Fancy a drink?

Lent 2019: Day 37

As the train pulled into W-wa Jeziorki station, I caught sight of a chap standing on waste ground behind the southbound platform chugging away at a tin of beer. "How pleasant it would be," I thought, "to relax a while at the end of the working day with an ale." And then, "well - as it happens, nearing the end of Lent, actually, no - I can quite do without. Old habits... But then doing Lent for me is nothing new; I've been quitting alcohol for the duration every year for 28 years. Each year it looks daunting at the beginning, but by the end it's easy. Wouldn't quit booze for good though; social occasions (which I eschew over Lent) go much better with a glass or wine or five, or indeed a similar number of beers with the lads, or just the single glass of red with a good meal. No, life is to be enjoyed.

For those who favour a literal interpretation of the Bible, the temperance movement that resulted in American prohibition had to do some convoluted thinking to reject alcohol totally.

In the Gospel of St John, Jesus performs His first miracle, which consists of turning somewhere between 469 and 703 litres of water into wine (the equivalent of 625 and 937 standard 75cl bottles. Up to 150 cases of the stuff!):

St John Ch 2: "1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece*. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him."

It's clear from this text that the guests had already worked their way through the wine before Jesus and his disciples arrived at the wedding. Jesus and his disciples wanted wine. Upon hearing from his mother that there was no wine, Jesus used his heavenly powers - for the first time - to perform the miraculous transformation into several hundred litres of wine.

Below: a big thank-you to Iza from Yorkshire for letting me use her photo, taken recently at Cana, reputedly (the bottom half of) one of the six waterpots of stone. Just look at the size of it compared to the people (just) visible behind it! This was a massive vessel...

We don't know how many people were at the marriage at Cana. A couple of hundred? Even if the entire village and everyone within a day's donkey ride away turned up, the sheer volume of "good wine" appearing midway through the celebrations must have had a massively intoxicating effect on those guests that partook in the merrymaking. [Incidentally, the average wedding feast in Poland gets through 163 bottles of vodka. That's 3,620 units of alcohol or the equivalent of 241 regular bottles of wine. At Cana, the guests were presented with up to 937 bottles - after having drunk what was originally provided.

[*The above text is from the King James version of the Bible; a firkin is 41 litres. The Greek text states 'two or three metretes' (μετρητής); one metrete (amphora) was equivalent to 39.1 litres.]

American evangelical teetotallers tried to persuade their followers that Jesus changed water into grape juice - not so. Wine is wine, it has fermented. Other instances of the Greek word οἶνον throughout the Bible clearly refer to an intoxicating drink, not unfermented juice.

For Christians (at least) this should be a clear sign that drinking alcohol is not frowned upon by God. It is the context in which it is used. A wedding feast - a celebration, a dinner with friends - go right ahead! Knocking back a tin of strong ale on one's own suggests an uncontrollable need.

And so from the Bible to the spreadsheet; from 1 January until Easter Sunday (21 April) of this year, I will have consumed 121 units of alcohol compared to 210 units across the same 110-day period. (Weekly average of 7.7 units down from 13.3 units last year). Public Health England guidelines are 14 units - so once Lent is over, I'll have some catching up to do!

This time last year:
Klimat change

This time five years ago:
Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel

This time six years ago:
Warsaw 1935: a 3D depiction of a city that's no longer with us

This time seven years ago:
Cats and awareness

This time nine years ago:
Why did this happen?

This time ten years ago:
Britain's grey squirrels turning red