It's no secret that alcohol and drugs have been for a long time motors
of artistic creation. We think of the alcoholism of
expressionists painters or even in the LSD of figures of psychedelic rock.
This often results in the creation of a collective imagination around these
substances, which become an integral part of
the work. Among the most fascinating stories,
there is the one that has been nicknamed "The Green Fairy", which was one of the most
wwidely served appetizers in France. Even if the production of absinthe has resumed for ten
years, the fact remains that this exquisite drink was banned in
France and Switzerland for almost 100 years. If it's today
highly regulated, this wasn't always the case.
Come on, today in History will tell us: the green fairy, or rather the history of the
absinthe in France.
"The green fairy, who lives in the absinthe, wawnts your soul".
It has a strong psychotropic potential while generally combining more than
60% alcohol by volume, the absinthe had in its base everything
necessary to become itself a symbol. Long before that decantation in
alcohol, the wormwood plant had already proved its value in antiquity.
Ancients used it for its various virtues, in particular to treat
nausea, epilepsy, and even drunkenness. Yes, they
treated drunkenness with wormwood! It revealed both the creative potential
and erotic. In the middle ages, the plant itself was often worn around
the size, since they considered that it drove away evil. The story of
absinthe as we know it begins around 1790 when
Pierre Ordinaire, a french doctor settles in Switzerland.
Very quickly, he gained a loyal clientele by selling tonics and
elixirs of health. He would have developed the first modern recipe for absinthe.
Historians don't all agree on the recipe for the mysterious herbal
drink. On the one hand, doctor Ordinaire would have
given to the Henriod sisters. Other versions tells that the sisters Henriette
Henriod and Suzanne Marguerite Henriod already concocted an elixir of absinthe
before the arrival of the doctor. Very quickly, the drink is nicknamed the green fairy by
locals. Among those who taste its exceptional virtues we find a
certain Major Dubied. He'll decide, seeing the potential of the absinthe, to buy the
recipe to the Henriod sisters, then he'll start production with his
son-in-law Henri-Louis Pernod, around 1797. Their distillery opens in
Val-de-Travers in Switzerland, to then be moved to Pontarlier,
on the other side of the French border around 1805. The Pernod
factory produced in 1797 16 liters of absinthe per day, in 1896
will produce 125,000. Enough to make them lose their minds!
Absinthe recipes usually contain anise, mint,
fennel, and of course, wormwood. At the start, the absinthe settles in the
landscape as a simple aperitif among others. But the absinthe stands out
also other aperitifs since the reputation of being the chic alcohol by
excellence, by its color and by the ritual that accompany it.
The ritual is the following: in a glass made expressly for the drink, where they put
first the absinthe. Then, in a perforated spoon in the glass, place a
square of sugar. Then, mixed the wormood with water. It was necessary
let the ice water flow slowly.
In this way, the oils contained in the alcohol release, these last
giving the opaque and milky hue of the liquid which was long prized. In
the last year,s for the preparation ritual, sometimes they had the reflex
to set the sugar cube on fire. However, this isn't a traditional
practice! It was indeed invented in the Czech
Republic during the period of the rediscovery of absinthe.
During the first decades, the aperitif gradually distinguished itself from
others, however, it wasn't until the 1830s to see it gain in
popularity. While the English used the
quinine tonics to protect against diseases like malaria
or dysentery, what will later become the famous gin tonic, to
French soldiers were offered a ration of absinthe.
After serving in what was then called the African
Battalion, the legionaries stationed in
Algeria returned to the big cities of France.
Then they brought back with the habit of drinking absinthe, a habit that is quickly
acquired in society. Absinthe, first and foremost, remains a
drink reserved for the upper classes of society.
It makes the happiness of the bourgeoisie and the military.
One thing leading to another, it begins to interest a whole generation
of artists and poets. They are who will give its reputation to the abject.
In fact, poets like Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, or Charles Baudelaire,
they sing her praises, drink it, and of course abuse it. From the painting side, are
several French figures, but also foreign ones, like Vincent Van Gogh,
begins to abuse it. The absinthe then begins to be
popular all over Europe, we sing its praises. No one will have better
represented the absinthe that the painter Edouard Manet. From a family
bourgeois, he'll be strongly marked by his meeting with Charles Baudelaire in
1858. Manet will then don't want to concentrate no longer in the skies, as he did in
the time in the field of fine arts, but in the realization of paintings
representing the realism of French society. His first large canvas, The
absinthe drinker, will cause scandal in the society of the time. In the
absinthe drinker, the man represented is a simple worker. It's a portrait
a little less glamorous than that of the poets or
soldiers which drinking alcohol with dignity. Here it's pure and simple decadence.
Another important change of the time, many women are represented
in his paintings. Women begin, on the one hand, to
working in cafes, but also frequenting them as a consumer.
The consumption of absinthe is then sought after for its
emancipator of the feminine condition qualities. In the 1880s, its see
flourish many cafes reserved for women. Under the Second Empire, between 1852
and 1870, absinthe is so popular that during the aperitif is nicknamed as
"the green hour", and the stories tell that its characteristic smell filled the
streets of the city. Another reason for its proliferation: in
this time the laws concerning to the sale of alcohol begin to soften.
We see in France an explosion of points of sale,
the number of baers is multiplying. If the absinthe flow could be
controlled when its sale was reserved at the prescribed places, it's now
as much in grocery stores as in bakers. Doctors are beginning to
investigate the consumption of alcohol. When the concept of alcoholism is
emplace in the 1850s, it only focused on the effects
of alcohol from the distillery. Doctors didn't
consider wines and beers to be dangerous drinks at the time, but
invigorating unlike spirits drinks and
schnapps to which the worst crosses were awarded.
At the end of the 1850s, they began to be interested in the case of "absenteeism".
Then consider the liquor extremely destructive, especially in
the popular classes. The bourgeois, even subjected to alcohol
would have the decency to behave well -that's what they say- Absinthe is still
at that time quite expensive, but it eventually becomes democratized and
spread to other classes of society.
The working class after the failure of the Paris commune and the horror of the
Franco-Prussian war began acquiring more and more rights.
The increasing wages and reducing working hours give more
time for workers to drink. At the same era, the vineyards of France have
affected by a terrible disease .The vines are attacked by insects
called phylloxera. These insects forming equal on the vine leaves make
the grape unfit for production. As many vineyards have been decimated
by these insects in the 1870s and 1880s,
wine prices skyrocket. Alcohol producers turn so
towards industrial alcohols to produce absinthe of medium
quality but in large quantities. If the price of a bottle of wine is
to the height of 100 cents for this period, the price of a glass of absinthe
amounted to between 10 and 15 centimes, and sometimes, even in the most
smelly cafes it was possible to have a drink for 3 cents.
Of course, we must consider that a worker could earn up to three
francs per day. Other element: for the price of a loaf of bread it was 45
cents, therefore, we could drink at least 3 glasses
of wormwood! Even dilute, the alcohol percentage was much higher than
that of wine. Conversely, absinthe products have started to produce
brands of less good quality and less good taste. We're entering the period
of what was later called the end of the century period.
It's time for hedonism and cynicism, it's time for depression, melancholy,
and drugs, and of course, absinthe. This period is also affected by
the relaxation of the laws on the sale of alcohol from 1880. The number of alcohol
outlets increases so quickly that in 1909, there is now in France
a alcoholic drinks store for every 30 adult men. At the end of the 19th
century, there are more cabaret, cafe and bars in France than anywhere in
the world. The end of the 19th century is also the period of mobilization of the right
French policy to fight against the absence. Conservatives and monarchists
sees the weakening of French culture and people.
Therefore, they'll begin to come together to campaign for his
ban. At the same time, doctor Valentin Magnan is interested in absinthe.
He strongly believes in absintheism, i. e., in the existence of a
alcoholism purely induced by absinthe.
He associates cases of cerebral congestion and epilepsy,
while adding that the abuse of absinthe would simply blind.
Working on the subject he envied the conclusion that thujone, a molecule
present in wormwood, is the cause of all mental problems related to
alcohol. Consumption of absinthe, whether by women or men, is
considered extremely dangerous in relation to the inheritance of degenerative
diseases. The ban on absinthe in France is dated on March 16,
1915, and it's the fruit of a long battle of struggles for temperance.
While the movement seems to be well established in Switzerland from 1905,
have many difficulties to settle in France. Between 1907 and 1911
consumption continues to increase in France.
This situation is much more catastrophic than one thinks.
Statistics show that between 1875 and 1913 consumption exploded
in France. The French don't drink two times,
nor five times, but well fifteen times more absentees! Whereas the
government adds taxes to alcohol in an attempt to reduce alcohol
consumption, nothing helps, the French are thirsty. At the dawn of the First World War
it continues to increase and the French government isn't the only law that
limit beverages that have thujone, but with little success. Just
before its ban, the draw of absinthe amounted to 36 million
liters annually. The absinthe is uncontrollable and the doctors
believed at the time that genetic defects due to
alcohol abuse spread over successive generations.
This speech was repeated at the beginning of the First World War.
The authorities who had tried to suppress absinthe for years
see this time as the perfect time to push their anti-absent propaganda.
Following the first defeats on the front, it'll be the Minister of the Interior
of the time that will demand the ban on absinthe.
If some regions were less strict on its sale, allowing domestic
consumption, others prohibit the sale both in the
bars, cafes, or any other store. It was the beginning of the end. In the month of
March, 1915, absinthe became a poison, a
toxic drink for the future of France.
Then there isn´t other choice that to prohibit its production and sale.
Factories will recycle quickly enough to produce another similar
alcohol, with anise taste, the pastis. Is what the nickname it was given
the 19th century cocaine is a little fantasized? Yes, because the reading that the
specialists have made of these effects was clearly exaggerated.
Absinthe has the same effects on the body as other alcohols, however
uncontrolled amounts of thujone could cause epileptic seizures
and other convulsions. These hypotheses were corroborated in 1975, when
scientists have been interested in thujone, but also in its link with
THC, active ingredient in cannabis. Very large doses of thujone can
cause spasms and convulsions. However, study of wormwood samples of the
period proved that even though thujone levels were high,
it wasn't the majority of absinthes that contained toxic
quantities. The cases of absenteeism relayed by doctor Magnan are more
easily attributable to toxic ingredients add in the preparation of
low-end brands. The impurities in industrial alcohol of the
period may have played a decisive role in cases of blindness. The low
quality absinthe, in order to have the color and its milky effect so
popular, was often mixed with highly toxic chemicals such as
copper sulphate or antimony. The wormwood, despite the fact that it was
very high in alcohol and popular, nonetheless, still an aperitif like the
others, that we have the chance to taste today but, of course, in moderation.
Come on, it's over for today. Thanks to Alex Labert who contribute to this
video. If you liked it, you know what to do:
give a "like", comment it, shared it, brought the video to life. Come on,
I'm Laurent Turcot from History will tell us, and I'll see you the next! Adios.
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