Folk crafts of Russia: Christmas gingerbread (roes)
Last year I managed to visit the Arkhangelsk region and spend a whole week in Arkhangelsk. The purpose of the trip is to look at the icebreakers in motion and personally make sure that the ice cut by the ship instantly freezes and after a few minutes people start walking on it. The ideological inspirer of this trip is Yegor Paagirev, on his VKontakte page I found an interesting photo report about Arkhangelsk.
For the first time in my life I had to go sightseeing at such low temperatures, during the day it was -28C. Prudently from Moscow, I took with me felt boots, which were very useful to me. But the cold was not felt at all like in the capital. I did a little experiment: I was wearing light gloves that were warm, but as soon as I took them off, my hand froze in a matter of seconds. In addition, the sun almost does not warm, because it almost never rises. My second observation is snow: snow-white, fluffy, crumbling into millions of snowflakes at the slightest touch. And the third thing I remember about this region is the fish. Cod. I tried it fried in a pan and open fire, boiled in its own juice, baked in foil, ate Polish cod, drunken cod and cod cutlets. But I would like to talk about something completely different.
My visit coincided with Orthodox Christmas, and then I was surprised by the gingerbread that grandmothers sold on every corner. It turns out that these gingerbread cookies are a national delicacy and are cooked only at Christmas. And they are called - goats!
Reference. Kozuli or Kozuli - made from dough, decorated and baked figurines. The name kozul is formed not from the word goat, but from the verb "goat". Roe deer were originally a national delicacy of Pomors (inhabitants of the Arkhangelsk province), who made them only for Christmas. At the moment, roes are made in the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, as well as in the Urals. Kozul is also considered to be a kind of gingerbread
I saw especially a lot of Kozul in the museum of wooden architecture "Small Korely", where an exhibition and sale of gingerbread was organized. Here, each craftswoman praises her gingerbread. I take pictures of the gingerbread I like, and my grandmother explains that she is a "folk master of Russia. " No wonder - after all, every gingerbread is a work of art! And the same decorated gingerbread can not be found all different.
Reference. According to the method of manufacture, modern roe deer can be attributed to carved gingerbread. Pieces of dough are shaped into various animals - goats and goats, deer, lambs, cows and bulls, as well as cats, seals and birds. The made figurines are baked in an oven or oven on a greased sheet. Dough recipes are quite diverse, and many families have their own recipes for making dough, which have been kept in families for decades. Roe deer are usually colorfully decorated with glaze, which is made from whipped proteins with the addition of various natural dyes.
This year our family also decided to make gingerbread for Christmas, and I thought maybe we should revive the ancient Russian tradition of baking gingerbread. In addition, they can decorate the Christmas tree so beautifully! I bought the gingerbread in the photo in Arkhangelsk as a souvenir.
Vitushki and grouse.
In the Arkhangelsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, among the mannequins in national clothes, I found such an interesting exhibit in the form of a twisted ring with an explanation below: "teterka" - Kargopol spring ritual cookies. Made by the folk master of Russia T. A. Onuchina".
Reference. Teters are baked from rye dough, rolled out in the form of thin flagellum sausages, from which animal figures or geometric figures are then “twisted”, close to solar signs and ancient Russian ornaments.
To find out about this strange gingerbread, I go to the Center of Folk Crafts "Bereginya" in Kargopol, where I find "grouse" among clay Kargopol toys. The manager, who conducted the tour for me, affectionately calls these gingerbread "vitushki".
Reference. Black grouse (also vitushki) is a twisted gingerbread product common in the cities of Kargopol, Mezen, as well as in villages along the banks of the Mezen River. Cookies were ceremonial, baked on specially allotted days. In Kargopol, March 22, the day of the spring solstice, was called black grouse day, on this day black grouse were baked, thus migratory birds called, which, according to local beliefs, brought spring and warmth with them.
Who are "mukosolki"?
I really don’t know why in the section about gingerbread I write about flour salts. Probably because the composition is the same, they are made from flour. True, a lot of salt is added at the same time so that the “dough” keeps its shape. Figures are molded from it, and then dried and decorated. My flour salts are also made by the folk master of Russia, they were bought at the Central Department Store in Arkhangelsk. And these flour salts are fridge magnets!
