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NEWS
Why is a champagne bottle broken over the bow of a ship when it's launched? The practice of sacrificing SOMETHING when a ship is launched dates back to ancient days. The Babylonians would kill an ox and pour the blood over the ship. The Maya, like most of the other Mesoamerican cultures, produced fermented alcoholic beverages from corn or agave cactus, the precursor of modern tequila. Another drink, specially flavored for ritual purposes, was a rather nasty brew called Bal-Ché made from fermented honey and the bark of the Bal-Ché tree Lonchocarpus violaceus. I have tried this delightful cocktail and rate it right up there with really bad cough medicine. Our ancestors drink jícaras (gourd cup) and jícaras of Bal-Che. When they’d finished the magnificent liquor, they would break the empty bowls in the bow of their boats. (Intelligent choice and with better taste than the ox’s… what a draculesque scene)
Drunkenness was connected with the widespread practice of divination, a ritual act designed to allow direct communication with certain supernatural forces so great that an individual could foretell the future or understand the causes for events not otherwise understood. A drunken state was supposed to give one the insight to interpret the reasons for illness, misfortune, adverse weather, and so forth. Does that not sound familiar? I have a couple of friends that get positively brilliant after a few rum and cokes. Oh… sorry, bringing back to our main title: Why champagne and not wine or some other drink? Probably because champagne has long been associated with beginnings: new years, new births, and new endeavors. With the 64 brand new HOBIE CAT 16 Limited Edition Catamarans, the Doug Skidmore`s, President of Hobie cat, Co. cellars will be completely empty. Arrive early to the Mexico’s Hobieworlds. We will change the words “sail ahead” for “cork ahead” Salud! (Cheers) El Gato de Hobie |
