A guest - he is a stranger, a stranger, he is a messenger of God or God himself, who took on a human form. You will never guess what a guest came with, who he will be: a good friend who will bring the owners happiness, luck, share, or a sworn enemy.
The more unpredictable and ambivalent the character of the guest is, the more unambiguous, regulated is the custom of hospitality, which subjugates the one who comes to the house who has tasted bread and salt.
The enemy is in the field, a guest at home: sit under the saints and repair the valley
“Come in, dear guests! You are welcome!”- for our great-grandfathers and their great-grandfathers, hospitality was not just the appearance of exemplary etiquette behavior, no! Hospitality is a ritual, a sacred rite, the introduction of the visitor to the table - the red corner, the sacred place under the images, icons - and to the hearth, whoever your guest is. For him, a white tablecloth and food are always at the ready - all the best that is in the house. An abundant meal, a long meal, an exchange of gifts are integral attributes of hospitality, which appears as a mutually beneficial exchange. The owner of the house, treating, warmly meeting the guest, thereby rendered a service not only to the recipient of this favor, but also to himself, counting on mutual hospitality later. Just as the gift was beneficial not only to the one who received the gift, but also to the one who presented it,since it demonstrated the wealth and generosity of the donor and placed the recipient of mercy in a dependent position, demanded a reciprocal gift from him. “Gifts love gifts. The gift of the gift awaits."
“Guest to the house. And God is in the house"
The ritual of hospitality was based on the mythological idea that God in human form walks on the earth. These perceptions determined the behavior of both the guest and the owner of the house. The guest was supposed to behave passively, motionless, according to his high status. Often the sacred figure of the guest was confirmed by his namelessness: it was not customary to ask an unfamiliar traveler who he was, where he was going. After a certain time, the newcomer himself called himself, but he could leave without introducing himself.
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The owner was supposed to stand in the presence of the guest, regale him, bring glasses of vodka. If the owner was not standing, then he sat at the head of the table, under the icons. The women served food, but usually ate after the men; from the best food they usually got scraps, which they were content with, without imputing an offense to themselves. If today after eating we turn to the hostess with gratitude, then in Russia we thanked God. If the guest uttered words of gratitude to the hosts, then they were forwarded to the divine giver of food. A joint meal is the focus of hospitality and at the same time an exchange with the Almighty. The fellow-guests offered thanks to the Lord for the food provided, and the owner of the house, sitting at the head of the table, near the icons, ordered the feast on behalf of God.
He who does not drink famously has no place for the Russians
Drunkenness is a traditional feature of Russian hospitality. At the court of the Moscow sovereigns, they tried to make foreign ambassadors drunk and succeeded in this. In Russia there was a custom to drink round, for which there were special large silver vessels, in the XII century. they were called "charms", in the XV-XVII centuries. "Brothers".
Lifting the vessels up before drinking, which is customary for us to do to this day, the vessel was turned to the sky, offered to the Almighty. Likewise, the custom of drinking "for health", noted in the Tale of Bygone Years, was a drink in honor of a deity, just like a shaman, a priest drank in honor of a deity and simultaneously with him and being him.
Through food and drink, the newcomer turned from a “stranger” into “his own”, so it is not surprising that the meal was forced. The guest could not refuse food so as not to offend the hosts. Sometimes the feast dragged on, turned into gluttony, it was physically unbearable for the guest. In the XVI century. ambassadorial lunches in Moscow lasted 5-6 hours, and during all this time it was considered inadmissible to leave the table, and since throughout this time they ate and drank continuously, it is not surprising to imagine the plight of the guest during such a plentiful meal.
Drunkenness and gluttony - the remnants of a pagan cult - were condemned by the church and presented as examples of demonic, anti-Christian behavior. According to the folk tradition, gluttony was explained by the fact that together with a person they could eat “unclean people, then a person ate three times more than he was supposed to, but it was not he who ate, but an invisible brownie, a goblin and other evil spirits sitting nearby. Drunkenness was an attempt to go beyond the boundaries of everyday life, a search for another, otherworldly state. The drunk was transported to another world, therefore it looked ridiculous, because his actions were outside the laws of this world, and easily fell under the influence of demonic forces.
Drunkenness and gluttony is a violation of etiquette, but historically conditioned, going back to the pagan, archaic norm. A person who violates etiquette, without knowing it, returns back to the depths of time, the dense forest of the past.