“Do not drink water from your face” is a figurative expression that is used in Russian to emphasize the low importance of a person’s external attractiveness in a given situation, for example, for family life.
The origin of the expression
The main version of the origin of this proverb is due to the fact that in the traditional Russian family it was decided to attach great importance to the process of eating food or liquid. Therefore, if the dishes intended for food or drink cracked or received other injuries, drinking or eating from them was considered a bad omen.
The appearance of the expression “Do not drink water from your face” was based on an analogy between a person and dishes, which, like other elements of material wealth, was highly valued in predominantly poor Russian families. In those days, medicine was not very developed, so ordinary people often suffered from various diseases, including smallpox, which after recovery left noticeable scars on the face of an ill person. In addition, hunting and fieldwork quite often led to facial injuries, after which marks remained.
Therefore, the expression "Do not drink water from the face" was intended to emphasize that for a long extended stay, the beauty of the face, which was often interpreted simply as the absence of pronounced marks after an illness or injury, does not matter as much as the integrity of the dishes intended for drinking.
