Veronikalove wishes all Slavic girls a Merry Christmas. We wish you peace and of course love.
In Russia and other Slavic countries, the tradition has been preserved to prepare special ritual dishes for Christmas that play symbolic roles. Kutia, cooked from bread grains, personified the continuity of life, was the guarantee of family well-being (there were many grains in it), and also signified the connection between generations in the family.
Before Christmas, children wore "babe", that is, his midwife, dinner, which consisted of kutya, 2-3 pies or rolls, depending on income. "Baba", in turn, treated them to purchased delicacies (gingerbread, bagels, sweets) and presented them with gifts or money.
In some areas, in addition to money, she poured grain or peas into a bowl of kutia, gave nuts, sometimes the "baba" invited the children to the table, treated them to kutia and pies. She also gave money with her in exchange for what she had brought, poured her kutya with honey into the pot and put several pies.
Specially baked bread was also a ceremonial dish on the pre-Christmas evening. It was intended for tasting and treating relatives and friends: godfathers, godparents, grandmothers and others. For such cases, dough products were baked in each family: knyshi, kalachi, palyanitsa, often united by one name - "pies".
Knyshi were baked from wheat or rye flour. A round pastry was sculpted from the finished sour dough and, dipping a spoon in vegetable oil, cut along the entire edge. Then these "petals" were bent to the middle and pressed with a spoon. Knyshs were sometimes stuffed with onions fried in vegetable oil, and in the coming days, lard.
Kalachi was prepared in two ways, like wedding ones. Many researchers associate the offering of ritual kutya and firewood to the godparents and the midwife with sacrifices to the souls of the dead.
Kutya and pies, as well as broth and fish in bowls and pots, were tied in a kerchief, put on a sled, and children took dinner to the baptized, "baba", even to their uncles and aunts.
There was a custom of presenting gingerbread to children who were carrying dinner, which were specially baked three weeks before Christmas. In Russia, there was even a custom of baking such gingerbread as a ceremonial baking. In Ukraine, the gingerbread did not have ritual significance.
For dinner, other lean dishes were also prepared, pies and lean borscht were considered obligatory. Pies were baked or fried mainly with poppy seeds, boiled or crushed dried plums, beans, peas, viburnum berries, buckwheat porridge, crushed potatoes, cabbage and porridge. The cakes were meant to represent future wealth and good harvests.
The presence of pies and borscht (the main bread and vegetable dishes) was both necessary and symbolic for the grain grower. They believed that if the table was bursting with food that evening, then the harvest would be rich.
Ijaz khan
매그너스9
Juliantes