Shoe salamander

Designation (also notification, commers, Zutrink) for the ritual form of Alkoholkonsum (usually Bier), where the drinker wants to honor a deceased or living person or a group of people by dedicating the drink. Zutrinken also refers to mutual greetings. Often a short speech is held or at least a suitable Trinksprüche is pronounced.

Oldest drinking custom of humanity

Zutrinken is considered one of the oldest drinking customs of humanity, alongside the greeting with bread and wine described in the Old Testament of the Bibel. As long as others were drinking, a man was not allowed to withdraw, even to the brink of unconsciousness. This was meant to prove a man's strength. Not reciprocating the Zutrinken was often seen as a serious insult. The consequences could be social, societal, and economic exclusion, as well as physical attacks. A certain role was also played by the belief that according to the saying In vino veritas, the true character of a person is revealed under the influence of alcohol. Due to these circumstances, drinking excesses with physical altercations up to manslaughter were very common.

The English painter William Hogarth (1697-1764) unflinchingly and with biting irony criticized the customs and manners of his time in his works, as seen in the painting "Nightly Revelry" above.

The devil alcohol

From the late Middle Ages, there was increasing preaching against the "devil Alkohol" from both the church and humanists. The reformer Martin...