Wine trade and the assimilation of new cultural practices in Russia of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries

This article deals with the development of new cultural practices based on the example of the wine trade in Sergievski posad in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. It demonstrates the development of new cultural forms of leisure in the service sector and changes in lifestyle. The legally fixed distribution of alcoholic beverages for different types of establishments meant that for each type of establishment particular cultural practices were simultaneously designated The traditional Russian practice of selling “bread wine” without any snacks took place only in pubs and drinking houses intended exclusively for the common people (peasants in bast shoes). The specifics of this trade imposed the most minimal requirements on the establishments and on their level of service. In establishments of the new European type (inns, “herbergs”) everything was different: the category of visitors, interior design, the range of drinks (alcoholic, low- and non-alcoholic), the availability of snacks, service, and entertainment (billiards). They were, in modern terms, cultural and leisure centers. In everyday life, the desire to increase sales blurred rigid class divisions eased restrictions for those of the common people with the means and desire to visit places not intended for their use. Hence there was a natural assimilation of new cultural practices by broad segments of the population.