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Wine
Wine as an Ancient and Modern Jewish Symbol
The Bible presents wine in a positive light. The Psalmist praises God for the gift of wine, which can "gladden the heart" (Psalm 104:15). Indeed wine is often served at celebrations. In general the Bible associates wine with well-being, joy, and blessings. These associations still permeate the celebration of the Jewish Sabbath (for more on Sab- bath, see Sunday). This home religious observance focuses around the evening meal, turning it into a special occasion for expressing one's gratitude to God and for rejoicing with one's family. At the start of the meal the oldest male present recites a prayer of blessing over a full cup of wine. The cup is then passed around the table so that everyone may take a sip of the blessed wine.
Various passages in the Hebrew scriptures, or Old Testament, compare wine with blood. One such passage describes wine as the "blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:11). Blood was an important element in ancient Jewish religious sacrifices. It was offered in acceptance of covenants, or agreements, between God and humanity, as well as in seeking atonement, or reconciliation, with God (see also Sin; Redemption). The ancient Jews also offered wine in certain religious sacrifices. Therefore, when Jesus used wine to represent his blood at the Last Supper, he was drawing on religious imagery that would have been familiar to his followers. Wine is still an important element in the Jewish Passover Seder, where it accompanies blessings and hymns.
Wine and Water
Throughout the ancient Mediterranean world people drank wine on a daily basis, often mixed with water. Among the Romans as well as the Jews an everyday mealtime beverage consisted of two or three parts water to one part of wine. Some scholars believe that this everyday mixture was used at religious rituals as well. Thus the wine served at Passover celebrations was mixed with water as was the wine served at early Christian celebrations of the Eucharist.
This mixture of wine and water also recalls passages from Christian scripture. The Gospel according to John declares that after Jesus died a Roman soldier pierced his side with a spear, bringing forth a flow of "blood and water" (John 19:34). The appearance of water as well as blood may have symbolic significance, since throughout the New Testament, and especially in the writings of John, water imagery is used to describe the workings or the presence of God's Holy Spirit. In the third century St. Cyprian came up with a theological interpretation of the eucharistic formula of wine and water. He declared that the wine represented Christ, the water his followers, and the mixture of the two their union. Other commentators drew links between the miracle at the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1-11), and the eucharistic practice of mixing wine and water.
Wine Controversies
In nineteenth-century America members of a number of evangelical Protestant denominations, such as the Methodists, Baptists, and Disciples of Christ, began to criticize what they saw as the widespread abuse of wine and other alcoholic beverages in American society. In sermons, speeches, and written documents they denounced wine and spirits as evil influences which led those who consumed them towards violence, poverty, familial discord, and other forms of social and moral decay. Many of these people also believed that drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages undermined one's physical health. Religious figures from these denominations beseeched their followers to abstain from all alcoholic beverages. Eventually these negative attitudes towards wine led clergy in many evangelical Protestant denominations to substitute grape juice for wine in the celebration of the Eucharist. This change reflects the depth of their alarm since it directly contradicts Christian scripture. In the Bible passages concerning the Last Supper Jesus clearly identifies his blood as "wine."
Their fervent dislike and distrust of alcohol led many evangelical Protestants to campaign for laws making it difficult or impossible for anyone to obtain alcoholic beverages. By the 1920s social reformers who supported this agenda had succeeded in bringing about a national Prohibition law. During the Prohibition era (1920-33) the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States made the production and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the land. An exception was made for wine used for religious rituals, such as the Eucharist, however. So throughout the Prohibition era Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and other Christians who wished to maintain the use of wine in the celebration of the Eucharist continued to do so. Although the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution was repealed in 1933, some evangelical Protestants continued to speak out against the evils of alcohol. As a result many evangelical Protestant and other churches still serve grape juice instead of wine in their celebrations of the Eucharist.
Further Reading
"Blood." In Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998. Cole, R. Dennis. "Wine." In David Noel Freedman, ed. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. Ferguson, Everett. "Wine." In his Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Volume 2. New York: Garland, 1997. Fuller, Robert C. Religion and Wine: A Cultural History of Wine Drinking in the United States. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1996. Jenney, Timothy P. "Water." In David Noel Freedman, ed. Eerdmans Dic- tionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. Myers, Allen C., ed. "Wine." In The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1987. "Wine." In Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998.
Wine
(pop culture)While trying to discern Dracula‘s nature, the entrapped Jonathan Harker remarked that his host never drank. Translated to the movie screen, this observation emerged in one of the most famous lines spoken by Bela Lugosi in the 1931 movie. Speaking to R. N. Renfield over dinner, Dracula said, “I never drink—wine.” That line was spoken just after Renfield (whose character went to Castle Dracula instead of Harker in the movie version) had cut his finger and Dracula had shown his desire to drink of the blood that had appeared. The scene created a use of wine, the blood of the grape, as a metaphor for human blood.
Through the last generation, wine became a significant vampire souvenir product. In 1974, the Golden Krone Hotel opened in Bistritz, Transylvania. The Golden Krone was the name of the fictional hotel at which Jonathan Harker stopped on his way to Castle Dracula. At the new hotel, a modern guest may order a Mediasch wine from Medias in the Tarnave Mare district of Transylvania, upon which Harker dined while at the Golden Krone. The modern visitor can also have some “Elixir Dracula,” a local red liqueur made from plums.
Around 1990, A.V.F.F.Sp.A. of Sona, Italy, produced a “Vampire Wine.” Distributed in the United States by Louis Glunz in Lincolnwood, Illinois, it was a red wine in a black bottle with a black label and arrived in an appropriate coffin container. Bottles of this wine were distributed as door prizes at Coven Party II sponsored in 1991 by Anne Rice‘s Vampire Lestat Fan Club, and today are among the rarest of vampire collectibles. In the 1990s, a “Vampire Wine” from Romania was made available from TriVin Imports in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. It joined the “Vampire” wine from Vampire Vineyards in Creston, California, which initially appeared in 1988 (http://www.vampire.com/) and has added a Vampire Vodka to its spectrum of fine wines.
With the emergence of a new wave of Dracula-oriented tourism in Romania, several companies have responded with new liquid souvenirs. As early as the 1970s, a Vlad the Impaler vodka (with a picture of Bran Castle) appeared. On the occasion of the opening of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Bucharest, in July 1993, for example, Stroh Transylvania produced “Dracula’s Spirit”, described as the “Original Vampire’s Delight.” It was a mixture of vodka flavored with fruits and vegetables and red food coloring. The bottle’s label carried the quote, “The history has borne the sacred hero. The myth has borne a bloody vampire.
The hero and the fiend bear one name: DRACULA. We trust in DRACULA’S VODKA.” A similar product has been marketed as “Dracula Seduction” and Dracula’s Spriit.” Liquors have joined the shelves of Dracula souvenirs beginning in 1994 with “Dracula Slivovitz,” the popular plum brandy of Romania. A special boxed version of the slivovitz was created for the World Dracula Congress in 1995.
Also available are “Vlad Trica” and “Draculina Slivowitz.” The Transylvanian Society of Dracula has also moved to develop its own wine, Count Dracula Wine, with variant titles for the different white, rose and red varieties.
Additionally, one of the society leaders in Romania began distribution of a very fine brandy as “Alucard Brandy.” As of 2009, Vampire Vineyards in cooperation with TI Beverage Group, made available a spectrum of wines and vodkas (many imported from Europe) with either a vampire or Dracula theme. They range in price from the fairly inexpensive wines to more costly, specially packaged items sold as gifts or souvenirs.
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What does it mean when you dream about wine?
The fermented juice of the grape, wine has for centuries been romantically considered the “nectar of the gods.” It is a symbol for blood and sacrifice in Christian liturgy and may hold transformative significance for the dreamer.