Association of the week: Wine
The traditional symbolism doesn’t link wine with the state of drunkenness. The only exception is when the drinker is in a state of “mystical drunkenness” – meaning in communion with the divine.
Wine in Ancient Cultures was reputed to dispel curses, reveal lies (in vino veritas) and could also be drunk by the dead when people would spell wine in the earth.
The idea that wine is “the blood of the vine” goes back to very ancient perceptions that later on were incorporated to the Christian symbolism of the Eucharist.
In Islam, the attitude towards wine is double: for the mystic current of Sufism – wine is considered to be a way of attaining the divine, whilst in other currents, wine is believed to be a curse that the angels brought to mankind after the fall of Adam. It is believed though that in paradise, people would drink the sweet wine of eternity.
Now you take the floor: what do you associate with wine?
