 |
|||
 A most interesting survival of
early Christian Lenten fare is a certain form of bread
familiar to all of us. The Christians in the Roman Empire
made a special dough consisting of flour, salt, and water
only (since fat, eggs, and milk were forbidden). They
shaped it in the form of two arms crossed in prayer, to
remind them that Lent was a season of penance and
devotion. They called these breads "little
arms" (bracellae). From the Latin word the Germans
later coined the term "brezel" or
"prezel," from which comes our word
"pretzel." The oldest known picture of a
pretzel may be seen in a manuscript from the fifth
century in the Vatican. All through medieval times and into the present, pretzels remained an item of Lenten food in many parts of Europe. In Germany, Austria, Poland, they made their and |
annual appearance on Ash
Wednesday; special vendors (Brezelmann) sold them on the
streets of cities and towns. People would eat them for
lunch, together with a stein of their mild, home-brew
beer. In Poland they were eaten in beer soup.
In the cities pretzels were distributed to the poor on many days during Lent. In parts of Austria, children wore them suspended from the palm bushes on Palm Sunday. With the end of Lent the pretzels disappeared again until the following Ash Wednesday. It was only during the last century that this German (actually, ancient Roman) bread was adopted as an all-year tidbit, and its Lenten significance all but forgotten. |
||
 In Russia, the Lenten fare is the most meager of all European nations. Rigidly observed by the faithful far into the twentieth century, the traditional fast is still kept by old people: no meat, no fish, no milk (nor anything made of milk), no butter, no eggs, no sugar or candy. The diet during this period consists of bread made with water and salt, vegetables, raisins, honey, and raw fruit. The Polish people's main staples in Lent include herring (smoked or cooked), and zur, a mush made of fermented rye meal and water, which serves as a base for some Lenten soups. Here is the recipe of a typical Lenten soup (Postna Zupa) in Poland: |
|||
|
|||
| Wash
vegetables, cut into small pieces and saute in butter
under cover until they turn yellow. Add water and simmer
for half hour. Strain before serving. Another popular Lenten soup is the Postna Grochowka, yellow split pea soup: |
|||
|
|||
| Boil all
ingredients except carrots slowly for about 4 hours or
until peas are tender. Add carrots 2 hours before soup is
done.
Among the Ukrainians, neither meat nor dairy products are used by those who keep the strict fast. During Lent meals are never cooked, only vegetables, fruit, honey, and special bread are eaten. |
|||
| Return to Customs Page | Go to Mourning Page | ||
In the
sixteenth century, when Erasmus Ciolek, the Bishop of
Plock, brought the papal permission from Rome to eat meat
on Wednesdays in Lent, no one was found in the whole
kingdom of Poland who would use this privilege. However,
under King Sigismund August (1572) meat was served for
the first time at the royal table because the German
guests did not fast. This was the beginning of relaxation
of the Lenten fast in Poland, especially in the cities.