Christmas table in Rus'. What was cooked and how they celebrated Christmas in Rus'

If you carefully study the history of the holiday from the point of view of cooking, it turns out that the hostesses prepared two tables: lenten for Christmas Eve and plentifully fast for Christmas morning.

On Christmas night from January 6 to 7, a festive Divine Liturgy is celebrated. On the very day of the Christmas holiday, believers break their fast (they do not eat lean, but fast food). The twelve following days after Christmas are called holy days, or Christmas time. This is probably why, according to legend, there should be 12 dishes on the Christmas table. Some of them passed to the morning of January 7 from Christmas Eve - these are kutya and zvar. The rest, modest, dishes were waiting in the wings.

Christmas Eve: First Star

The holiday begins on the evening of January 6 - Christmas Eve comes. According to church rules and folk tradition, on this day they do not eat until the first star appears in the sky - in remembrance of the Bethlehem star, which showed the Magi the way to the place of the Nativity of Christ.
They also say that Christmas is not celebrated alone - this family celebration. It was customary to gather either with parents or with the whole big family the eldest in the family. Before the first star, the hostess had to prepare several lenten obligatory Christmas dishes. The main items in this menu were kutya, or sochivo, and vzvar (uzvar).

Sochivo, or Kutya

An indispensable dish, without which pre-revolutionary Russia Neither Christmas nor Easter was celebrated. Christmas Eve - from Sochiva, or Kuteinik - from Kutia, as they called the day before Christmas. And all of it passed in anticipation of the miracle of birth. It was believed that the richer and tastier the sochivo, the more fruitful the next year would be.
The products from which kutya was prepared were endowed with special significance: grain was considered a symbol of resurrection to life, honey was a symbol of health and a prosperous (sweet) life, and poppy promised prosperity in the family.
Pre-revolutionary writer A.A. Korinfsky wrote: “In the evening, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, Russian people who invariably adhere to the old pious customs do not break the fast: according to the Charter of the Church, only sochivo is allowed to eat at this time. Conversation - in the morning, after early mass; and until the morning, Filippovkas are still standing in Rus', going from November 15 (28) until the merry joyful Christmas time.
However, wheat was not always the basis of kutya. In the southern regions of Russia, rice was more often cooked. However, nuts, honey and dried fruits remained an unchanged part of the recipe.
Traditional Sochi Recipe
wheat grains - one glass,
poppy - 100 g,
purified walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews - 100 g,
honey - 3 tablespoons,
dried fruits.
Crush the grains in a wooden mortar, adding a little warm water so that the wheat shell comes off. Then the kernel must be separated from the husk, sifted and washed. Cook crumbly lean porridge on the water, adding 2-3 cups of water to the cereal.
Grind the poppy seeds until poppy milk is obtained, add honey to it, mix and put in wheat porridge. At the very end, add crushed nuts and dried fruits steamed with boiling water.

Rice juice

rice - 1 cup,
raisins - 50 g,
prunes - 50 g,
dried apricots - 50 g,
almonds or walnuts - 50 g,
honey - three tablespoons
Rinse rice, pour cold water and bring to a boil. Drain in a colander and rinse again with cold water. Then pour 1.5 cups cold water and cook until tender without removing the lid. Steam in hot water dried fruits (15-20 minutes).
Cut prunes and dried apricots. Crush the almonds. If all the water has not boiled away, it should be drained, the rice should be cooled. Add dried fruits, honey and nuts to the rice.

blast

Second obligatory dish christmas table. A broth was prepared from dried fruits, but honey was added instead of sugar. The most popular was apple broth with the addition of dry or soaked berries cranberries, cranberries or raspberries.
In the south of Russia, smoked pear was always added to the drink. Mint, oregano, currant leaf, thyme and other fragrant herbs are often added. It is not necessary to boil the broth: it is enough to pour fruit with boiling water and leave to infuse. A thermos is perfect for this purpose. Often juicy is diluted with a boil and eaten in the form of liquid sweet porridge.

Lean pancakes

Christmas Eve was not complete without Lenten dishes. But if kutya and vzvar were obligatory, then pancakes, vinaigrette, cabbage rolls, fish pies, vegetable stews or kashi remained welcome guests on the last day of fasting. Among this menu, pancakes were common. They wonderfully complemented boiled fish or caviar, jam or honey. Only they were made without milk and butter. For example, on potato broth or mineral water.

The vinaigrette

Lenten vinaigrette or with herring was served very often on Christmas Eve. The recipe is simple, but the dish turns out tasty and inexpensive, which made it possible to cook it in poor families. And in the houses of the wealthy, sturgeon or white fish could be added to the Christmas vinaigrette.

Christmas goose with sauerkraut

When the night passes and after the service the family returns to the house, the long-awaited Christmas holiday comes. Lent is over, and meat dishes, milk and butter pies appear on the table, oily fish and sumptuous desserts.
It was believed that a baked goose (or other bird) and pork dishes should be an indispensable attribute of the Christmas meal. Of course, on the eve of Christmas, millions of geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens were brought to the country's bazaars.
“Christmas in Moscow felt a long time ago - a cheerful, business hustle. They just started talking in Filippovka, on November 14, for the Christmas post, and already at the freight stations, especially in Rogozhskaya, the geese cackle day and night - “goose trains”, to Germany: before it was, before the glaciers-wagons, live cargo. Believe it or not - hundreds of trains! A goose walked through Moscow - from Kozlov, Tambov, Kursk, Saratov, Samara ... I don’t remember Poltava, Poland, Lithuania, Volyn: the paths from there are different. And duck, and chicken, and turkey, and black grouse ... capercaillie and hazel grouse, bacon-brisket, and ... - what the soul only requires for Christmas, ”wrote Ivan Shmelev.
little goose,
cabbage - 800 g,
bulbs - 4 pcs.,
cumin - 0.5 tbsp.,
salt,
oil.
If the carcass is frozen, let the goose lie down in the refrigerator for a day. Then wash the goose, rub it inside and out with salt and cumin. If possible, you can boil the goose in red wine - whole, about 40 minutes. Wine will give the bird softness.
Stew sauerkraut with oil and onions in a saucepan, covered. Stuff the goose with this cabbage and fry on a baking sheet, pouring a little broth on it and pouring it over the goose. Then goose fat will be melted - you will water it.

Cold pig with horseradish

Pig on the table
Not less than traditional product there was pork on the Christmas table. According to legend, when Jesus was born, in the manger all the animals joyfully met the divine baby - except for the pig. She grunted annoyingly and prevented the baby from sleeping. That is why, as a punishment, the pig became an indispensable dish of the Christmas table.
Even during Lent, they began to bring to the capitals, to central fairs, whole carts with pork - there were huge carcasses, and barrels of corned beef, and suckling pigs. “Bad, bad, but two or three carcasses of pigs are necessary, and black piglets, fry with porridge, three dozen, and white ones, for aspic, moloshnichki, two dozen, so that there is enough for plots,” Ivan Shmelev wrote in “The Lord’s Summer”.
Many dishes were prepared from pork, but in every wealthy house the table was decorated with a suckling pig with porridge or cold with horseradish.
Recipe from Ekaterina Avdeeva's book "Handbook of Russian experienced hostess» simple: boil the whole pig in salt water With fragrant herbs- thyme, dill - and onions. Then cut into pieces and pour horseradish with sour cream. Serve cold.

Pork belly stuffed with cabbage and apples

In the old days, porridge was served with pork feet, but you can make pork belly with cabbage and apples for buckwheat porridge. It will turn out very juicy.
pork belly - 800 g,
cabbage - 400 g,
apples - 5 pcs.,
butter - 1 tbsp,
bulb - 1 pc.,
salt and pepper.
Chop fresh cabbage, salt, squeeze. Add finely chopped cabbage sour apples, oil, mix. pork belly wash, chop the bones in several places, cut a large hole between the bones and meat with a knife.
Put the prepared minced meat there, sew it up, place it on a frying pan or baking sheet, sprinkle with finely chopped onions, add 3 tablespoons of water and fry in an oven heated to 200 ° C until cooked. Serve with crumbly buckwheat porridge.

Jellied pig and rooster

Rinse the knuckle and legs of the piglet well and cut into pieces. Put in a saucepan, pour cold water so that it covers the meat by a few centimeters, boil and remove the foam. After an hour, add the carcass of the rooster.
Boil aspic over very low heat for 6-8 hours, so that the water boils away to half the volume. 20 minutes before the end of cooking, add to the broth Bay leaf, peppercorns and salt to taste. Remove the meat from the broth, separate from the bones and cut into pieces. Strain the broth. Pour chopped garlic on the bottom of the dish, put the meat, pour the broth, mix gently with a spoon and refrigerate until it hardens.

Rye pie with fish

For test:
rye flour - 1 cup,
wheat flour - 1 cup,
milk - 1 glass,
dry yeast - 1 tsp,
sugar - 2 tsp,
salt - 1 tsp,
vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.
For filling:
pikeperch fillet - 500 g,
mussels, peeled - 200 g,
onion - 1 pc.,
carrots - 1 pc.,
brine pickles- 500 ml,
vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons,
dill - 1 bunch,
salt and white pepper taste.
We knead the dough, for which 1 tsp. dry yeast pour 5 tsp. warm water, let stand for swelling for 10-15 minutes. Sift wheat and rye flour, pour in vegetable oil, milk room temperature, add sugar and salt, add yeast, knead.
Let the dough rise in a warm place. The dough should rise twice and be folded twice. We divide it into 2 parts.
For filling in cucumber pickle boil the mussels and fish, put them in a colander. Peel and finely chop the onion and carrot. In a frying pan, fry vegetables with fish and mussels. Let's salt and pepper. Turn off, add chopped dill. Form a cake in a baking sheet, brush the top with egg yolk and bake for 50 minutes at 170°C.

ginger pie

butter - 100 g + another piece for lubrication,
dark unrefined cane sugar- 100 g,
flour with baking powder - 175 g,
ground ginger - 4 tsp,
light molasses - 175 g,
ginger wine - 3 tablespoons,
eggs of any size, can be beaten - 2 pcs.,
finely grated fresh ginger the size of a hazelnut
finely chopped canned ginger- 150 g,
powdered sugar - 75 g,
ginger root for decoration - 1 pc.
Preheat oven to 160°C, grease a 23 cm baking dish. Beat butter and sugar with a pinch of salt until the mixture is fluffy. Sift flour and ground ginger together.
Pour in light molasses (for convenience, use a spoon pre-lubricated with oil and a silicone kitchen spatula), 1 tbsp. wine and mix everything together. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then gradually add the flour.
Mix everything with fresh and canned ginger. Spoon the resulting mixture into a baking dish. Smooth the surface and bake for about 50-60 minutes until the surface wooden skewer, lowered into the middle of the pie, the dough will not stick. Leave the cake to cool in the mold. After the cake has completely cooled, make the frosting by mixing the powdered sugar and the remaining ginger wine and drizzle over the top of the cake. Cut the ginger root into thin pieces and decorate the cake.

Russian custard soufflé

any berries - 500 g,
water - ½ cup,
sugar - 2 cups,
egg whites - 5 pcs.
Make a puree from the berries, add water and boil. Add sugar (about the same amount as the puree). Beat egg whites into stiff foam. Add to puree. Put the puree in baking dishes, put for 30 minutes in an oven heated to 170 degrees.

Christmas is a bright holiday, and in Rus' it was always looked forward to, and celebrated widely and cheerfully. In a series of traditional festivities, skating and fortune-telling, the Russian people did not forget about the feast. But how? After all, it was before Christmas. Let not the strictest, with permission sometimes eat fish, but still - fasting.

special christmas fish dish we didn't, it's on Easter table you can’t do without fish, and at Christmas the main thing is meat. They slaughtered cattle for Christmas, salted hams, smoked ham, stuffed sausages, pig heads and stomachs. They caroled - they walked through the streets on the eve of Christmas and sang: “Give the gut and the leg through the window!”

They did not spare meat and cabbage soup. After lean fish, with sturgeon head or smelt, they broke the fast with rich cabbage soup - with boiled lamb or beef, whitening them with sour cream, milk or cream.

But the conversation did not begin at all with meat - in Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, with the first star it was necessary to taste sochi (it is also kolivo, or kutya). And only then, after matins - raise a glass under a roast goose or a pig's head. It came-rolled Nativity! Have fun, guys - Christmas time has come!

In some provinces, special pancakes were baked for Christmas - made from oatmeal. They gave them to friends, invited relatives to oatmeal pancakes. Oats were generally considered one of the symbols of Christmas celebrations. Vasiliev evening, New Year's Eve in the old style, was also called Ovsen.

TO oatmeal pancakes great fit special dish- yarn. In Belarus, it is called machanka, from the word "dunk" - dipped in thick meat sauce not only pancakes, but also traditional Belarusian potato pancakes, boiled potatoes, just freshly baked bread.

Roe deers were baked for sweets in the northern Russian provinces. Intricate, in the form of cows, sheep, goats, deer. In every house, the housewives, together with the children, sculpted them with their hands, passing on traditions from generation to generation. Sometimes tin notches were used, it is not difficult to make them yourself from a simple strip of tin. Children's molds for fun with sand are also suitable - they just need to be greased with oil from the inside. Dough options for goats are very different, from simple unleavened rye to gingerbread - in butter and egg yolks. Novgorod region has its own version - voluminous "cows" from unleavened dough mixed with milk. Not necessarily in the form of a cow, by the way. Even the birds from such a dough, molded and baked for Christmas, were called cows.

We warmed up on Christmas with a spit. Children were offered a non-alcoholic version, adults - strong, with beer, brandy, vodka or wine.

The Christmas table in any Russian house looked especially festive. Often it was left covered for the whole time Christmas time(12 days from Christmas to Epiphany), and a wide variety of treats were not removed from it - in anticipation of an uninvited, but always welcome guest or carolers. Under the most elegant tablecloths, it was customary to put a bunch of straw - as a reminder of the birth of the baby Christ in a barn near Bethlehem. In some Russian regions, this custom has survived to this day ...

What did our ancestors prepare for Christmas?

At one time, Christmas in Rus' was revered much more than New Year. It was supposed to meet Christmas after fasting, with a pure heart, soul and body. Well, then a feast was started for the whole world. What dishes traditionally met this bright holiday in Rus' and what can be prepared today for the festive table?

So, on Christmas Eve (as the evening before Christmas on January 6th is called) it is not supposed to eat food until the first star appears in the sky, which symbolizes the very one of Bethlehem. Well, as soon as the star appeared, you need to treat yourself to juicy.

According to tradition, 12 dishes should be put on the Christmas table - according to the number of Christ's Apostles. Just placed in the center of the table festive juicy. It must be eaten first, each of those present at the table must eat at least one spoonful of juicy. According to the legends, then this person will live in health and prosperity for the entire coming year.

Sochivo

Take a glass of wheat grains (you can buy them in departments healthy eating supermarkets). Rinse, put in a cast iron bowl, pour three glasses of water, salt. Close the lid and put in a preheated oven for two to three hours. The grains should be completely boiled soft, become soft and even partially burst. Cool without removing from the pot.

Mix grains with dried fruits (raisins, finely chopped dried apricots, prunes), steamed and crushed poppy seeds, any nuts. Lay out on a platter. Top with honey, diluted with water in a ratio of one to one and brought to a boil. Get a lean treat, tasty and elegant.

Uzvar

This is one of the traditional and obligatory drinks for the Christmas table. To prepare an uzvar, wash any dried fruits (pears, plums, cherries, apples, raisins), throw in boiling water and cook until soft under the lid. Cook apples and pears separately. Season the boiled fruits with honey, bring to a boil and leave in a cold place for 2 hours. Serve in clay pot or in extreme cases in a decanter.

Butter with sprats

15-20 kilka, 3-4 boiled yolk, 200 g butter, parsley.

Peel the sprat from the bones and pound in a mortar along with steep yolks and butter. Lay in a slide on a saucer or in a butter dish, garnish with parsley or lettuce. It can be served not only as an appetizer, but also with pancakes. Herring oil is prepared in the same way.

Pork roll

Beat a piece of pork 3-4 cm thick, lay finely chopped bacon, carrots, hard boiled eggs, garlic.

Salt, pepper, roll up, bandage, boil until tender at a low boil.

Remove from the broth, put under a light press and cool.

Cut into thin slices.

Christmas borscht with carp

500 g fresh carp, 400 g fresh cabbage, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 parsley root, 1 parsnip root, 250 g beets, 400 g potatoes, 1/2 cup beans, 1/2 cup tomato juice, 1 cup beetroot infusion, 20 g dried mushrooms, 1 tbsp. spoon wheat flour, 2.5 st. tablespoons of vegetable oil, 2 bay leaves, 3 peas of allspice, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of parsley, salt.

Rinse dried mushrooms, boil until tender, put on a sieve, cut into strips, and strain the broth.

Pre-soak the beans in boiled and chilled water and boil until half cooked.

Peeled and washed roots of carrots, parsley, parsnips and onion cut into strips and fry in vegetable oil.

Chop the beets into strips and stew with tomato juice and beetroot infusion until half cooked.

Pour into boiling mushroom broth alternately stewed beets, chopped potatoes, fried roots and onions, shredded cabbage, boiled mushrooms, beans with broth, dried flour, bay leaf, allspice, salt and cook until the vegetables are ready.

The sequence of laying vegetables is as follows: potatoes - 30 minutes before borscht is ready, cabbage - 20 minutes, stewed beets - 15 minutes, browned vegetables - onions, carrots, parsley, parsnips - 15 minutes, spices - allspice, bay sheet - in 5-8 minutes.

IN ready borscht put the fried carp and bring to a boil. Borscht should be infused for at least 20 minutes.

Sprinkle borscht poured into plates with parsley.

Preparation of beetroot infusion ( beet kvass). Grate peeled beets, pour boiled water(in a ratio of 1:2 by weight) and put in a warm place for 3-4 days.

Christmas goose

1 goose carcass, 1.5 kg of apples, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of butter, salt, parsley.

Gut the carcass of the goose, wash it, chop off the legs, wings, neck with the head, stuff with apples cut into slices (without peel and seed chamber) and sew up the holes with threads. (It’s easier, of course, to immediately buy a gutted carcass).

Then rub the goose with salt, put it back in the pan, add a little water, and pour melted butter on top. Roast in the oven or in the Russian oven, periodically watering own juice and fat.

Depending on the size of the carcass, the duration of frying is from 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

Pull the threads from the finished goose, take out the apples, cut it portioned pieces and put in the middle of the dish, and spread the apples around.

Pour everything with juice and fat, in which the goose was fried, and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

berry cheese

Stir well-squeezed cottage cheese with raspberry, strawberry, cherry or any other berry jam. Wrap in gauze, put under pressure, put in a cold place for several hours.

carols

400 g rye flour. 260 g water, 400 g minced meat, salt.

Knead unleavened dough, roll it out, cut it into 10 squares, bend the edges, and pinch the corners so that you get a flat box. Fill the prepared boxes with various minced meats and bake in the oven.

Minced meat for carols: cottage cheese, mashed with egg and sugar; hotter mashed potatoes seasoned with milk, egg and sour cream; jam mixed with flour.

Cookies "Winter Stars"

200 g butter or margarine, 200 g flour, 160 g powdered sugar, 2 eggs, lemon zest.

Cut butter or margarine into pieces small pieces, mix with flour, powdered sugar, yolks, mashed lemon zest(if there is). Stir thoroughly and let the dough stand for a little (30 minutes) in the cold. Roll it into a layer about 0.5 cm thick, cut out stars, hearts and other figures using molds or a knife.

Place them on a greased baking sheet, top with egg whites whipped with the remaining powdered sugar.

Bake cookies in the oven on low heat.

For Orthodox Christmas It was characteristic that there were 12 dishes on the table - according to the number of Christ's Apostles. And although few people remember these traditions now, the generous table with snacks, hot dishes and pastries remains unchanged. website set a table of seven traditional Russian Christmas dishes, and invites you to join him.

Christmas treats have been of great importance in Rus' since ancient times, because bright holiday Christmas is preceded by 40 days strict fast. That is why the festive meal began with lighter dishes so that the body could get used to heavy food again.

Sochivo was a traditional dish of the Orthodox Christian Christmas menu. They ate Sochivo on Christmas Eve - on the evening of January 6, on the eve of Christmas. This Lenten dish from boiled wheat grains, rice or lentils with the addition of nuts, honey and raisins. It precedes breaking the fast - that is, the transition to regular food all who fast. In Rus', for a Christmas feast, the table was first covered with hay, and the tablecloth was covered from above. Sochivo was placed in the center of the table, around - other dishes.

As hot as possible suitable festive baked goose stuffed with apples, cabbage, lentils or buckwheat. The goose occupies a prominent place on the table. Another rule of the Christmas feast is that the goose must be served whole, that is, it is by no means necessary to cut it before serving. A whole goose symbolizes indivisibility and family integrity. They also made a hodgepodge with a goose. Goose fat was drowned in a frying pan, then goose meat with cabbage, carrots and onions was stewed in it. The hodgepodge came out fragrant, juicy and perfectly sated and warmed in the Christmas frosts. By the way, cooking a hodgepodge is easier and less time-consuming than a whole goose. Therefore, we recommend preparing it for Christmas. Can be added to cabbage, carrots and onions green pea and sweet bell pepper.

Also as a main dish for big family fit suckling pig. By unspoken rules, cuts a goose or a pig and divides it among the members of the family of the oldest of the men present at the table. IN old times it was customary to put the first piece on the eldest son's plate.

Of course, what is a Christmas table without cakes. In Rus', for the holiday, they baked and served pies spun with different fillings- and with potatoes, and with cabbage, and with an egg. And the pies were called “spun” because they were fried in in large numbers oils. The oil was poured into a thick-walled cast iron pan, pre-heated on fire. We kept the pan with oil over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until a barely noticeable white haze appeared. Pies were dipped into the calcined oil. Be sure to ensure that the oil covers the product only by a third or half, and the product itself must be in contact with the surface of the pan. This cooking technique (not only pies, but also meat, cutlets) was called “spinning”.

Spinned pies for Christmas were washed down with uzvar or vodka. Made a drink from dried fruits and berries (apples, pears, rose hips, plums, apricots), sweetened with honey. Dried fruits were placed in a pot with water, it was put on fire and the mixture was brought to a boil, “brewed”. Hence the name "uzvar". Uzvar came to Russian cuisine from Ukrainian, it was cooked more in the southern regions of Russia. And the uzvar was added to the sochiv if it came out very steep and thick.

After pies with uzvar, it would be nice to brew tea with herbs and put roe gingerbread on the table and bird cherry cake. Roe deer - painted gingerbread from sweet dough, in some sense an analogue of the European gingerbread cookies. In Rus', roes were baked in the form of animal figurines. For example, in the Vologda province they baked "deer" and "lambs" to decorate the Christmas table. In some Pomeranian villages, special metal molds for baking kozul or simply cut out different figures from rolled out dough. Christmas cookies were baked until browned and always covered with sweet icing.

Bird cherry cake - a traditional dish Siberian cuisine, which was put on the table on holidays. Siberians lovingly call him " Siberian pie". Cake layers are baked from bird cherry flour, cream is made from sour cream 25-30% fat. For spicy taste and aroma, the cake can be soaked with cherry liqueur.

Text: Ksenia Kazankova, Elena Kupriyanova
Photo: Fotolia

“In those days, a command came out from Caesar Augustus to make a census throughout the whole earth ... And they all went to be recorded, each to his own city. Joseph also went from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was pregnant, and when they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she bore her firstborn Son, and swaddled him, and laid him in a manger, because not they had a place in a hotel.

In that country there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and feared with great fear. And the angel said to them: Do not be afraid; I proclaim to you great joy, which will be for all people: for today a Savior is born to you in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord; and here is a sign for you: you will find a baby in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly, with an angel, a numerous heavenly army appeared, glorifying God and crying out: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men!

When the Angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said to each other: let's go to Bethlehem and see what happened there, about which the Lord announced to us. And hastening, they came and found Mary and Joseph, and the Child lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they told about what had been proclaimed to them about this Baby" (Luke 2:1-17).

Traditions.

The Feast of Christmas is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on January 7 in a new style. By this day, as a symbol of eternal peace, happiness and joy that came with the birth of Christ, a decorated fir tree is installed in houses, the top of which is crowned with an eight-pointed star - in memory of the Star of Bethlehem, which showed the way to the Magi. The branches of the Christmas tree are hung with figures of singing angels, shepherds with small lambs, silver bells, and are colored with candles and lanterns, reminiscent of the fires and lanterns that shone for the Bethlehem shepherds on the holy night. Gifts are placed under the Christmas tree for all family members, and all kinds of sweets are hung on branches for children.

Christmas Eve is called Christmas Eve. The name itself is associated with the custom of Orthodox Christians to cook porridge sochivo - dried wheat grains soaked in water. Sochiv was called not only porridge, but also any lean food, as well as the "milk" of various seeds (poppy, almond, hemp, nut, etc.), which was seasoned with porridge during the 40-day fast and on Christmas Eve.

Evening meal accompanied by many traditions and rituals. On this day, the first meal, which also ends the pre-Christmas fast, begins with the appearance of the first star, in memory of Bethlehem, which announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds. By this time, all family members dressed in festive clothes and gathered together, the table was covered with a snow-white tablecloth, served the best dishes, forced traditional dishes. There were 13 dishes. An even number of people had to sit at the table. In the case when an odd number was collected, one free device was supplied.

The floor in the house was covered with fresh hay, and the table was covered with straw, on which a tablecloth was then laid and refreshments were placed. All this reminded us that the Savior was born not in the royal palace, but in a sheepshed, and was laid in a manger on straw.

The children looked forward to the appearance of the first star, their joyful announcement of its appearance was the signal for the start of the meal. The meal began with a common prayer, then the most revered member of the family, usually the mistress of the house, congratulated everyone on the holiday. For Catholics, the ceremony began with the exchange of a wafer - a symbol of bread, wealth and prosperity. The mistress of the house first shared the wafer with her husband, then with her sons according to seniority, then with her daughters, also according to seniority, with grandchildren and everyone else.

The meal was non-alcoholic, and all dishes were lenten, seasoned vegetable oil, without milk and sour cream. It was not served hot either, so that the hostess was constantly at the table. Dishes were put on the table in a strictly defined order: appetizers (salads, herring, fish) were first, then slightly warmed borscht, mushroom or fish soups, which were served with ears, pies with mushrooms, juicy, fried in hemp oil. At the end of the meal, sweet dishes were served: rolls or pies with poppy seeds, gingerbread, honey cakes, cranberry jelly, compote, apples and nuts.

In anticipation of the moment of visiting the temple for the solemn night service, carols were sung, and the youth proceeded to divination. Fortune-telling was supposed to predict fate for the next year.

The Christmas night ended, after which the main holiday of the Nativity of Christ began. The festive table is distinguished by an abundance of appetizers. Among them, traditionally for Christmas, cold cuts - slices of ham, ham, boiled pork, carbonate, loin, smoked sausage. Ancient peoples Christmas dish northern Europe is meat pate, Russian jelly competes with him.

The slaughter of livestock and poultry was timed to coincide with Christmas frosts, so a large number of people were preparing for this day. meat dishes. On festive table served jelly, ham, smoked lard, lamb side with porridge, homemade sausage, roast, goose with apples, duck with cabbage, and suckling pig was the pinnacle of everything. Pies were baked in every house and small pastries- carols - especially for giving out to carolers.