Saved. Harvest holidays – Moskovskaya Pravda

The end of summer is the time for summing up the results of work in the fields, orchards and orchards. Since ancient times, New Harvest holidays have been held in Russia. In Orthodoxy, these are three joyful holidays of the Savior – honey, apple and nut. What kind of holidays these are, the signs associated with these holidays, what traditional treats were prepared for them before and what can be cooked now – we’ll talk about this today.

Savior in Christianity – on behalf of the Savior, Jesus Christ. The people have their own explanation for the name of the holiday: “to be saved” means to stock up on crops for a long winter. Each holiday of the Savior has its own history and its own festive treats.

The first Savior – honey, or Savior on the water, it is celebrated on August 14th.

At this time in Russia, new wells were dug and consecrated, they went in procession to rivers and lakes, bathed themselves and bathed livestock, asking for health.

And in the spring, beekeepers put icons of the Mother of God in the hives, and on the day of the Honey Savior they cut out the first honeycombs from the hives and carried them to the temple for consecration. And then everyone was treated to this honey, especially the poor and children. Starting from this day, you can already eat the honey of the new harvest and cook all sorts of goodies from it.

Drinking honey was prepared for the Honey Savior. Such honey was infused for ten years. This drink consisted of a third of the berries and two thirds of the honey itself. Withstood this mixture in resin barrels from 10 to 40 years. The most “raw” was considered a five-year-old honey. Honey vinegar and hops helped speed up the natural process.

Fairs of honey and fruits of the new harvest traditionally began on Honey Spas.

For this holiday, honey gingerbread, pancakes and gingerbread were prepared.

But since fasting begins on this day, all dishes were made lenten, so we have such a recipe for making honey monastery gingerbread, which we traditionally bake on Honey Spas. For its preparation you will need:

– 2 cups of wheat flour;

– 100 g of sugar;

– 4 tbsp. l. honey;

– 1/2 cup candied fruits;

– 1/2 cup refined oil;

– 1/3 cup crushed walnuts;

– 1 cup of fresh tea;

– 1 tsp lemon juice;

– ½ tsp soda;

– a pinch of cinnamon, salt and vanillin;

– 2 tbsp. spoons of cocoa powder.

The flour is sifted into a deep bowl, cocoa powder is added and soda and cinnamon are added, the more it is added, the more savory the pastries will turn out.

Honey with sugar and salt are poured into tea and allowed to dissolve completely. The resulting tea mixture is poured into dry ingredients. Then butter, candied fruits and nuts are added.

Put parchment paper in a baking dish and fill 2/3 with dough.

The gingerbread is baked in an oven preheated to 180 degrees C for 40 minutes. Cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve to the festive table.

The next Apple Savior is celebrated on August 19th.

This day was considered the farewell of summer. We looked at what this day was like, because autumn and winter will be like that. A dry day portends a dry autumn, a wet one portends a wet one, and a clear one portends a harsh winter.

Before the Apple Savior, only cucumbers were eaten from the new crop.

But for the holiday, what was not prepared from new fruits. A long row of tables was placed on the square in front of the temple, the hostesses brought out all kinds of food, especially cheesecakes and pies with apple filling, apple kvass and cider. From which the whole neighborhood was filled with the aroma of pastries and fresh apples. People gathered at these tables, tasting treats and praising the hostesses.

After the festival with treats, they went to the pea field with songs and dances to feast on green pods and see off the summer.

Apples are a healthy and affordable product that you can eat every day. You can cook baked, soaked, mashed, dried, and candied apples to your taste.

It is no coincidence that they come to the table in many countries. And such a dish as a dessert strudel with apples is loved in many European countries, and we also fell in love with it.

To prepare it you will need:

– 200 g of wheat flour;

– 150 ml of warm water;

– 4 things. medium apples;

– 100 g of raisins;

– 50 g of sugar;

– 1 tbsp. l. olive oil;

– 1 tsp salt;

– 1/2 cup walnuts;

– 1 tsp cinnamon;

– 1/2 lemon for juice;

– 100 g of powdered sugar for decoration.

First you need to boil and cool the water a little. Soak raisins. Crush the nuts, you can cut.

Sift flour 2 times and mix with water and salt. Whisking gradually, pour in the olive oil. The resulting test should be allowed to “rest” for 1 hour.

Peel apples and cut into small pieces. Dry raisins and mix with apples, add sugar and cinnamon, pour in lemon juice. Wait until the sugar dissolves. On a kitchen towel, generously sprinkled with flour, spread the dough and roll it out lightly. Then, with your hands, slowly stretch the dough until tissue paper is transparent. We lay out the nuts and apple filling on the dough. Using a towel, roll the dough into a roll and transfer to a baking sheet. We fasten the dough at the joints along the entire length so that the roll does not fall apart.

We put baking paper soaked in oil on a baking sheet and lay the strudel so that the “seam” is at the bottom. Bake the strudel in an oven preheated to 180 degrees C for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the finished strudel with powdered sugar. Cool and cut.

The Third Spas is celebrated every year on August 29th. Our ancestors baked bread on this day, collected ripe nuts and traded linen at fairs. The people said: “The First Savior – they stand on the water; Second Spas – eat apples; Third Savior – canvases are sold on the green mountains. This last Savior also has the names “Autumn Savior” and “Cold Savior” – as a reminder of the coming autumn.

On this day, according to tradition, they finished harvesting bread and baked the first loaf of flour from the new crop. Bread was consecrated in the church and then eaten by the whole family and treated to guests, and not only in the house. They went out into the street, handed out to neighbors and passers-by.

Of course, modern people are spoiled for the fact that for a small amount you can buy bread in any grocery store. And for our ancestors it was a real ritual. And they didn’t bake it every day.

Well, for dessert on this holiday, you can cook pears stuffed with walnuts in honey.

First, prepare the necessary ingredients:

– 4 pears;

– 100 g of walnut;

– 60 g of honey;

– 1 tbsp. a spoonful of lemon juice;

– 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Pears of any variety will do, but keep in mind that if the pears themselves are sweet, in combination with honey, the dessert may seem cloying; then it is better to reduce the amount of honey. It is also desirable that the pulp is not very soft, otherwise the pears may lose their shape during baking.

Sprinkle the pears with lemon juice so that they do not darken. We cut the pears in half and take out the seeds and put the walnuts folded together in halves in their place.

Transfer the pears to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Top the pears with honey, lightly sprinkle with ground cinnamon and the remaining chopped nuts. Put in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 25 – 30 minutes. The pears should become soft but retain their shape, and the nuts should taste slightly reminiscent of gozinaki. The finished dessert can be garnished with mint leaves and served hot.

Alina Fedorova.

Author’s photo