Česnica
Type | Bread |
---|---|
Place of origin | Serbia |
Main ingredients | Wheat flour, water |
A česnica (
Preparation
The česnica is usually made with wheat flour and baked on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning by the head of household or the woman of the house.[1] The water for the dough is in some areas collected on Christmas Day before sunrise from a spring or a well, into which a handful of grain is thrown.[2] It is called the strong water and is believed to be imbued with beneficial power.[3] The preparation of the bread may be accompanied by various rules: the flour is taken only from a full sack; the water for the dough is collected from three springs; the person who will prepare the česnica must bathe before that; etc. In eastern and southern Serbia, after they kneaded the dough for the česnica, the head of household or the woman of the house take hold with dough-stained hands of the fruit trees, beehives, and cattle to make them more productive.[1]
A coin is often put into the dough during the kneading, some families using the same coin from year to year; it may be a valuable piece. In some regions, little figures carved from
In Vojvodina česnica is not a kind of bread, but a pastry made of layers of filo filled with roughly chopped nuts and raisins, similar to baklava, but drier and is usually made exclusively with added honey. A coin is placed at some point between the layers.
Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner is the most festive meal of the year. It begins about noon, or even earlier. The family members seated at the table stand up when the head of household gives a sign. The head makes the
Up to three pieces of the loaf may be set aside: one for the absent relatives (if there are such), one for a stranger who might join the family at the dinner, and one for the polaznik, their first visitor on Christmas Day (if he is not present). The rest of the česnica is consumed during the dinner. The family member who finds the coin in his piece of the bread will supposedly be exceptionally lucky in the coming year.[3] The head may try to buy the coin from this lucky relative. Each of the other objects hidden in the bread indicates the segment of the household economy in which the person who finds it in his share of the česnica will be especially successful.[1]
In some regions, such as the
Folk belief
In traditional
In 19th-century
See also
References
^1 Christmas does not fall on the same day for the Serbs as for the Western Christians, although they celebrate it on the same date—25 December. This is because the Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian used in the West. Since 1900, the Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, and this difference will remain until 2100. During this period, 25 December in the Julian calendar—Christmas for the Serbs—corresponds to 7 January of the following year in the Gregorian calendar.
- ^ ISBN 86-7494-025-0.
- ISBN 86-331-1946-3.
- ^ ISBN 86-83699-08-0.
- ^ a b Čajkanović, Veselin (1994). "Бадњак". Речник српских народних веровања о биљкама [Dictionary of Serbian folk beliefs about plants] (in Serbian). Belgrade: Srpska književna zadruga. pp. 268–71.
- ^ Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts: 491–503. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ISBN 86-82197-02-2.
- ^ Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts: 237–94. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- Karadžić, Vuk Stefanović (1818). "Милати се". Lexicon serbico-germanico-latinum Српски рјечник [Serbian dictionary] (in Serbian). Vienna: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ Leger, Louis (1984). "Световид - (Свантовит)". Словенска митологија [Slavic mythology (French original: "La Mythologie Slave")] (in Serbian). trans. Radoslav Agatonović. Belgrade: IRO Grafos. p. 77. Retrieved 2010-01-04.