Beer and Religion AD
Viking Valhalla
As to the creation of beer, Norse myth offered the following explanation. The
gods were at war with a human tribe called the Vans; after much killing, a
peace conference was arranged and a treaty was sealed by members of both sides
spitting into a jar. To preserve the occasion, the gods shaped the saliva and
some dust into a living man named Kvaser. Kvaser was soon murdered by a race of
dwarfs, his blood being collected in an iron kettle. The enterprising dwarfs
added honey to the grue and the whole mess became ale. Norse paradise, called
Valhalla, was no less than a giant ale house having 540 doors where the Viking
god Woden entertained the dead with tales of battles fought and flagons of ale.
This ale streamed from the udders of a mythic goat named Heidrun, whose endless
bounty of beer kept the divine company in a constant state of bliss.
Beer and Christianity
Beer and Christianity are inseparable. Beer was an essential element to daily
life. Early church leaders understood that the direct line to the soul of the
parishioners is through their beer. Fermentation was considered a gift of god
and yeast received the moniker, "god-is-good". The early Christian church
supplanted pagan celebrations with those of Christian celebrations, e.g.
Christmas. Other pagan celebrations were renamed in honor of a Christian saint.
Monasteries brewed beer to supply the needs of the monks, who had vowed their
service to their religion. It was a small payment indeed to provide the monks
5 liters of beer each day. The monks also knew beer could buy the hearts of
the commoners.
He who drinks beer sleeps well.
He who sleeps well cannot sin.
He who cannot sin goes to heaven.
(An anonymous German Monk).
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For a thousand years the church was a gathering place. Christians brewed
special beers to bring to the church and celebrate. Should the parish need
funds a church ale was brewed and donated, then parishioners were charged a
small fee to donate to the church. In latter years royal decrees were made for
tithes that were to paid in barley or beer. Each citizen was required to
donate to the church.
Because things often went wrong with the beer brewing that nobody could
explain, the guilty parties were often sought in the mystical realm. Many
wondrous herbs and cult objects still surrounded brewing kettles into the late
middle ages. Superstition went so far that brewing failures were blamed on
"beer witches" or the devil. The last known burning of a "beer witch" took
place in 1591. Several practices existed to control or avoid the interventions
of the devil. The posting of signs and symbols in the brew house was and still
is a common practice. Even today, in most Belgian brew houses you can find a
crucifix or a statue of a Saint. Other symbols used were the six-pointed star
or the sign of "purity". Another common practice of the old brewers was to
stick to certain rituals, like reciting phrases or prayers at certain specific
moments.
Beer and Christmas
Many cultures rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter
was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours
of sunlight and of the new year to come. The Teutonic barbarians celebrated
Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. The end of
December was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that
time of year, some cattle were slaughtered so that they did not have to be fed
during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a
supply of fresh meat. All households were obliged to brew strong beer for
Solstice. The beer would be drank as a sacrifice for a good year and peace.
(Some sacrifice).
By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals,
church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly
embraced. For the most part it succeeded, but they gave up the ability to
dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the
most part, replaced pagan religion. One holiday the Christians created was St
Nicholas' day, December 6. In celebrating this day with feasts and ale these
Christians were able to begin the holiday season even earlier. Feasts and
celebrations continued on until Christmas when believers attended church, then
celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today's
Mardi Gras. After Christmas day everyone would continue to celebrate
throughout the ancient period of solstice and into the middle of January. When
the beer or ale ran out they visit friends and kinsmen to drink their beer.
Christian Saints and Beer
In the early years of Christianity Sainthood was by proclamation and not a
formal process created by the church. As a result, many folktales were
transformed into miracles or saintly deeds. Saints were created as "Christian
heroes" and were enlisted to guard over breweries, brewers, and beer.
Saint Arnold
of Soissons is the official patron saint of hop pickers. What makes him a great
Beer Saint
is that according to legend, he ended a plague when he submerged his crucifix
into a brew
kettle and persuaded people to drink only beer from that "blessed" kettle. This
was a popular
theme, since even in these days people realized that beer was safer to drink
than water.
Saint Adrian
(ca. 303 A.D.). Saint Adrian is a well known Beer Saint throughout Europe.
Saint Adrian's Day, celebrated on September 8, is the occasion for much
Christian beer drinking in Europe. Adrian had been a Roman guard to the emperor
Maximilian. While overseeing the torture of some Christians, Adrian, so
impressed by the prisoner's faith and fortitude, renounced the emperor and
converted to Christianity on the spot. For this act, his arms and head were cut
off.
Saint Nicholas.
The Russian peasants' favorite saint was Nicholas. He was a kind Bishop of
Myra in the fourth century. Nicholas, mostly a Byzantine saint, became more
and more popular in the West, aided, perhaps, by becoming a favorite patron of
guilds, as he was associated both with helping the poor and merchants. The
celebration of St. Nicholas Day was December 6th. Celebrations included
gift-giving, a little ale drinking, and even a little pagan pageantry. Many of
these customs had died out in Europe by the nineteenth century, only to be
revived by American writers like Washington Irving and Clement Moore, who
reinvented the old saint in a new guise. Nicholas, who had once rode a white
horse like a knight, was now equipped with a sleigh and reindeer, and the
sprites who once accompanied him were now transformed into toy-making elves.
Saint Brigid
(439-521 A.D.) of Ireland was a generous, beer-loving woman and the abbess of
Kildare. She worked in a leper colony, which one day found itself without beer.
"For when the lepers she nursed implored her for beer, and there was none to be
had, she changed their bathwater into an excellent beer, by the sheer strength
of her blessing and faith in god and dealt it out to the thirsty in plenty."
Saint Arnou
(580 A.D) is another patron saint of brewers, the bishop of Metz in 612 A.D..
He spent much of his life warning peasants about the dangers of impure drinking
water. He recommended beer as an alternative because "from man's sweat and
God's love, beer came into the world."
Saint Columbanus
(612 A.D.) was an Irish monk and missionary in the 6th-7th century. He was a
missionary priest whose claim as a Beer Saint derived from a story of him
happening upon a group of "pagans" about to sacrifice a cask of ale to the god
Wodan. Using only his breath, St. Columbanus shattered the ale cask from across
a clearing. He then explained that the men were wasting good ale and that God
loved ale, but only when drunk in His Name. Saint Columbanus was also known to
say, "It is my design to die in the brew-house; let ale be placed to my mouth
when I am expiring, so that when the choir of angels come they may say, be God
propitious to this drinker."
Saint Florian
(ca. 700 A.D.) was a Beer Saint whose saintly beer act involved saving
Nurnberg, Germany, from burning down in a great fire in the 8th century with
beer (and, no he didn't drink it first).
Saint Hildegard
(1098 - 1179 A.D.), a Benedictine Nun, was the abbess of Diessenberg and a
well known herbalist. Her writings include the earliest known reference to
using hops in beer. She wrote in part: "[Hops], when put in beer, stops
putrification and lends longer durability."
Saint Arnou De Oudenaarde
(ca. 1100 A.D.), sometimes called Saint Arnouldus, was a Belgian saint who is
said to have appealed to God for cold beer during a battle in Flanders in the
11th century. He was also said to be able to multiply beer into vast quantities
through blessings and prayer.
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The Reformation and beer
When Martin Luther was born, nearly all of Western Europe looked to Rome as the
head of the Church. By Luther's death in 1546, Europe was divided between Roman
Christians and protesting – or Protestant – Christians. Martin Luther was a
beer loving monk. Martin married Katharina of Bora, a former nun. She was a
licensed brewster. She kept brewing beer and he sent away for it when he was
away from home for long periods of time. Luther declared that it was beer that
gave him strength to fight even the devil, “I'd much rather drink a tankard of
beer against the devil so that I can despise him." His life was ended when a
servant girl gave him a poisoned tankard of beer.
Mohammed and Beer
The prophet Mohammed banned alcohol, to distinguish his followers from the
Christians and the Jews, and alcohol remains prohibited by Muslim nations.
Modern day Buddhists also abstain, as do Hindu Brahmins. But in many other
ancient creeds, a tipple was the principal means by which worshippers achieved
religious ecstasy.
American Prohibitionists
Many protestant religions that came to America were not overly anti-alcohol.
The Puritans and Quakers enjoyed their beer. The latter Lutherans and
Presbyterians enjoyed their beer. However, the Mormons and the Baptists
evolved as strict prohibitionists. These are "you can't" religions. What is
most interesting about these religions is that when asked they want things like
"family values" movies, movies that are void of anything offensive to them.
However, when a South Carolina theater owner complied attendance dropped 80%.
Temperance and Abstinence Protestants have a great effect on American policy.
In the early 20th century they were responsible for Prohibition. Today, they
have influenced many laws. The drinking age is 21 years old. Drinking is
prohibited in many areas on Sunday (Blue Laws). Alcohol is heavily regulated
and taxed (Sin taxes). DUI laws are under constant pressure to tighten. Our
government has been pressured to define alcohol as a drug equal to marijuana or
heroin. Recent discoveries of health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption
are at best ignored, and more often denied, by our government. The current
President and his daughters are faulted for consuming beer. Any pro-alcohol
stance on a political issue spells doom for a politician's career. In essence
it is a significant issue for the Temperance and Abstinence Protestants, yet it
is a low priority issue for alcohol permissive cultures.