving behind many beautiful stories. The ancients also drank a lot, drank badly, but could always control their own actions, it was very rare to find a “drunk” who broke and reversed morality. That’s why we say that the ancient way of drinking wine is really majestic, solemn, and really charming.

And of course, it is completely different from the hustle and bustle “drinking culture” now…