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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 4223593" data-attributes="member: 19675">Many ancient hospitality rituals involved sharing scarce resources with their guests, demonstrating that the guest is considered part of the household, at least for now:1) Sharing clean, cool water in a desert environment would be a good sign- in a wintery setting, sharing the leader's private hot-spring bath-house/sauna would be an indication of trust- what says trust more than hanging out naked & unarmed together?2) Sharing salt and/or bread (almost anywhere).3) Sharing choice fresh meat in the depths of winter.  Alternatively, serving the guest the best of the veggies- almost unobtainable in some regions during the winter.4) Sharing a fine wine or liquor, fish, or the like by a culture that doesn't produce anything like that- IOW a rare delicacy that can usually only be acquired through trade with faraway lands.5) Exchange of valued weapons, helms, trophies, cultural crafts, keys or other symbols of personal or political power.  In some cultures, the exchange of a good (in game terms, "masterwork") knife is a symbol of lifetime brotherhood between huntsmen or men-at-arms. 6) The Japanese Tea Ceremony and the Native American ceremony of smoking a pipe are 2 classics, and could be adapted to almost any culture- just pick your culture's ceremonial beverage or smokable of choice.7) The sharing of blood- either by "slice 'n' mingle" or consumption from special vessels- between 2 people has been used as a symbol of binding persons to a vow.  It could be symbolic of a lifetime of brotherhood or fealty, or merely a symbol that one's failure to abide by an agreement carries with it the penalty of forfeiture of life.</blockquote>

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