One for the Road

One For The Road Role of alcohol in Goan society Biula V. Cruz e Pereira GBC 2015 One For The Road: Role of Alcohol in Goan Society © 2015 Biula V. Cruz e Pereira [email protected] 9921448110 Published in 2015 by Goa,1556, Sonarbhat, Saligao 403511 Goa, India. http://goa1556.goa-india.org, [email protected] +91-832-2409490 10987654321 Project co-ordination: Frederick Noronha. Editorial assistance: Sasha Pereira, Pamela D’Mello Cover concept: Jonathan Rodrigues Cover design: Sharmila Coutinho Printed by Brilliant Printers, Bangalore http://www.brilliantprinters.com Typeset with LYX, http://www.lyx.org. Text: Palatino, 9.4/12 pt. Published with financialGBC assistance from the Directorate of Art & Culture (Government of Goa) scheme for Goan authors. More interesting Goa,1556 books at http://goa1556.in ISBN 978-93-80739-82-3 Rs 350 in Goa 2 This book is devoted to the memory of my parents Agostinho and Elsa, and my sister Connie. GBC Alcohol in Goa acts as a social lubricant and is considered an essential part ofGBC hospitality. Alcohol consumption manifests solidarity of friends. It indicates acceptance of man among men. ‘One for the road’ is a saying that refers to a final drink taken just before leaving on a journey. A final drink which seals the bond of friendship at the time of departure.... Contents Foreword 9 An Integral Part 13 1.TheOldest,MostAbusedIntoxicant 19 Concepts: alcohol, beverages and alcoholism . 20 Origin of the alcoholic beverage . 20 Socio-cultural attitudes towards alcohol . 22 Alcohol consumption patterns . 27 Variations in alcohol consumption . 31 Religious attitudes towards alcohol use . 32 Family socialisation and alcohol use . 34 2.ResearchSettingandMethodology 37 Localeofthestudy .. .... .... .... ... .. 38 Statementoftheproblem. 52 Specificobjectivesofthestudy . 53 Researchquestions . 54 Researchuniverseandsample. 55 Selection of sample villages and respondents . 57 Toolsofdatacollection . 60 Pilotstudy ......................... 61 HouseholdinterviewsGBC . 62 Interviewschedule . 62 Observation ....................... 65 Informaldiscussions . 66 Secondarydata ..................... 66 Dataanalysis....................... 66 5 CONTENTS Significanceofthestudy . 66 Ethnographicexperiences . 68 Organisation of the book . 75 3.LocationofAlcoholinGoanCulture 80 Pre-Portuguese Goan society and culture . 80 Alcohol industry during the Portuguese rule . 89 Contemporary Goan society and culture . 97 4.SocialOrganizationofFeniDistillation 102 Collection and distillation of feni . 105 Coconutorpalmfeni . 105 Theprocessofcollectingsur . 110 The socio-economic life of the rendêr . 131 The socio-economic life of the kazkar . 134 5.AlcoholtheQuotidianGoanLife 141 Alcoholasamedicine . .141 Alcoholasafoodingredient . 146 Alcohol in customs and traditions . 149 Wine used to wash the statue of Jesus . 166 6.Alcohol’sSocialFunction 176 Alcoholuseatritesofpassage . 178 Alcohol use at community events . 193 Situationaldrinking. 199 7. Social Norms 209 Attitudes towards alcohol consumption . 211 Societal attitude towards women consuming alcohol 214 Various modes of serving alcohol . 220 Alcohol consumption and group formation . 226 Whoservesalcoholicdrinks? . 232 Societal etiquette governing alcohol consumption . 232 Societal obligationsGBC and alcohol . 235 8.AlcoholandReligion 237 Church views on alcohol consumption . 239 Impact of religious movements on alcohol use . 248 9. Changing Trends 253 6 Contents Changesindrinkingtrends . 253 Transformation in alcohol production and preference 263 Alcoholism and its effect on society . 268 10. Conclusion 274 Glossary 285 ReferencesandBibliography 290 About the author 305 GBC 7 6. Alcohol’s Social Function ULTURE is a universal phenomenon; and as Larsen (1998: C 22) points out, it is also unique because of the past and present experiences of its population. The past and the present cannot be separated, as culture is the cumulative effort and expe- rience of generations of people. The complexity of each culture arises from the innate web of beliefs, lifestyles, customs and so on. It includes all the observable elements that manifest in a par- ticular group of people. Classical anthropologists have taken this a step further to include social institutions, mannerisms, world- views, values and interactions between people. Alcohol consumption is a noticeable factor in most cultures. As discussed in Chapter I, alcohol is consumed variously in different places of the world. Since times immemorial, civilized people have had alcohol as part of their ceremonies. The rich and deep red colour of wine was usually compared with the richness and value of blood. Wine was used by men to pledge loyalty. Ear- lier, a pledge was often sealed by cutting the veins of their wrist and mixing their blood, thereby symbolizing that they became blood brothers. As civilizations progressed, this barbaric custom was replaced by sipping wine from the same glass, as the wine re- sembled blood. Wine was used to pledge loyalty and friendship at ceremonies likeGBC betrothal, marriage, christening, baptism and even death. Thus, alcoholic beverages became an accepted part of rituals (Block 1965: 33). To research on alcohol use, the functional approach is a fruit- ful frame of reference. The four traditional principles of function- alism are as follows: 1. Every social system has certain needs for 176 Alcohol’s Social Function its maintenance. 2. Every social custom is functional in the sense that it fulfills some of the needs of the social system. 3. A social need may be fulfilled by different social customs. 4. Social customs together make up a meaningful whole, so that a change in one social custom entails changes in one or more of the other customs (Straus 1971: 222-223). Robert Merton distinguishes the manifest from the latent function. A social custom is said to have a manifest function if its consequences contribute to the fulfilment of social needs and are intended and recognized by the participants in the social system; it has a latent function if its consequences are neither intended nor recognized as contributory to the fulfilment of social needs by the participants in the social system (Ibid.). Merton also introduced the notion of dysfunction as opposed to eufunction. Eufunction is contributory and dysfunction harm- ful to the maintenance of a social system (Ibid.). In this context the use of alcohol at social gatherings in Goan society does satisfy the human desire to drink. Thus, on the one hand, society accepts social drinking and, on the other, points to the parameters of drinking. That is to say, alcohol consumption is culturally patterned. Consumption may or may not be associated with social deviance, as deviance has various definitions. The drinking custom is itself socially defined in terms of who drinks what, when, where, how much, with what effects and for what reasons. Studies also reveal variations in terms of age, sex, rural urban residence, religious af- filiation, ethnicity and socio-economic status (Sterne 1967: 67-68). In Goa, alcohol consumption is more than noticeable. The various events where the use of alcohol is ‘accepted’ and ‘expected’ by society is explored in this book. Alcohol has an important social function, particularly in Goan Catholic life. No social occasion is complete without alcohol. Using Merton’s analysis, it can be said that alcohol use is an eufunction to the Goan Catholic community. On the other hand, it cannot be said that Hindu celebrations are to- tally devoid of alcohol use. In fact, some Hindu families have now started servingGBC alcohol at certain celebrations which are strictly social in nature and have no religious significance. Presently, there is little difference between alcohol consumption at the individual level in the two communities. Goan society has socially sanctioned occasions for alcohol consumption, avoiding ‘dysfunction’. Alcohol consumption is per- 177 ONE FOR THE ROAD mitted as long as it fits within socially acceptable parameters. Thus, this kind of drinking pattern is not to be taken as an in- dulgence or obsession. To understand this wide spectrum of celebrations where alcohol consumption is acceptable to society, three distinguishable areas are described: 1) Alcohol use at rites of passage 2) Alcohol use at community events 3) Situational drinking. Alcohol use at rites of passage Every individual, irrespective of his caste, religion or region, has to cross certain milestones. Whether or not these rites of passage are celebrated by the individual or his family de- pends on their economic capacity and personal preferences. Important events in a person’s life include age-related milestones like the first, 21st and 50th birthdays; wedding and wedding anniversaries, especially the twenty-fifth, fiftieth and seventy-fifth; or the first birthday of the bride in her matrimonial house. By and large, birthdays are celebrated at home. Friends and relatives meet for a meal, at which alcohol is also served. The Catholic religion prescribes that its followers receive seven sacraments: Baptism, Confession, Communion, Confirma- tion, Marriage, Holy Orders and Extreme Unction (Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick). All except the last are conferred in a religious and ritualistic ceremony in a church. The sacrament of Confession and Extreme Unction are ex- tremely private as the first deals with confessing one’s transgres- sions and the second deals with prayers for the sick and dying. The other five are celebrated publicly. Church authorities confer

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