Cu paine si sare / With bread and salt

Prinsi in valtoarea vietii de zi cu zi, tot mai rapida si mai solicitanta, ajungem sa pierdem din vedere adevate minuni ce ne-au fost date, conditii bazale si esentiale ale existentei noastre. Minuni pe care le consideram de la sine intelese si de care, din pacate, nu rareori de batem joc, pervertindu-le, ratand astfel semnificatia lor profunda.

O astfel de minune este painea. “Painea noastra cea de toate zilele”, hrana de baza in alimentatia taranului roman, adanc respectata si cinstita. Hrana a trupului si sufletului deopotriva. Martor si mijlocitor al relatiei cu divinitatea prin plamadirea, coacerea si sacrificarea (ruperea) ei simbolica la fiecare eveniment major al vietii - botezul, casatoria si inmormantarea, dar si in cadrul altor momente ceremoniale de peste an, de profunda traire spirituala. 

In cultura traditionala romaneasca, painea si implicit graul au avut dintotdeauna o valoare sacra. Painea pregatita anume pentru momentele “de prag”, de trecere, este una speciala, purtand insemnele ascunse ale cerului si Soarelui. Si chiar daca prea putine femei le mai stiu azi intelesul, painea (colacul ceremonial) continua a fi pregatita in acelasi fel, cu semnele de inceput – coloana cerului, cercul solar, semnele regenerarii si transformarii - tacute marturii ale unor vremuri in care arborele vietii nu fusese inca taiat, cerurile ne vorbeau, iar oamenii stiau sa asculte…

Caught in daily life’s torment, more rapid and more demanding, we often get to miss real wonders that were given to us, essential conditions to our existence. Wonders that go without saying, often brought into oblivion by perverting them, and thereby failing to understand their profound significance.

Bread is such a wonder. “Our daily bread”, basic food in the feeding process of the Romanian Peasant, deeply respected and honoured. Food for both body and spirit. Witness and mediator of our relationship with the divinity through its kneading, baking and symbolic sacrificing (chunking) at every life’s major event – baptism, marriage and funeral, but also during other spiritual ceremonial moments over the year.

Bread and implicitly wheat always had a sacred value in the Romanian traditional culture. Bread made for the times “of passing” is a special one, bearing the hidden symbols of the sky and Sun. And even though too few women can still “read” their meaning, bread (the ceremonial ring-bread) continues to be baked the same way, bearing those long-given marks – the column of the skies, the solar circle, the symbols of transformation and regeneration – silent evidence of the time the tree of life hadn’t been cut off, the skies still talked to us and people knew how to listen…  

Muos (Mos) impartit la pomana / "Muos" the alms-bread
            especially baked for the funeral
image via: http://www.formula-as.ro/2010/900/enigme-16/sfanta-paine-a-vlahilor-11985

Colacu' lu' Crasun (Colacul lui Craciun) / Sacramental bread  baked for Christmas
image via: http://www.formula-as.ro/2010/901/enigme-16/sfanta-paine-a-vlahilor-ii-12010

Painea indeplineste si o functie magica, de revelare a viitorului. Se crede ca fetele nemaritate isi pot afla ursitul in ajun de Mos Nicolae (in noaptea de 5 spre 6 decembrie). Ritualul presupune ca fata sa-si pregateasca o paine alba, mica si sarata, pe care s-o manance inainte de culcare, iar in vis i se va arata cel care o va lua de sotie, aducandu-i apa. Conditia esentiala pentru indeplinirea dorintei este aceea de a tine post negru peste zi, purificare absolut necesara pentru primirea semnul divin.

De asemenea, painea ritualica,  coapta si mancata in anumite zile “date” ale anului protejeaza impotriva bolilor, atat pe taran, cat si pe animalele din gospodarie pe ajutorul carora isi intemeiaza intreaga existenta.  

Faptul ca painea a ocupat si ocupa un loc central in cultura traditionala romaneasca este reflectat de multitudinea de proverbe si zicatori cu si despre paine, dar si de aceea ca cea mai mare dovada de respect si ospitalitate fata de cei care ne trec pragul este a-i intampina cu paine si sare. Pe stergar alb, cusut cu semne tainice, aceleasi de pe painea-dar.

Eu nu cunosc aceste semne, dar am pregatit painii de zi cu zi cativa saculeti de panza, sper eu potriviti pentru asa onoare. 

Bread also has a magic role, of revealing the future. It is believed that single young women can find out who their fated one is on Saint Nicholas’s eve (the night between 5^th and 6^th of December). The ritual consists in baking a small, salty white bread the young woman has to eat before going to bed and so she’ll dream the fated one bringing her water to drink. The main condition for her wish to be answered is fasting over the day, purification absolutely necessary to receive this divine clemency.

Furthermore, the ritual bread, baked and eaten in special, “given” days of the year keeps the diseases away from the man and his animals on whose help lay the foundation of man’s entire existence.

The fact that bread has and always had a central role in Romanian traditional culture is shown by the multitude of sayings with and about bread, but also by the fact that the greatest form of hospitality and respect towards our guests is welcoming them with bread and salt. Both on a white towel, hand-embroidered with mystic symbols, same as those baked on the gift-bread.

I don’t know these mystic symbols, but I made some fabric bags for bread which I hope to be appropriate for such an honour.