Russian toast, empty glass

01The gesture and its intended meaning

At the Russian table, one does not drink without a toast: every glass is accompanied by a spoken turn - a brief formula or a genuine speech - built on the preposition за ("to, for"): за встречу ("to our meeting"), за нас ("to us"), за любовь ("to love"). During the toast, eating or drinking is a lapse: full attention goes to the speaker, and glasses are clinked at the end of the words, before drinking (Cultural Atlas). At solemn toasts, the company empties the glass "до дна" (do dna, "to the bottom") - and vodka is not sipped. The researcher Elena V. Nuciforo (Russian Journal of Communication, 2013) analyses the Russian toast as a communication ritual in its own right, whose central object is understanding among the guests: emptying the glass together stages the sincerity of the bond.

02Where it goes wrong: geography of the misunderstanding

The classic foreign faux pas: sipping one's vodka, setting down a half-drunk glass after a toast, or declining without a word of explanation. Refusing to drink to a toast may be read as a disavowal of the person who has just spoken - or of what that person said (Cultural Atlas). Another trap, purely linguistic: "na zdorovie", repeated by American cinema as "the" Russian toast, is not one - на здоровье means "you're welcome, at your service" in answer to a thank-you; the real toast to health is "за ваше здоровье" (za vashe zdorovye), and there is no all-purpose Russian equivalent of "cheers". In Ukraine, the identity marker is "Будьмо !" (Budmo, "let us be!"), with the same norm of the glass emptied in one go; for Belarus, no specific rule is as well documented - caution is due with any generalisation. The ritual in fact survives a spectacular decline in alcohol: according to the WHO (2019), Russian consumption fell by 43 % between 2003 and 2016 - the toast remains, the vodka declines.

03Historical origins

The image of an "immemorial" ritual calls for caution. The word тост is a borrowing from the English toast, and the date of its entry into Russian is not established by the sources consulted. What is documented is the political use of alcohol by the state: Mark Schrad (Vodka Politics, Oxford University Press, 2014) retraces the courtly compulsion to drink and the fiscal pillar that vodka constituted - about one third of the revenue of the Russian state in the 19th century according to David Christian ('Living Water', 1990). Several pieces of toasting folklore are, by contrast, legends: the idea that emptying the glass or clinking would prove the absence of poison is a folk etymology that has been refuted (Ripley's, Snopes); the empty bottle placed on the floor is explained by a Cossack legend of 1814 - Parisian restaurateurs are said to have charged by the number of empty bottles left on the table - still told as a legend, never established in the archives (The Moscow Times). As for the famous "third toast", drunk standing, in silence and without clinking, to the memory of fallen comrades, its military ritualisation dates from the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989) - not from a tsarist antiquity; in civilian life the third toast traditionally goes to love or to women, and one never clinks glasses when drinking to the dead. Finally, far from "fortifying" the ritual, Leo Tolstoy founded in December 1887 the first great Russian temperance society ("Agreement against Drunkenness"), whose pledge he signed as member number one.

04Documented incidents

Three archival moments fix the force of the ritual. At the tripartite dinner of the Yalta conference given by Stalin at the Yusupov Palace (8 February 1945), the minutes of the American diplomat Charles Bohlen note that "the atmosphere of the dinner was most cordial, and forty-five toasts in all were drunk" (FRUS). Milovan Djilas, a guest at Stalin's nocturnal dinners between 1944 and 1948 - which began around ten in the evening and ended at four or five in the morning - reports that "we were pressed and challenged a little too much to drink, and there were too many toasts", Molotov proposing toasts that were "short and calculated to produce a precise political effect"; "a significant part of Soviet policy was shaped at these dinners" (Conversations with Stalin, 1962, trans.). Finally, on 4 April 1985, it was in a session of the Politburo that Mikhail Gorbachev launched the anti-alcohol campaign (resolution of the Council of Ministers of 7 May 1985): restricted sales, state production of spirits falling by 30 to 40 % between mid-1985 and mid-1986 (Bhattacharya, Gathmann and Miller, 2013), male life expectancy rising from 61.7 to 64.9 years between 1984 and 1987 (Shkolnikov and Nemtsov, 1997) - before a progressive dismantling from 1987-1988.

05Practical recommendations

• Do: wait for the end of the toast before drinking; give your full attention to the speaker; empty your glass in one go when the toast calls for "до дна".

• Don't: sip the vodka; drink or eat while a toast is being made; clink glasses during a toast to the dead (one then drinks in silence); leave an empty bottle on the table.

• Alternatives: anyone who does not drink alcohol is well advised to say so at the beginning of the meal rather than refusing toast by toast; taking part in the ritual with a brief toast built on "за..." is always appreciated.

• Watch out: business meals, banquets and commemorations in Russia and Ukraine; do not say "na zdorovie" as a toast.

Geography of misunderstanding

Historical origins

Le mot тост est un emprunt à l'anglais (datation de l'emprunt non établie par les sources consultées). La contrainte de cour à boire et le rôle fiscal de la vodka sont documentés par Schrad (Vodka Politics, OUP 2014) et Christian ('Living Water', OUP 1990). Les légendes (test anti-poison ; bouteilles vides des cosaques à Paris 1814) sont présentées comme telles par la presse (The Moscow Times) et démenties par les vérificateurs (Ripley's, Snopes). Le « troisième toast » silencieux aux camarades tombés s'est ritualisé pendant la guerre d'Afghanistan (1979-1989). Documentation datée la plus ancienne utilisée ici : minutes Bohlen du dîner de Yalta, 8 février 1945 (« forty-five toasts in all were drunk »).

Documented incidents

• 1945 — Au dîner tripartite offert par Staline, les minutes officielles américaines notent : « L'atmosphère du dîner fut des plus cordiales, et quarante-cinq toasts au total furent bus » (trad.). Les toasts croisés entre Staline et Churchill scandent la soirée — le toast d'État soviétique à son apogée. (FRUS, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, doc. 403 (Bohlen Minutes, Tripartite dinner meeting, February 8, 1945).)
• 1948 — Djilas décrit des dîners de dix heures du soir à quatre ou cinq heures du matin : « on nous pressait et défiait un peu trop de boire, et il y avait trop de toasts » ; Molotov portait des toasts « courts et calculés pour produire un effet politique précis » ; « une part significative de la politique soviétique se façonnait à ces dîners » (trad.). (Milovan Djilas, Conversations with Stalin, trad. Michael B. Petrovich, New York : Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962 ; extraits reproduits par le Wilson Center Digital Archive.)
• 1985 — La session du Politburo du 4 avril 1985 lance la campagne anti-alcool (résolution du Conseil des ministres du 7 mai 1985) : ventes restreintes, production d'État de spiritueux en chute de 30 à 40 % entre mi-1985 et mi-1986, espérance de vie masculine passée de 61,7 à 64,9 ans entre 1984 et 1987 — démantelée progressivement à partir de 1987-1988. (National Security Archive (GWU), « Minutes of Politburo Session..., April 4, 1985 » ; Bhattacharya, Gathmann & Miller (2013) (production −30-40 %) ; Shkolnikov & Nemtsov (1997) (espérance de vie masculine 61,7 → 64,9 ans, 1984-1987).)

Practical recommendations

Neutral alternatives

• Participer au rituel par un toast bref construit en « за... » (« à... ») : за встречу (à notre rencontre), за нас (à nous).
• Ne pas dire « na zdorovie » en guise de toast (c'est une réponse à un merci) ; pour boire à la santé : « за ваше здоровье ».

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