Weird Traditions Involving Wine

People do strange things involving wine. For whatever reason, some involve weddings in ways that would not occur to me, but then again, my imagination doesn't extend to the places that some other people's do. Here are a few of the more curious.

In Korea, both North and South, it is customary for elders to be treated with respect when it comes to beverages including wine. The proper way is to have your wine poured while you are sitting, but when it is poured, either stand up or kneel and take your glass with both hands from the person pouring it for you. This is said to indicate having accepted the respect given you.

In Rioja in northern Spain, there is a day in late June -- perhaps June 29 -- during the local wine festival in which everyone wears white. Guests then fight each other with red wine and festival organizers throw buckets of red wine on guests to turn their clothes red and purple. Then, the guests compete in wine drinking competitions.

In Nigeria, at large weddings, the groom is hidden among the guests. Then, the father of the bride gives his daughter a glass of wine. It is her task to then find her groom, whom she might not have met until that day, among the many male guests and serve him the glass of wine. If she does that successfully, she may serve herself as they believe it in Nigeria to her groom so that they might consummate the marriage. If she is unsuccessful, the marriage might be undone.

In Ukraine, it is a tradition for guests to attempt to steal one of the bride's shoes (I don't know exactly how this happens). The person who successfully does that may then command others to drink wine from the bride's stolen shoe.

In the country of Georgia, a festive dinner will have a toastmaster. The toastmaster will choose as many as he likes (the toastmaster must be a man) from approximately 100 customary Georgian toasts and lead the guests in raising their glasses. Each guest must sip with each toast, so a particularly worthy toastmaster might get the whole room particularly drunk before the meal even starts.

Do you have a wackier wine tradition than these?


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