Saturday, May 26, 2012

Blood-brotherhood practices were also a part of the traditional culture of Albania, where they were often employed by two men who needed each other's aid, especially in matters of feuding. To seal their alliance, the two men would prick their fingers with knives, and then mutually lick up each other's blood, or else mix the blood into a glass of rakia which both then drank. The men were then regarded as true blood-relations, their children forbidden to marry each other.

Nathan F. Miller and Jack Donovan, Blood-Brotherhood and Other Rites of Male Alliance (Kindle edition, 1697 of 4365)