The Art and Rules of the Supra

I have begun to understand and have explained to me some of the finer points of the Georgian feast known as the supra.

Firstly, for the newcomers, there will be more food and wine than the group could possibly consume.  Secondly, I must say, the Georgians seem to want to try to anyway, and will try to get you to as well.  The first time you say you can't eat any more, they'll probably fill or half-fill your plate again--after that, they'll probably begin to believe you if you tell them again.

The wine is also a large deciding factor.  Because of how much Georgians always try to feed you, it may sometimes be hard to tell if you're in a supra or not.  I would say that if there are about 15 or more toasts, it's probably a supra.  Otherwise, them drinking a lot of wine by American standards isn't necessarily much of an indication.

Georgian toasts aren't short, willy-nilly snippets:  they tend to almost all be to holy things and places, to people present, to other family members and friends, and to reposed family members.  These can also be quite long; sometimes they are only a few short sentences, but often they last for minutes on end, and can then be picked up by others for minutes on end each.  I remember at one supra having explained to me what was being toasted; people continued talking and making toasts, and about fifteen minutes later, I asked what someone was toasting--turns out, it was one of many continuations of the same toast.  Anyway, only after these truly heartfelt toasts might you start getting toasts to things like summer or mountains or so forth.  Now for the rules of the toast:  first off, it's never with beer or water or juice, or anything like that, but with wine and liquors (although almost always it seems to be wine, and, thankfully, it's more normal to always sip the liquors).  When refilling glasses, it is traditionally a rule to fill every glass completely every time regardless of how drunk the person may or may not be.  But, while Georgians may down their glasses a great many times (whether these glasses be very small or highballs) to these toasts, it is not inherently offensive to drink at every other toast, or to just drink part of the glass.  However, it is generally the best to down the first toast, any toast made to you, any toasts you make (though this one can be less necessary, depending on context), and the last toast (if you are able), as the last toast is traditionally reserved for God or at least for the Theotokos.  The one making the toast (the tamada) will start speaking, and often go on for a couple of minutes before clinking glasses with everyone he can (and sometimes this glass-slinking happens multiple times before he might actually finish his toast).  At this point, let him drink first.  The toast-maker drinks first, then anyone to whom he deferred the toast (as in, to expand upon it), then everyone else.  I accidentally drank first once after having a toast deferred to me and almost incurred the traditional penalty of having to immediately down another glass of wine.  By following these rules, you can respect the importance of the toasts while respecting your host family by not getting completely drunk.

Anyway, have fun, you newbies to the Georgian supra.  If you know how to respectfully not explode from food or drink, it's an extremely wonderful occasion.  (And even if you don't, it will probably be great--though the next morning may not be.)  My last bit of advice:  try to avoid drinking out of the giant ox-, sheep-, or goat-horns as much as possible.  ;)

In Christ,

Teopile/Theophilos Porter