Cheers
by Maggie Van Ostrand
If you're planning a toast for the New Year, there are a few old timey ways to go you might not have heard of. If they sound too weird, at least talking about them will give you a conversation starter.
The actual habit of "toasting" seems to have come about in the 1600s when it was customary for a piece of toast to be placed in each drink, possibly as a "flavoring device," according to "Toasts: Over 1,500 of The Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings and Graces," by Paul Dickson.
As to clinking your glass against another person's, one theory was that the sound would drive off the devil. It must be very effective because there are no politicians in Washington over the holidays.
Four of the five senses experienced with a toast, are Sight, Smell, Touch, and Taste; the fifth, Hearing, was taken care of by the clinking. At least that's what legend says.
These things do not seem to have been enough of a toast for 17th-century Irishmen though. They added a show of affection for their women by "stabbing themselves in the arm, mixing their blood in their wine, and drinking to the lady in question," Dickson says. There must've been some bloody wedding receptions back in the day.
On the Fourth of July, no celebration was complete without 13 toasts, one for each state, wrote Dickson. If drunken patriots staggered around after that, what do you think they'd do today after 50 toasts? Those who don't believe Hawaii is a State would only have to drink 49.
Happy 2015!
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