Toasts for Every Occasion

Introduction

Toasting is one of the easiest ways of marking special occasions, of turning an ordinary celebration into something extraordinary. Having been born and raised in the nation’s capital, in a family of statesmen, politicians, and military leaders, I was introduced to toasting at a very early age. I remember my grandfather, Ambassador Joseph E. Davies, my uncle, Senator Millard Tydings and my father, General Burdette Fitch, giving toasts at family gatherings. They were all good speakers and I thought toasting a wonderful custom. Usually, once someone first makes a toast, others rise to the occasion. A good toast can make any gathering unique. It can be a few lines or even just a word or two, tender or bawdy, and on just about every conceivable subject.

It is good to remember, though, not to make your toast too long since people may get bored and stop paying attention. Because many diplomats tend to turn their toasts into policy statements, rambling on and on, the State Department’s Office of Protocol now suggests that White House and diplomatic toasts be limited to no more than three minutes. Short and to the point is usually best, with the occasional exception. Toasting is a genteel civility designed to enhance an occasion. A bad toast can cast a pall over it.

Toasting is also almost always associated with alcoholic beverages, but that is a purely personal choice. There is a superstition that toasting with water brings bad luck, but juice, sodas, or any other liquid can be substituted. As a child I can remember toasting with milk.

Toasts can help us recall special moments. Who could ever forget Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca when he says, Here’s looking at you, kid?

Perhaps wedding or anniversary toasts make you misty-eyed, or bachelor toasts make you laugh. Whatever the occasion, you will find it that much sweeter, funnier, and more memorable with the addition of a toast.

Wassail, the traditional British drink served in a large punch bowl or loving cup on Christmas and Twelfth Night, is derived from the Saxon term waes hail, meaning to your health. Our modern custom of Christmas caroling from door to door came down from the time when people took the wassail bowl from neighbor to neighbor, expecting it to be replenished at every stop, while singing songs of the holiday season.

The expression toast or toasting dates back to the sixteenth or early-seventeenth century, although the custom is far older. The word toast comes to us from the Middle English tosten and the Middle French toster, which in turn was derived from Late Latin tostare, to roast, and the past participle of torrere, to dry, parch.

The name also derives from the medieval practice, begun by the French in the sixth century, of dropping a piece of spiced, toasted bread into a goblet of wine that was passed among the guests. Afterward, the piece of toast was given to the highest ranking lady or the most honored guest. The tradition of putting toast in the wine is still observed in the loving cups of some of the old universities.

Since poisoning was common in the Middle Ages, toasting provided a polite way of proving to the guests that the wine was safe to drink. Perhaps as additional proof, and certainly as a sign of friendship, the universal toast the world over became to your health.

The practice of toasting can be traced back even further to many cultures in ancient times. It is probably the ancient Greeks and Romans we remember best. In both Greek and Roman mythology three portions of wine must be spilled on the ground and pledged to Mercury, the Graces, and Zeus before it is considered proper to drink. The Romans actually had an arbiter bibendi, or toastmaster, at their banquets and dinners. He was literally the judge of the drinking since he kept an eye on the amount of wine consumed. He also judged the proportions of water to be mixed with the wine, since the wine served then was stronger than it is today. The Roman gladiators had their own rather macabre toast to Caesar before they went into the arena: "Ave Caesar, morituri te salutamus, Latin for Hail, Caesar, we who are about to die salute you."

In the early Christian era it was believed that the sound of the glasses being clinked during a toast would banish Satan from the premises. And the Vikings used human skulls as drinking goblets. We should all be thankful that modern Swedes long ago gave up the practice begun by their Viking forefathers. Their traditional toast, skaal, literally means drinking vessel and comes from the word skull. When Lord Byron heard about this custom he didn’t rest until he acquired a skull goblet for himself.

In 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie was forced to flee Scotland following the Jacobite Rebellion, he sought exile in France. After that, whenever the Scottish regiments were forced to toast the English monarch, they would make sure their goblets passed over a vessel of water before toasting, thereby ensuring that they were really toasting the King over the ocean, Bonnie Prince Charlie, rather than the English monarch.

I’ve heard some amusing anecdotes about famous individuals in toasting situations. In one story, George Bernard Shaw was put in a decidedly awkward position at a formal dinner. Following the English custom at the turn of the century, the host selected the topic of the toast as well as the guest who would give it. Trying to catch the literary lion at a loss for words, he assigned to Shaw the topic of sex, a taboo subject in polite society. Without blinking an eye, Shaw toasted, It is my great pleasure!

My grandfather Davies told me another entertaining story about President Coolidge when my grandfather and grandmother attended a formal dinner at the White House. President Coolidge was known for being a man of few words; his nickname was Silent Cal. The president’s dinner partner that evening was a well-known Washington flirt. During the course of the meal she coyly batted her eyes at the president and said, Mr. President, I have a one-hundred-dollar bet that I can persuade you to give a toast of at least three words. That was a lot of money at the time, but Silent Cal lived up to his name. His immediate response was, You lose!

I have been asked for toasts on so many different occasions and in so many categories that I decided to write this book. If reading it makes you want to stand up and toast, then I shall have succeeded in my endeavor and be very pleased indeed! As a freelance photojournalist specializing in travel and yachting, I have collected these toasts throughout the world, on cruise ships, airplanes, trains, and even on safari. I’ve had a rollicking good time doing it and in the process my husband and I have met some amazing individuals and made some wonderful friends—which is what life is all about!

How to Use This Book

In most countries it is common to drink a toast to one’s health, but one can toast on any subject to suit a particular occasion, such as birthdays, holidays, the birth of a child, etc. No diplomatic occasion, state dinner, banquet, formal luncheon or dinner, wedding, anniversary, or christening would be complete without the ritual of toasting. Once I embarked upon this project, I wanted to write a comprehensive book of toasts for every occasion. I did not want to pad the book by listing the same toast in several categories, as others have done. For that reason, I included an index cross-referencing the toast to as many categories as applied. Because some toasts fit into at least two or even three or four categories, I encourage you to check the index and not just the Contents page to find every toast that applies to a particular category. Some toasts are similar in content but with a slightly different wording which gives them a completely different meaning.

I have tried to include only the best toasts, the easiest to remember, and a great many that have never been published before. I wanted them to be short and pithy and easy to follow. There are some notable exceptions, one of which is the literary toast written by David Martin, which was just too wonderful not to include. It’s easy to tell that David Martin lives near our nation’s capital. For maximum enjoyment, this toast should be read aloud so that you can appreciate the cadence. Those in the song category and a few others are a bit longer than the norm.

Although the vast majority of toasts are in English, there are quite a few in other languages, mostly Latin. The Romans were great toasters! The translations that follow are literal in most cases, except when it made more sense to translate them freely. To the best of my knowledge they are all spelled correctly with the