The religious history of beer

From the Rituale Romanum, via It's All Straw and Dustbury, we learn that beer is to be blessed:

Bene+dic, Domine, creaturam istam cerevisae, quam ex adipe frumenti producere dignatus es: ut sit remedium salutare humano generi: et praesta per invocationem nominis tui sancti, ut, quicumque ex ea biberint, sanitatem corporis, et animae tutelam percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, that Thou hast been pleased to bring forth from the sweetness of the grain: that it might be a salutary remedy for the human race: and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name, that, whosoever drinks of it may obtain health of body and a sure safeguard for the soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[As Charles points out, the + indicates a sign of the cross.]

According to Per Christum, which also provides the jolly pope photo at the top, "Summorum Pontificum [a papal letter] allowed this to be used at any pub, bar, alehouse, inn, tavern or saloon. An indult may still be needed for clubs - based on the discretion of the bishop's conference."

But the Catholics were by no means the first to bless beer. According to A History of Beer:

A seal around 4,000 years old is a Sumerian   "Hymn to Ninkasi", the goddess of   brewing.  This "hymn" is also a recipe for making beer. A   description of the making of beer on this ancient engraving in the Sumerian   language is the earliest account of what is easily recognized as barley,   followed by a pictograph of bread being baked, crumbled into water to form a   mash, and then made into a drink that is recorded as having made people feel   "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful." It could be that baked bread   was a convenient method of storing and transporting a resource for making   beer. The Sumerians were able to repeat this process and are   assumed to be he first civilized culture to brew beer. They had discovered a "divine drink" which certainly was a gift from the gods.

Miguel Civil of the Oriental Institute translates:

Borne of the flowing water (...)
Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag,
Borne of the flowing water (...)
Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag,
Having founded your town by the sacred lake,
She finished its great walls for you,
Ninkasi, having founded your town by the sacred lake,
She finished its great walls for you
(in a simlar fashion...) 
...Ninkasi, Your father is Enki, Lord Nidimmud,
Your mother is Ninti, the queen of the sacred lake.
...Ninkasi, You are the one who handles
the dough, [and] with a big shovel,
Mixing in a pit, the bappir with [date]-honey.

...Ninkasi, you are the one who bakes
the bappir in the big oven,
Puts in order the piles of hulled grains,

...Ninkasi, you are the one who waters the malt
set on the ground,
The noble dogs keep away even the potentates.

...Ninkasi, you are the one who soaks
the malt in a jar
The waves rise, the waves fall.

The Anchor Steam Beer company used the "recipe" in this hymn to re-create Sumerian beer. They discuss their Sumerian beer project at length here -- as well as providing directions for micro-brewers who would like to make their own.

It should come as no surprise that beer was treated with such solemnity in times past. Beer provided essential nutrients and, unlike water, it was safe to drink.

Comments

[prairie biker]

Baking the bread malts the grain and releases more sugars for fermentation.

[anaglyph]

Hmmm. Even with a beer in his hand Ratzinger looks evil.

Thanks for the link to Anchor - an absorbing read. Now I want to taste the beer.

[gail]

He just looks old to me.

[Patty]

http://www.eat-online.net/english/habits/beer_in_the_middle_ages.htm

[Patty]

http://www.eat-online.net/english/habits/beer_in_the_middle_ages.htm

[anaglyph]

Old and evil.

[Locust Eater]

Benjamin Franklin: Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Sam Adams: Let no man thirst for good beer.

Plato: He was a wise man who invented beer.

Sophocles (on diet): I recommend....bread, meat, vegetables and beer.

St. Brigid of Kildare: I would like a great lake of beer for the King of the kings; I would like the people of heaven to be drinking it through time eternal.

Homer Simpson: MMMMM, Beer.