04/27/2016
If your Russian bride is an Orthodox Christian, she will celebrate Easter on May 1 and you should know more about the holiday traditions.
The cake is a bread symbol of Easter, an indispensable feature of a light Christian holiday. Baking cakes and its consecration in the church is one of the most ancient Christian traditions, preserved to our days.
It is interesting to note that in fact the cake appeared much earlier than the Christianity. In the Old Testament, there is no mention of any of the cakes, nor about the rites connected with them. All this is because the history of cake dates back to pagan times.
In many cultures, there was a custom to bake the bread in spring and sacrifice it unto the ground. The ritual was dedicated to the gods of fertility. This suggests that the bread was the bedrock of all time. It symbolized the prosperity, health and life itself.
In the Bible, Jesus is often described as the meal with the apostles, and the eating of bread. According to legend, when the Savior was crucified, his associates left his seat free during a meal and put the bread there. It symbolizes the resurrection of Christ, his invisible presence, and participation.
In Christian churches, it was decided to bake bread. It was associated with many of the ordinances of his hand out to those who suffer, it is a meaningful symbol.
Easter cake is an analogue of the Church bread, but it is usually cooked at home.
The shape of a traditional Easter cake resembles a church with a dome. So the cross is often imaged on the top of the Cake. This bread is special and sometimes it is difficult to explain why the yeast bread baked at Easter, can be stored for a long time, it does not dry and not get moldy.
Different countries have their own cake recipes. They add the raisins, candied fruit, and various spices. Today bakers compete in skilled manufacturing cakes, coming up with intricate designs on the crust and special raisin tastes and shapes. For example, in 2011, the biggest Easter cake was prepared in Donetsk (Ukraine) its weight was about 2 tons and a height of 2.4 meters.
