Skål!

This toast has, since at least the Viking age, been a symbol of friendship, respect, and togetherness, and any visitor to Scandinavia will be surprised at how frequently the friendly word is uttered. But it does not take long to discover that the amiable encouragement to drink up has a long and apparent history. In the Viking sagas, a man who did not drink up his horn when a toast was presented was seen as unreliable. Knowing how to drink, that is, to get as drunk as your drinking companions, neither much more nor less, was a quality just as highly regarded by the Vikings as strength, honesty, and brutality.