Just for giggles, I decided to take a look at drinking in moderation. To my surprise, my ancestors had a little thing about that. The Hávamál (Sayings of the High One), from the Prose Edda, a book on Norse myths compiled by Snorri Sturluson had a thing or two to say about that. I start thinking about that as I enjoy a “Rockville” at the brewery while watching the Caps game.
So what did this mysterious Hávamál have to say about drinking? Here’s the excerpt in both Old Norse and English:
an sé manvit mikit; auþi betra þykkir þat í ókunnun staþ, slíkt es válaþs vera. |
on the way than his mother wit: and no worse provision can he carry with him than too deep a draught of ale. |
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öl alda sunum, þvít fæ’ra veit, es fleira drekkr, síns til geþs gumi. |
is the drinking oft of ale: for the more they drink, the less they can think and keep a watch over their wits. |
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hann stelr geþi guma; þess fugls fjöþrum ek fjötraþr vask í garþi Gunnlaþar. |
wiling away men’s wits; with the feathers of that fowl I was fettered once in the garths of Gunnlodr below. |
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at ens fróþa Fjalars; þvi’s ölþr bazt, at aptr of heimtir hverr sitt geþ gumi. |
in the fold of wise Fjalar; But best is an ale feast when a man is able to call back his wits at once. |
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Interesting words coming from a culture I am all too familiar with. I am of Danish descent, drinking is a way of life. I remember getting drunk with my younger brother at the Tuborg brewery when we were just teenagers. I even have a before and after picture of that at the brewery hanging on our wall. It’s interesting when you can go into a store and when you can look over the counter, they’ll serve you.
Moderation was something that didn’t really fit into the vocabulary when I went to school over the pond in Helsingor, Denmark. I went to school over there for four months, the best four months of my life. We had beer in the vending machine! It wasn’t unusual to go to the breakfast table with a beer in hand.
Every event we ever part took in had beer involved. I have many fond memories of drinking beer in Denmark. I remember talking about the woes of American Cinema with Lars von Trier at a small cafe in Tisvilde, Denmark. It’s amazing what beer will bring out in a person. I love being part of a beer drinking culture.
My wife isn’t much of a beer drinker, but that’s okay, she really like the “Rockville” both Jared and I slaved over to try and perfect. My in laws on the other hand…they are my favorite drinking buddies. How many people can say that? Ah to have drinking culture on both sides of my family. My bloodhound was even a drinker, I had to be very careful around her, if I looked away for even a second, I’d have a pint full of drool instead of a beer.
I’m on a stream of consciousness right now, I’m half concentrating on this and half on the game. Go Caps! To make a long story short, I pretty amazed that my ancestors were more responsible than people today. I think it changed a bit throughout history. At Kronborg Castle in Helsingor, if you take the tour, they tell you how much beer the soldiers drank, and they still fought off the Swedes! I’m going to go now, enjoy a beer and watch the rest of the game.
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