Culture
Mate is more than just herbal tea. In Latin America, it has a status of a social drink. It helps to communicate, strengthens the connections and deepens understanding. Mate is a passion shared by fathers and children without quarrels and disagreements. It is drunk on festive events, business meetings and simply at home with family or friends. Mate is a cultural symbol of South America.
The tradition of drinking Yerba Mate was born a long time ago, and it was associated with a special ceremony, an almost mystical ritual. Today, offer to have a drink of mate is rather an invitation to relax, spend some time with friends. Mate is something that invites to conversation, if you are in a company, or to reflection, if you are alone. Drinking mate in solitude provides a great opportunity to reflect about one's life, to watch how all the excess goes away, how by itself untangles the web of thoughts and emotions, that chaotic state that occurs in the span of everyday life.
When you drink mate, time is melting, not because there is not enough of it, but because the worry disappears that time exists at all and that it goes somewhere, and that one can't manage something on time. However, the effect of the drink cannot be described as sedative or soporific. It is rather an invigorating drink that sobers mind, feeds the body and allows maintaining physical vigour for a long time. At the same time, mate is not a psychoactive drink. Its strength comes from its balance, because it contains a unique in terms of properties composition of beneficial microelements. Mate strengthens the energy structure of human body and helps harmoniously reconcile oneself with the force of nature. Thus mate becomes magical, by connecting the inner space (the human body) and the external (Universe).
In contrast to meditative mate drinking in solitude, when drunk in a company, mate calls rather for unity than contemplation. In a circle of friends or family, mate is traditionally drunk using one bombilla. This kind of intimacy may seem unsanitary, but with antiseptic properties of mate the probability of transmission of any infection is less than through a kiss. This is also the time of intimate experience and unity. The assumption is that people trust you. Mate is not drunk with anyone; it is a gesture that shows friendship and favourable attitude. You share it with those who are really close to you.
Mate drinking ceremony is lead by the person who pours the water and offers the calabash gourd. At a party with friends it is often the host, but this responsibility may also pass from one to another. The master of the mate ceremony pours water and offers the first sip to one of the guests. The bombilla has to point towards the guest, thus indicating friendship. The guest makes a few sips and passes the vessel to the next person, who is invited to the ceremony. Like the peace pipe, the vessel goes in a circle from guest to guest until one can hear whistling of the air passing through the bombilla. Then the calabash gourd is returned to the master, he again pours hot water over mate, and the ceremony lasts as long as the flavour lasts, and the particles of mate do not settle.
There are a few simple recommendations on what one shouldn’t do at the mate drinking if you are invited to join the circle of other mate drinkers:
The tradition of drinking Yerba Mate was born a long time ago, and it was associated with a special ceremony, an almost mystical ritual. Today, offer to have a drink of mate is rather an invitation to relax, spend some time with friends. Mate is something that invites to conversation, if you are in a company, or to reflection, if you are alone. Drinking mate in solitude provides a great opportunity to reflect about one's life, to watch how all the excess goes away, how by itself untangles the web of thoughts and emotions, that chaotic state that occurs in the span of everyday life.
When you drink mate, time is melting, not because there is not enough of it, but because the worry disappears that time exists at all and that it goes somewhere, and that one can't manage something on time. However, the effect of the drink cannot be described as sedative or soporific. It is rather an invigorating drink that sobers mind, feeds the body and allows maintaining physical vigour for a long time. At the same time, mate is not a psychoactive drink. Its strength comes from its balance, because it contains a unique in terms of properties composition of beneficial microelements. Mate strengthens the energy structure of human body and helps harmoniously reconcile oneself with the force of nature. Thus mate becomes magical, by connecting the inner space (the human body) and the external (Universe).
In contrast to meditative mate drinking in solitude, when drunk in a company, mate calls rather for unity than contemplation. In a circle of friends or family, mate is traditionally drunk using one bombilla. This kind of intimacy may seem unsanitary, but with antiseptic properties of mate the probability of transmission of any infection is less than through a kiss. This is also the time of intimate experience and unity. The assumption is that people trust you. Mate is not drunk with anyone; it is a gesture that shows friendship and favourable attitude. You share it with those who are really close to you.
Mate drinking ceremony is lead by the person who pours the water and offers the calabash gourd. At a party with friends it is often the host, but this responsibility may also pass from one to another. The master of the mate ceremony pours water and offers the first sip to one of the guests. The bombilla has to point towards the guest, thus indicating friendship. The guest makes a few sips and passes the vessel to the next person, who is invited to the ceremony. Like the peace pipe, the vessel goes in a circle from guest to guest until one can hear whistling of the air passing through the bombilla. Then the calabash gourd is returned to the master, he again pours hot water over mate, and the ceremony lasts as long as the flavour lasts, and the particles of mate do not settle.
There are a few simple recommendations on what one shouldn’t do at the mate drinking if you are invited to join the circle of other mate drinkers:
- Don’t shake or stir the drink. If the straw - bombilla is clogged, you can complain about it to the person who leads the mate drinking;
- It is not worth complaining that mate is too hot. Hot mate is a sign of strong feeling that brought people together in a circle;
- Don’t ask to add sugar. Bitter mate symbolizes wholesomeness and vitality;
- Don’t change the direction of mate drinking. The calabash gourd always changes hands in the same order;
- Don’t refuse the first drink from the gourd, if the master has offered it to you. The first sip is the strongest and most honourable;
- Always hand over the calabash gourd with bombilla directed towards the next person in the circle, by doing so you show respect;
- Don’t say "Thank you" too early. According to an ancient custom, this means that you had enough of mate. Even if you stay in the circle, you will be no longer offered the drink.