There  is solemnity in the ceremony of drinking aquavit.

One lifts one's glass and holds it with loving patience, while joining with the others in a bacchanal hymn, ending on as high a note as one's voice will reach.

Then one makes an all-inclusive sweep with eye and glass, drinks the aquavit in one gulp, finishes the song on an even higher "tra-la-la," and then bites into the herring previously placed on a piece of bread.

The second glass is usually served only half filled but is drunk with the same profound ceremony and there is a promise in the song of a third glass.