The wedding was and remains a sacred sacrament that unites loving hearts. And nowadays, when this significant event becomes a rarity, it acquires additional importance. Young people strive to remember the wedding day for the rest of their lives and go all out, inventing an original scenario. However, no matter how popular the graceful European ceremonies are, the primordially Russian wedding loaf, as a rule, is included in any program.
Instructions
Step 1
Many are willing to argue that the tradition of the wedding loaf is originally Russian, since there are references to the loaf in the culture of other states. Similar traditions took place in Europe and even in Ancient China. Baking took various forms, the rituals associated with wedding bread were also carried out in a variety of ways. In ancient Rome, for example, the bride was thrown with bread cakes. Then the rituals were simplified, changed and acquired a folk flavor, nevertheless, remaining in the history of different peoples. The same Europeans, for example, switched from bread to beautiful wedding cakes.
Step 2
No matter how different the wedding traditions are, they all have one thing in common - symbolism and a special ritual. The wedding loaf, as everyone knows it now, originates in the Slavic communities. Of course, the rite that has survived to this day has been greatly simplified. The loaf is ordered at the bakery, then the newlyweds break off a piece from it to determine who is in charge of the family. Some even fanatically eat the contents of the salt shaker in order to live the rest of their lives without worries and sorrows.
Step 3
However, our ancestors acted quite differently. Everything related to bread and salt had its own meaning. The very shape of the loaf naturally symbolizes the sun, the quintessence of life. The larger and more magnificent the loaf, the happier and richer the life of the new family will be. Bread was baked by the whole world - they took a handful of flour from seven housewives, took water from seven different wells. This was entrusted to a married woman living in a happy marriage, so that she would “charge” the loaf with positive energy and at the same time share her experience with the future mistress.
Step 4
The loaf woman carefully kneaded the dough, shaped it and spoke it like a talisman. Bread was traditionally baked in the groom's house. A man, a friend, had to put it in the oven. This was supposed to promise the young numerous and strong offspring. To ward off evil spirits from the loaf, the married lady and the groom's friend were not called by name. The loaf turned out to be large and magnificent. They say that in order to get such bread out of the oven, it was necessary to disassemble it.
Step 5
They began to decorate the loaf only later, but each decoration had its own meaning. Thus, the young were wished for love, prosperity, many children, health, etc. Depending on how wealthy the families of the bride and groom were, small coins could be baked into the loaf. A man also helped to bring the loaf onto the table. The breaking of the bread symbolized that the bride now completely belongs to her husband, and the first piece eaten is the birth of a new life in her. Then each guest was given a piece of loaf. According to tradition, they took it with them and divided it among all household members. This promised everyone who tasted the wedding bread, health and good luck. This beautiful custom has almost disappeared from memory, turning into a formal ceremony, the meaning of which few people understand. But I want to believe that even now, a loaf, round like the sun, illuminates the newlyweds' steeply salted path to love and harmony.
