Tamada (drinking culture)

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Statue of a Tamada, Tbilisi.

The Tamada ( Georgian თამადა) is a table master who directs the happenings at a Georgian banquet , the Supra , and makes toasts . Its task is similar to that of an ancient symposiarch .

The Tamada is chosen at the beginning of the Georgian banquet. He offers the first toast, which is varied by the other guests. He makes the toasts in a fixed order. First he drinks to the welfare of the family who invited. Toasts to Georgia and the memory of the deceased and heroes should not be missing, this is how you show your love of home and honor the deceased. One usually drinks to parents, friends, relatives, the past or future of Georgia, etc.

In Azerbaijani , the table master is also called Tamada . In Georgia, Tamada is also a brand of Georgia Wine & Spirits (GWS). She offers a range of Georgian wines under this name .

Qualities of a Tamada

A real Tamada is a good drinker, but also masters traditional toasts and the necessary pathos. Kimeraweb.de describes the meaning of a Tamada for the Supra as follows: “You cannot imagine a Tamada that is mindless and witless and only thinks about drinking.” The best Tamadas can make spontaneous poems. Florian Mühlfried provided detailed descriptions of this in 2006. The tamada should be eloquent, intelligent, quick-witted, and perceptive with a good sense of humor because often some of the guests try to vie with him on toasts. At Georgian celebrations, he bridges the gap between past, present and future. Through his mediation, it appears as if not only the guests, but also the ancestors and descendants are united at the banquet table. The Tamada addresses them with the same affect and awe as the other participants in the festival. When a toast is made, all men must stand up and drink in silence. A toast is brought out by the Tamada and the other people present should develop the idea so that everyone in turn says something that is as original and emotional as possible than the saying of his predecessor. This starts a kind of speech contest. In the past, the Tamada had more control over the banquet table. The guests had to log off from him if they wanted to leave the banquet table or the party.

Choosing a Tamada

At small family celebrations, the host and Tamada are identical. At large celebrations, such as weddings or funerals, the Tamada is selected by the host in advance. You are looking for a relative or friend known as a good Tamada. In some cases, the festival community also chooses its own Tamada. In smaller groups of friends it can happen that the role of Tamada simply falls to the participants one after the other. Or there is an 'elder' on the board who automatically takes on the role. In other cases, a worthy personality will propose a tamada and if the others agree and the person addressed does not refuse, the person who proposed it will raise the glass to the tamada and make the first toast to it. For example “Kotes gaumarjos” (on Kote) or “kargad chaatarebinos es supra - May he lead the festival well”. The guests go with them. From this point on, the Tamada is responsible for the toasts. A good Tamada must also be able to organize well, because the course of the festival is his responsibility. He has to decide which toast is made and how often new toasts are made in order to keep a good rhythm. Likewise, he has to lead singing and dancing in order to entertain the guests well. This is closely related to another characteristic: He must be sensitive to the mood of the party and create a good atmosphere in which all guests participate. In Georgia they say: The banquet table must radiate a certain unity. Therefore, he should be aware of when guests are inattentive and withdraw. He can address you with a special toast or make you 'alaverdi'. For the same reason, he determines the pace of drinking and making sure that neither too much nor too little is drunk. And when a certain alcohol level is reached, he has to be careful that the toasts do not get too emotional. He also has to exude authority so that the guests pay attention to his toasts, which understandably becomes more difficult as the evening progresses. The ultimate quality feature of a good tamada is: it has to be a good drinker. With all toasts he should empty his vessel, but in no case get drunk, because that would be a great shame.

It is not uncommon for a Tamada to choose "representatives" or assistants from among the guests. Especially at big celebrations where he doesn't know every guest, the deputy symbolizes the rest of the guests.

Toasts

Toasts are drunk to all guests who sit at the table, their children and relatives or their deceased, as well as to the country of Georgia and the country's past. During formal meetings, a set sequence of toasts (sadregrzelo) is followed. The first toast on a Georgian supra goes to peace. In addition, the other guests follow, who try to highlight the most interesting, original and best value of the person addressed, but without flattering too much. This encourages those present to be virtuous because they are praised for good and thereby learn lessons in love and humanity.

Stories are also told that are related to the theme of the saying, so a saying can sometimes take 15 minutes. A toast can go something like this: A Georgian song tells us: “The reason we are is love, and that must undoubtedly be true. If it weren't for love, our nation, whose history for centuries has been a history of wars and struggles, could not survive. Georgians have based their life on the ancient saying: He is the enemy of himself who does not look for a person in life to love and by whom he will be loved. And I just want to drink to love now. To love! "

literature

  • Igor de Garine, Valerie de Garine: Drinking: Anthropological Approaches . Berghahn Books, 2001, ISBN 1571813152 .
  • Darra Goldstein: The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia . University of California Press, 1999, ISBN 0520219295 .
  • Florian Mühlfried: Post-Soviet Celebrations: The Georgian Banquet in Transition . Ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-89821-601-2 .
  • Nino Tsitsishvili: "A Man Can Sing and Play Better than a Woman": Singing and Patriarchy at the Georgian Supra Feast. In: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 50, No. 3, Fall 2006, pp. 452-493.

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