Szotyori-Nagy Ágnes (szerk.): A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 2011-2012 (Budapest, 2012)
Tanulmányok - Beck Tibor: A szőlő és a bor jelentősége a katolicizmusban és hozzá kapcsolódó néphitben
The importance of grapes and wine in Catholicism and folk beliefs TIBOR BECK The possibility of turning the juice of grapes into wine in the right circumstances had made the vine in Christendom the symbol of metamorphosis and transformation. In the Bible, grapes and wine have the greatest significance in the New Testament. Together with bread, wine has, since the Last Supper, been the basic material of the Eucharist. Among Christian churches it is the Catholic Church for which grapes and wine have the greatest significance, as Catholicism adheres to the notion of Christ’s real presence during the communion. The antecedents of this prominent role are already attested in the Old Testament, according to which Jews - following the laws of Moses - frequently consumed wine. There are numerous instances in the Old Testament of warning against excessive wine consumption, but moderate wine drinking was supported. In the New Testament grapes and wine are the symbols of the new world of Christ. The essence of this new reality, the Kingdom of God, is explained by Christ with his parable on the cultivation of the vineyard. His first miracle is also associated with wine. The dual characteristics of wine also appear in the New Testament, when, as one his last acts, Christ refuses the wine mixed with myrrh, as it has a narcotic effect. Wine achieved its greatest religious significance during the Last Supper. Both in the reality and symbolism of the Last Supper, and in its institution of the Eucharist, wine and bread play a central role. The offertory prayer of the Catholic mass makes the role of wine explicit in the most important Christian mystery, the Eucharist. In peasant religion the mystery of the grape bunch turning into wine, and every stage of winemaking, refers to the story of the Saviour. It is hardly surprising then, that people committed to winemaking erected crucifixes, statues of saints and chapels in vineyards or next to the roads leading there; such edifices have had a definitive role in forming the landscape for centuries. Nothing could be more natural: the home of Jesus Christ is in the vineyard. 210
