It’s a beautiful fall afternoon in Aix-en-Provence. We’re just hangin’ out and enjoying the scenery at a café in Place de l’Hotel. I’m sipping on a pastis, but if we had been sitting here a hundred years ago, my drink wouldn’t have been pastis. It would have been absinthe.
Pastis, after adding cold water, is a chilled, licorice-flavored glass of whitish liquid spiked with alcohol. It’s like a miniature glass of cold milk for adults.
Pastis became popular about a hundred years ago, after a similar drink was outlawed. That drink was absinthe. Like pastis, absinthe contained anise and tasted like licorice, but it had lots of other things in it, too.
Absinthe
Absinthe was popular at the turn of the century, especially in Paris. Producers of the drink were clever. They developed a routine to go through when preparing to drink absinthe. It was like a ritual. The ritual added an air of mystique to the drink.
There were variations of the ritual. One way to drink your absinthe was to put a special little slotted spoon on top of the glass containing absinthe. Then put a sugar cube on the spoon. Then dribble ice-cold water over the sugar cube and into the glass. Like pastis, absinthe would change color when water was added.
A fancier way to prepare the cocktail was to start by soaking the sugar cube in absinthe. Then light the sugar cube on fire, then knock it into the glass of absinthe, catching the whole drink on fire. (Can you see that happening in today’s highly regulated-for-our-good world?)
You’d put the fire out by dousing it with cold water. More fun than a vodka tonic, for sure. I wonder how many absinthe drinkers lost their eyebrows back in the day?
Dancing with the Green Fairy
Absinthe, sometimes referred to as “la fée verte,” (the green fairy), was usually colored green. In the late 19th century, it became so popular in France that what we call “Happy Hour,” they called “Green Hour”.
But absinthe got the reputation of being a hallucinogen. Not only that, it would make you wacky in the head. And not just when you were drinking it, but permanently. It was said that if you “danced with the green fairy,” sooner or later you’d pay the price. Whoa. No more for absinthe for me, thanks.
By 1920, absinthe had been banned in the US, France, and just about everywhere else. And guess what? It has now been scientifically proven that absinthe is 100% harmless.
Absinthe has since been “unbanned” everywhere, but too late. To the chagrin of absinthe producers, it’s no longer in fashion. Everyone has moved on.
But let’s get back to Avignon. We’re headed there tomorrow. I’m excited!
14th Century Recap
To recap from last time, back in the miserable 14th century, down here in the south, the Kingdom of France stopped at the edge of the Rhône river. Avignon, on the other side of the river, was part of the Kingdom of Naples. Naples? Way up here? Yep.
Avignon, located mid-way between Milan and Paris, was a bustling trading stop and a convenient stop for those headed east and west. A bustling trading stop, but no metropolis.
Everything changed in 1309 when the pope and his entourage moved to town. The pope who moved to Avignon hadn’t planned on staying, but he died not long after the move.
Many Christians wanted the next pope to move back to Rome, “where he belonged.” The new pope, who was French, probably responded by saying something like, “Pffft!” (Rough translation: “No way”).
I imagine that he confided to his advisors, “Have you tasted the wine they make around here, my sons? C’est délicieux! I ain’t goin’ anywhere!”
There’s a New Pope in Town
The new pope started building a big palace in Avignon. Once it became clear that the pope was setting up shop permanently, everything changed. Cardinals from all over Europe moved to Avignon and built gigantic houses of their own.
If you had money and power, religious or otherwise, Avignon became THE place to build your next vacation palace. All that money coming in attracted lots of people, rich or otherwise, and in no time the place was busting at the seams. Avignon was a boom-town.
To see how it happens, consider one tiny thread… When the pope made a ruling, he sent out documents to let everyone know. A team of scribes had to make original copies for distribution throughout the Christian world.
The pope kept those scribes busy. But to support the scribes, someone had to make the ink. And the paper. Craftsmen had to build homes for all those scribes, printers, and paper producers. Others had to provide food. And on and on.
To be continued…
