Pancake and Pancake RecipesPancake week. Lumpy first pancake?
Komoeditsa
And indeed, to whom to give the first pancake baked in honor of the great Maslenitsa celebration?
Very, very long ago, during the times of paganism, Maslenitsa was called Komoeditsa (or Komoeditsa). This holiday carried many sacred meanings. In addition to the main thing - the sacred holiday of the meeting of the spring granted by the sky, it also had the character of venerating the "cattle god" Veles. One of the incarnations of which was the master of the world - the Bear. The ancient Slavs believed that they descended from this huge, beautiful, intelligent and courageous animal. Therefore, they treated the bear with respect and with caution, not because he could easily tear a person apart, but because he had a divine beginning, he was the embodiment of Veles on earth. The true name of this beast with respect and reverence was replaced with euphemisms, so as not to once again incite the wrath of the deity, and therefore we know him as the Bear, Mikhail Potapych, Boss, Father, Kosolapy. But not Bera - which he really was (the den is the ber's lair), or Bura (in memory of this name, the bear now only has a color - brown). There is an assumption that the bears were also called comas. And the fact that the first pancake was taken to the komoeditsa in the forest “so that the awakened owner would eat and not come to us” is a well-known fact. Therefore, there is a version that the well-known proverb actually sounds like "the first pancake - coma", that is, bears.
It is worth noting that Mikhailo Potapych was the main character in the comedian not only in this rite. He was even ... married! With the end of Winter, the thirst for life awakens. This is symbolized by the awakening of the bear. Marriage is laying the foundation for the future development of life. New children will be born in the family. Insofar as the "bear" in this rite is considered as wisdom in life - a very important quality for any person - it is imperative to combine it with beauty and health, this is to bring Lad into life. Therefore, the most beautiful girl from the participants of the holiday is chosen as “wife” for the Bear.
There is, however, an assumption, which says that on holidays women baked
coma, or ceremonial bread made from several flour mixtures: oats, peas and barley. Nuts and dried berries were added to the batch, and when the comas from the heat in the oven grew, they were like the Universe, in which the stars move away from each other, like berries and nuts diverge in baking dough. From this, allegedly, the name Komoeditsa originated.
Pancake weekFor the Slavs, Maslenitsa has long been a celebration of the New Year! Even pancakes, an indispensable attribute of Maslenitsa, had ritual significance: round, ruddy, hot, they were a symbol of the sun, which flared up more and more brighter, lengthening the days. And according to old beliefs, it was believed: how a person meets a year, so he will be. Therefore, our ancestors did not skimp on this holiday on a generous feast and unrestrained fun. And people called Shrovetide among the people "honest", "wide", "gluttonous", and even "ruinous".
Another important complex of Maslenitsa rituals is associated with marriage and family themes, since it was believed that marriage was supposed to help awaken the earth and plant growth, to ensure the future harvest. The newlyweds were given a "show", put them to the posts at the gate and forced to kiss in full view, and women who were married for the first year were given more difficult trials: for example, they were harnessed instead of horses to a sleigh and forced to roll their friends along with songs and jokes. village.
At Shrovetide, the mother-in-law invited the young to visit and had to anoint the son-in-law's head with oil, "so that he would be affectionate and to his wife as well."
Another Shrovetide rite is the punishment of unmarried people in the form of hanging a shoe: a log was hung on the neck of a single boy or an unmarried girl, which symbolized the missing "half." With this "couple" the punished had to walk all day until evening and endure endless ridicule.
Funeral rites include burning a stuffed animal, baking pancakes, and preparing other memorial food. Such, for example, as a fish, which, due to its dumbness, was interpreted in folk culture as one of the hypostases of the souls of the dead. And snow was also considered the embodiment of the souls of the dead, so it was used for fortune-telling, and pancakes for Shrovetide were kneaded in melted snow water.
The first pancake was eaten for the repose of the souls of the ancestors who left for the Rainbow. At the same time, from the memories of them, tears welling up in the living eyes, and a lump rose to the throat. Therefore, adherents of this hypothesis about the first pancake say: "the first pancake is lumpy" means that they ate it as a ceremonial memorial dish in sorrow for the dead.
The memorial complex of rituals is also associated with the prohibitions on the performance of certain economic types of work during this period, and exclusively for women, such as spinning and weaving. These prohibitions were explained by the fear of harming the souls of dead people who were invisibly present nearby. Especially these prohibitions concerned the evening time, which is why all the evenings on Shrovetide were called saints. Violation of the ban threatened troubles and troubles not only for people, but also for livestock.
Shrovetide bonfires are also a memorial rite, since they served as a kind of invitation for deceased ancestors to a hearty dinner.
Insofar as Maslenitsa is a farewell to the past, to the obsolete, then at this time people get rid of all junk and shabby rags, and in their face - from old troubles and unpleasant experiences. In order for Winter to take it with her, the old junk is put in the fire of Morenin, and the old clothes become the clothes of her stuffed animal.
A large effigy of Morena is created and dressed up by a woman and always separately from the men. A crossbar is attached to the pole (these are the shoulders), to which the torso and arms are tied from hay and straw. Further, the girls put on old things on Morena-Zima, which the participants of the holiday brought with them in order to send old troubles with them into the ritual fire. After Morena's head was set in place, the girls drew in charcoal the nose, mouth, eyebrows and - last - the eyes. The eyes must be drawn MANDATORY closed. Morena, the Goddess of Death, should not look alive in the eyes for the time being. The participants of the holiday also hung all sorts of strings, laces, scraps, handkerchiefs, stars made of straw, wood, tow, paper on the Maslenitsa effigy. They mentally put into these objects everything that they wanted to get rid of in the coming year, everything that prevents them from moving forward in their intentions.
By the way Winter burns out, they wondered what the next year will be. If the Winter-Shrovetide burns for a long time, therefore, spring can happen for a long time, or things will "stall", including due to mistakes made in the previous period.
The third set of Maslenitsa ceremonies is the agricultural complex. All these ceremonies are associated not with cereals, but with fibrous - flax and hemp. These rituals include skiing down the mountains: it was believed that whoever rolled down the mountain more times or who traveled further would have more flax, so the people said that they were going to ride “on long flax”.
On Shrovetide week, the first calls of spring were made ...
And now imagine: it's the beginning of February, even before the calendar spring is even more than a month old (do not forget that even the calendar spring came 14 later for our ancestors - according to the old style), and even before the present one ... Nothing confuses? Who will stick his nose out of the house during such a period, and even with cheerful spring songs ?! The sun at this time is still weak and uncertain - where to get rage, even if only from behind a snow cloud to appear for a minute. Was it really so unbearable for our ancestors to click in the spring that they were not afraid to light fires and sing songs in February blizzards?
Shrovetide next
Everything is much simpler. And we can still be proud of our great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers. The fact is that they celebrated Maslenitsa on March 20 (in a new style) - in
day of spring equinox! It was at this time that the New Agricultural Year began, which for the Slavs-agrarians was one of the most important events in the year, and in their own lives. This is when the chants of freckles gain their magical power.
With the adoption of Christianity, the church struggled for a long time with such festivities, but could not completely get rid of them. Therefore, the timing of Maslenitsa was tied not to the solar, but to the lunar calendar, and she began to personify the conspiracy - the last week before Lent. Therefore, we celebrate it every year on different dates.
Shrovetide is a preparation for the seven weeks of Great Lent, to which believers should come with bright thoughts and a pure soul. But just as it is impossible to feed a baby with coarse food, so it is impossible to demand from parishioners that they immediately take the post, - explain the priests. You can't eat meat this week, but you can still eat fish and dairy products.
Shrovetide is called cheese week, as well as "pan-eater", "binge".
By the way, every day of this unusual week has its own name.
Monday - meeting.
Tuesday is a play.
Wednesday is gourmet.
Thursday is wide, fracture or binge.
Friday - mother-in-law's evening.
Saturday - sister-in-law's gatherings.
Sunday - farewell, kissing man, forgiven day.Were timed to each day and their own customs.
IN
Monday the first pancake, baked at butter week, was placed on the dormer "for the souls of parents" with the words: "Our honest parents, here's a pancake for your darling!" In some places there was a custom to give the first pancake to the poor, so that they remembered all the dead.
In
Tuesday - flirtation - mass festivities and sledding began. The youth gathered together, the girls played snowballs, and the guys arranged fistfights.
For gourmands, that is, in
Wednesday, mother-in-law invited sons-in-law and wives to pancakes. This custom was especially observed in relation to the young, recently married. Surely this is where the expression "to the mother-in-law for pancakes" came from. Usually on this day "for the pleasure of the beloved son-in-law" all the local relatives gathered for a walk.
In wide
Thursday the busiest tobogganing took place. The stalls were full of all kinds of delicacies. Pot-bellied samovars with velvet tea, fragrant bundles of bagels, shops with nuts and honey gingerbread, but not ordinary ones, but with patterns and inscriptions: "Whom I love, I give him", "a gift from a dear is more precious than gold." Pickles, fish, caviar - eat it all up!
And here
friday - mother-in-law's evening - sons-in-law called mother-in-law for a treat. Daughters and their husbands invited their parents to teach them wisdom. Such an invitation was considered a great honor, and all neighbors and relatives usually knew about it. True, the food was very peculiar. The curiosity was that the invited mother-in-law had to send all the pancake belongings to the young people in the evening: a tagan, frying pans, a scoop and even a tub in which the pancake dough is fermented. My father-in-law sent me flour and a tub of cow's butter.
IN
saturday, for the sister-in-law's gatherings, the young daughter-in-law invited relatives to her. As a rule, on the same day, a dressed up Maslenitsa - a stuffed animal made of straw - was carried on a stretcher to the end of the village and there, with songs, "buried": a big fire was made, and Maslenitsa was burned in it.
Sunday was called "forgiven". On this day, everyone visited relatives, friends and acquaintances, exchanged kisses, bows and asked for forgiveness from each other if offended by words or deeds. Bow at the feet. And in response they hear: "I do not forgive - God forgives." They themselves ask for forgiveness and forgive from the bottom of their hearts, in order to enter Great Lent with a pure soul and bright thoughts.
Goodbye, Maslena-spinner,
Great Lent is coming,
They sit down at home for supper,
Serve from a radish tail!
Like Shrove Week
Pancakes flew into the ceiling!
You are Maslena,
You are a liar
You said seven weeks
And there was only one day left.No pancakes, no Shrovetide, no pies, no name day.In many families, pancakes were baked on Monday. The night before, when the stars appeared, the eldest woman in the family went out to the river, lake, or to the well, quietly from the others, and urged the month to look out the window and blow on the dough:
Month you are month
Your golden horns!
Look out the window
Blow on the dough! This case was considered extremely responsible and was carried out in secret from home and outsiders.
Each housewife had her own recipe for making pancakes and kept it a secret from the neighbors. Usually pancakes were baked from buckwheat or wheat flour, large - in the whole frying pan, or with a tea saucer, thin and light. Pancake is a symbol of the sun. The same round and hot. In the heat of the heat they are served on the table. With butter, sour cream, caviar, mushrooms, sevruga or sturgeon - choose for every taste.
What to do, so that the first pancake is not lumpy in the modern sense of this proverb? Here are some tips.
It is better to choose cast-iron pans in which pancakes are baked. It is important that the pans are completely clean. To do this, they are put on fire, the bottom is sprinkled with salt, ignited, and then wiped with a dry, clean cloth. After such preparation, the pancakes do not burn, they easily lag behind the pan. It is better to start a special pancake pan and, once prepared, do not wash any more. Otherwise, every time, before baking pancakes, you will have to cook it.
If the dough turns out to be very thick, it must be diluted with warm milk. They do it like this: put a few spoons of dough in a bowl, stir it with the right amount of milk, and only then combine it with the bulk.
Before pouring the dough into a hot frying pan, grease it with vegetable oil or unsalted bacon. You can use a piece of cloth wrapped in gauze as a shaving brush.
Prepared pancakes are stacked, greasing each pancake with butter or ghee so that they do not cool down. It is better to use a special pancake maker for this purpose - a large ceramic dish with a hemispherical lid. But the best pancakes, of course, are hot and hot.
I wish everyone these days:
There are hiccups
Drink until dandruff
Sing until the hassle
Dance until you drop! 
