How often do you receive guests, gather a table, host lunches or dinners? Do you need a special holiday occasion for this, or is just a good mood enough for the reception? The Russian people have always been famous for their hospitality, desire and ability to welcome other people into their home. Such cordiality has become not just a national character trait, but part of our self-awareness and mentality. Hospitality is also popularly called hospitality. This word comes from the fact that since ancient times it was customary in Rus' to greet guests with bread and salt. But where this tradition came from and what these food products symbolize, read the article.
Bread is the head of everything
How many proverbs and sayings do you know about bread? It's probably difficult to calculate. In Russian folklore, bread is one of the most significant symbols. Namely symbols, because over several centuries it has turned from a simple food product consisting of flour and water into the popular consciousness into a sign of the basis of something. They didn’t start dinner without bread; it had to always be on the table, and every housewife knew how to bake a delicious loaf, the recipe for which was passed down from generation to generation, from grandmother to granddaughter, from mother to daughter.
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- 1.14 In space
Bread - special respect
As already mentioned, bread was not considered an ordinary, ordinary product in Rus', and therefore it was always treated especially. Thus, bread crumbs were never thrown out of the table, but were collected in the palm of the hand and burned in the oven, or they had to be given to the birds for food. A loaf of bread placed under the images was considered a symbol of the unity of God with people - they believed that this would bring special grace to the house.
Symbolism
Wedding bread was decorated with special symbols:
- rings are a traditional attribute of marriage,
- spikelets or grape bunches are a symbol of prosperity and fertility,
- swans or doves are a sign of fidelity of young spouses,
- rose - a wish for beauty and femininity to the bride,
- viburnum is a symbol of unity and love of newlyweds,
- The braid is a sign of the bride’s readiness to become a faithful wife and a good mother.
After the newlyweds met in the parental home, each guest, as a sign of joining the wishes, had to taste a loaf of bread. And even with a large number of invited guests, you should not bake several products, since everyone will take only a small piece as a symbol of prosperity and good luck.
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Don't oversalt!
Why exactly bread with salt, and for example, not bread with sugar or some other product? Firstly, salt appeared in Rus' much earlier than other spices, than sugar, for example. But not so early that it is considered a completely ordinary product that is used everywhere (well, like we do now). Salt in ancient times was a rather rare and expensive product, so it was used sparingly. As a rule, there was always some kind of dish filled with salt on the table, but it was rarely taken from there. This salt shaker was used more as a talisman. Bitter, it was designed to ward off misfortunes and troubles.
"God's gift"
Bread is God himself, the body of the Lord according to the Christian symbolism of the Eucharist. And at the same time, bread is God’s gift: God gives a person bread, by eating a piece - a “share”, a person receives his “share” - fate, happiness. However, by exalting the reasonable over the traditional, degrading what was once sacred, and continuing to conquer the outside world, we, without noticing it, become smaller, lose touch with the past, and turn the world order upside down. A crumb of bread will fall - and let it! There was a piece left uneaten - oh well! Today bread is bread, food, through which we are not given the opportunity to rise, to gain grace.
In the traditional culture from which we come, which we continue so sluggishly and uncertainly, bread as a blessing, as an oath, was at the head of everything: if you don’t take the bread off the table and sweep away the crumbs, your home will have prosperity and completeness.
In the 17th century large monasteries sent black rye bread to the royal feast, part of the bread of the spiritual fathers, thereby blessing the autocrat. This bread was the first thing that was placed on the table at the king’s meal. Also, at the beginning of the meal, the steward presented the king with large oblong loaves of bread, which were distributed to everyone present from senior to junior in rank. Anyone who accepted the bread and subsequently dared to betray the king was considered abandoned by God, cursed.
Best wishes
Among other things, greeting a dear guest with bread and salt means wishing him all the best: goodness, prosperity, wealth. In this case, the loaf was served on a white, pure linen towel, usually with a symbolic ornament embroidered around the edges. This flap of linen meant the road along which a person got to the owner’s house.
It was strictly forbidden to refuse the invitation of bread and salt. This meant not only an insult to the owners. People believed that this could bring great trouble upon themselves.
Hospitable blessing
Bread and salt have their meaning during the ritual of blessing - for example, parental. If a father and mother wish their child to fulfill his plans, to fulfill his dreams, they give their blessing - that is, a wish of good luck in his endeavors. This custom of blessing children was often supported by certain actions: sometimes the mother gave her son a shirt embroidered with her own hand, in other cases the father gave the child his personal item (for example, a weapon). One of the ritual actions was the offering of bread and salt. In some regions, the loaf was immediately broken so that the crumbs that fell from it were picked up by birds (good fellow travelers on a long journey); in other regions, on the contrary, they gave bread with them so that they had something to eat along the way.
Seeing off guests
Most often, guests stayed for one or more nights. This was explained by both the long journey and the amount of alcohol consumed. In the evening, the owners flooded the bathhouse, and after it, they laid the guest on the thickest feather beds.
Just before the guests left, it was customary to drink one glass and sit “on the path.” Following the departing guests, the hosts shouted the words “Good riddance!” This expression symbolized an easy path without any obstacles.
Instead of a notary
Besides, bread and salt could seal the deal. The contract, supported by a hospitable meal, was considered inviolable - it was impossible to terminate it, and breaking the condition meant greatly sinning before God. Take, for example, an agreement between the parents of the bride and groom. If the matchmakers agreed to marry their children and reinforced the agreement by each eating a piece of one loaf, then the wedding between the young people should take place under any conditions.
A variation of the “bread” transaction was an oath on a loaf - then each of the parties to the agreement pronounced his oath, assuring him that he was holding his right hand on the bread. Isn't it reminiscent of a modern oath on the Bible or the Constitution (as the president does).
A piece for each
Finally, it's time to eat the loaf! It was customary to divide it among everyone - everyone should get a piece of “lucky bread”. At the same time, it was impossible to cut it - sharp objects “kill” all the miraculous power of bread, you need to eat it only with the help of hands - well washed and dry. And definitely after prayer.
By the way, dividing among everyone means not just breaking off a piece for each family member. Each time a little edge was left for the brownie. Superstitions played a big role in the families of the ancient Slavs, so many housewives always put black bread and salt behind the stove - in order to appease the brownie who lives in this corner.
And bon appetit to you...
If someone suddenly loudly shouts to you at dinner: “Bread and salt,” do not be alarmed. He simply reincarnated as a medieval resident of Rus'. After all, these were the words that were customary to say when you wanted to wish you a bon appetit. Jacob Reitenfels, a Courland travel historian of the seventeenth century, wrote that this is how Muscovites drive away evil forces. The magical meaning of the expression “bread and salt” was believed for a very long time. It was also considered good manners to say this phrase after eating - as a sign of gratitude and, again, so that unkind spirits could not harm a person.
Poems for newlyweds
If you want to look original when meeting a young married couple, then you can prepare several simple quatrains for them. They should not have a complex rhyme.
Congratulations on the wedding: bread and salt.
Make them as light and simple as possible. Poems about a loaf for a wedding:
Dear children, Try our loaf. He is magical, unearthly. Look how handsome he is. May our sweet treat. Bring you more patience. After all, it will depend on him what it will be like for you to live together. Love and laugh, Have fun and live.
Oh, this wedding, wedding, wedding sang and danced...
Do you often attend weddings? Regular visitors to this celebration are probably familiar with the tradition of serving the newlyweds a large festive loaf. But it’s not just that it’s customary to greet the bride and groom with bread and salt. The meaning of this custom is that the parents of the future husband (and initially it was on the threshold of their home that the newlyweds had to be greeted) willingly accept the daughter-in-law into their family and want to see her in their home as a new member of the family.
In addition, the groom's parents greet the newlyweds with a loaf of bread, which, by the way, must be baked by the future mother-in-law, the mistress of the house. Both the bride and groom take a bite of bread without using their hands. Then everyone present looks to see which of the couple took a larger bite of the loaf. The one whose bite turned out to be larger, according to legend, will rule the house and become the head of the family. Of course, usually, due to physiological characteristics, the man bites off more bread, and he is recognized as the head of the house, while the woman gets the modest role of the neck.
What is a loaf?
A loaf is a ritual bread, richly decorated, baked in accordance with special rituals, symbolizing wealth, happiness and well-being. What is the significance of a loaf of bread at a wedding? It is very difficult to overestimate the role of bread in the culture and life of the Slavs - “bread is the head of everything” , this parting word was left to us by our ancestors, and we observe ancient traditions and customs. Few people refuse this beautiful and very symbolic ritual - taking out bread when the newlyweds meet.
Photo of the wedding loaf
All this symbolism is embodied today in ritual bread for the young - that’s what the loaf is for. Previously, such bread was baked according to a special recipe only by married women with children. Widows , divorced or unmarried women were not allowed to participate in the bread baking ritual. Happiness in marriage, procreation - according to legend, women shared all this with the young, putting special energy into the loaf. Reading prayers, singing ritual wedding songs, special rituals for making dough and decorating bread became part of baking.
However, such bread was put into the oven by a married and happy man, thus, from those who prepared the loaf, the young people received, as it were, a particle of happiness and the ability to get along
Today, more and more often, one of the relatives buys a loaf in a specialized store or orders its production at a bakery. This approach is dictated by life itself, with its rapid pace and partial loss of some traditions. But for those who would like to bake bread with their own hands , there are loaf recipes that can help create a masterpiece of culinary and aesthetic skill with special energy and symbolism.
