What table to set for a child's christening. Design and recipes for preparing dishes for a child’s christening

Page 2 of 2

Baptism

In Russia baptism occurred most often on the eighth, and sometimes on the fortieth day , because these numbers recalled events in the infant life of Jesus - circumcision and meeting.
Baptism took place among all classes in churches; the sacrament in houses was allowed only in cases of illness or extreme weakness of the newborn and always not in the room in which he was born, since this room was considered desecrated for a long time.
The rite of baptism has not changed over the centuries. As many years ago, the priest in full vestments performs all his sacraments, from the clarification prayer and blessing of water to dressing the baby in the “robe of truth - a baptismal shirt (vest), presenting a pectoral cross, which is then worn under clothes and is protected throughout life, anointing and baptism.
All questions that the priest addresses to the child are answered by his successors - godfather and mother.
Here are the main baptismal traditions: date - on the eighth day after birth, the choice of close relatives as adopters, and, finally, the belief that if the wax with the baby’s hairs does not sink, the child will remain alive.
The choice of godparents was very serious, since in the event of illness or death of the parents, they were given responsibility for raising the child; That’s why they were chosen from close people - relatives or family friends.
Godfather - godfather, godmother - godfather. His godson, explains V. Dahl, is not godfather or godfather, but only among themselves, and in relation to his parents and relatives. Godfather and mother are important people both in the ritual and in life.
By the way, Nepotism also existed in pre-Christian Rus' and was secured by washing the child in a river, lake or wooden trough. The child was carried to a pond, bathed, swaddled and given a name of the choice of the parents or an elder in the clan, often in honor of a respected ancestor or folk hero. At the same time, religious activities were also performed. The Magi cast magic spells against evil spirits and predicted the fate of the baby. There could be two, three or more godfathers. They exercised patrimonial guardianship over the child and bore moral responsibility for his upbringing, and in the event of the death of the parents, they replaced them for him.
After the completion of all pagan rituals, the ancient Slavs organized a family holiday, and in Christian Rus', christening tables were set on the same day; In addition to guests, they also fed the poor.

The custom of arranging christening tables existed among all classes and differed only in the variety and abundance of dishes served.
After the ceremony, the father and mother were congratulated on their son or daughter, godfather and godmother on their godson, and the midwife on their grandson or granddaughter.
A pregnant woman was not called a godmother: it was believed that then the godson would die.
If there were deaths of newborns or young children in families, the first person they met was taken as a godfather. Preference was given to godparents who had many godchildren alive. A guy or girl who became godparents for the first time chose a child: a man - a girl, a girl - a boy; it was believed that otherwise the girl risked remaining a century-old woman, and the guy a bachelor. Among the peasants and lower strata of the urban population, there was also a belief that if a girl or guy who was invited to be godparents to the first child was older than the godson’s parents, then the girl would marry a widower, and the guy would marry a widow or woman older than him. Therefore, accordingly, they tried to make godmothers younger than their parents.
According to the canons of Orthodoxy, godparents could not marry each other. This rule was also widely used by peasants who found out that the landowner wanted to marry them against their will. Even the most severe serf owner did not have the right to force the godfather to marry.
They walked on the water without a rocker, otherwise the godson would be hunchbacked, but so that it would be easier for him to live in the world, in On the day of baptism, a glass of water was placed on the window.
In order for brothers and sisters to be friendly and love each other deeply, it was recommended that all subsequent children wear the shirt in which the first child was baptized. On January 21 (Jan. 8, according to the old style) at “Vasilisa the Winter” and “Emelyany-Perezimniki” it was customary to treat the godfather with his godfather - according to legend, this brought health to the children, and the godfather and godfather, when visiting their godson, brought with them a piece of soap and a towel, handing it over, they said: “Here is some soap and a white washcloth for your godson.” On Peter's Day (July 12), the godfather baked tobolki - unleavened pies with cottage cheese - for the godchildren.
On Forgiveness Day (the last day before Great Lent), according to custom, the godfather went to the godfather with soap, and she went to him with gingerbread.

Christening lunch

The main guests at the festive christening dinner - godfather, godfather and grandmother-midwife. And since now children are born in a hospital, the role of the midwife, so important in the ritual part of the holiday, should be taken on by some relative or the most respected guest. The choice is at the discretion of the parents. The main guests were seated at the table and treated to snacks and tea prepared for them, and the owner of the house, meanwhile, went to invite relatives and friends “to the baby for bread, salt, and porridge.”
The christening table was set festively. Here is his approximate menu: first, cold was served: on a fast day - herring and kvass with sauerkraut, on a fast day - jelly and kvass with eggs and meat; then followed: on a fast day - cabbage soup with smelt, seasoned with hemp oil, potato soup with mushrooms and noodles; in the fast food: cabbage soup with some kind of meat, ear soup (i.e. soup made from offal), noodles with chicken or pork, milk noodles and, finally, without fail and regardless of the composition of the dishes at the baptismal dinner, it was served main course - buckwheat porridge, before which they were treated to millet porridge. After the guests ate dinner, the grandmother put a pie on the table, put a pot in a hat and a bottle of vodka and said: “This is mine: buy it, you will eat it.” or:
"My loving guests,
My dear guests!
Grandma is coming to see you
He's bringing you porridge.
Grandmother is young,
He brings some sweet porridge,
We can't make any profits
But only to accustom the people,
So that grandma is known
They invited me to visit more often!!

Then the grandmother begins to treat those present, but they playfully refuse and, according to custom, invite her to try the vodka first: “Try it yourself, grandmother! Maybe the vodka is a slander!” The father drinks first after the grandmother, and for a snack he is given a so-called birthing spoon with heavily salted and peppered porridge. Grandma says: “It’s salty and bitter to give birth.” Such words were sometimes followed by the answer: “It was salty porridge and it was salty for the wife to give birth, and even more salty, the father and mother will get the children after,” and, throwing up the porridge remaining in the spoon, the father says: “God only grant that our children have a happy life, and they would also jump!
The godfathers feast on the father. “With your godson (goddaughter), as you saw him (her) under the cross, so you should see him (her) under the crown!” - says the grandmother. After the godfathers, the rest of the guests drink the vodka served. At the same time, everyone, not excluding the father, puts some money on the plate in favor of the grandmother and on the cake for the mother in labor.
In order for the boy to grow tall, at the christening he was raised above his head to the ceiling, or a glass of vodka was thrown there, and the godfather put a gingerbread high on the shelf and said: “So that the godson grows so tall!”
They were very careful to ensure that the porridge was eaten to the end, otherwise the child was in danger of being pockmarked.
Before leaving, the guests thanked the hosts and wished them all the best, and good health and many years to the newborn. The last to leave were godfather and godfather. In the evening of the same day or in the morning they were offered snacks “to catch their hangover.” Gifts are exchanged over snacks. The godfather receives a scarf from the godfather “as a keepsake”, for which he, after wiping his mouth with the gift, kisses the godfather on the lips and presents him with money. When parting, the mother gives them a cake, for which she receives money or a scarf, tea, sugar, soap, etc. The holiday ends.
Now the family christening holiday is being revived. How else!? As they said in the old days: “If only there were homelands, there would be christenings.”

Christening is a very important moment for a person who grows up among believers. You could say it's basic. Therefore, it is not surprising that christenings themselves have a rich baggage of rituals and customs. The festive table also has its own characteristics and traditions.

In ancient times in Rus' it was customary to treat guests to porridge at christenings. Now this is not very relevant, but you can beat this custom in a modern way. At christenings, it was also customary to serve a baked chicken (if a girl was baptized) or a rooster (if a boy was baptized). So you can safely bake the bird, stuffing it with porridge, for example, buckwheat.

There is another custom associated with porridge. At the christening, the child's father was given porridge, generously flavored with mustard, horseradish, pepper and salt, which he had to eat. This symbolized the mother’s agony during childbirth, and was supposed to force the father to be in her place and give an approximate understanding of what the woman in labor experienced by giving him a child.

In general, christenings have always been considered a children's holiday and many children of different ages were invited to them. Therefore, the table is supposed to be sweet, for children. Therefore, all kinds of sweets will be appropriate on it: cookies, gingerbread, candies, muffins, pies, pastries and, of course, a cake that can be made in the shape of a cross and beautifully decorated.

Surely there will be adults at the holiday: your relatives, the baby’s godparents and the parents of the invited children. Take care of them too. You can serve salads, all kinds of snacks and even alcohol to go with them. Just make sure that the guests behave within the bounds of decency and do not get drunk - there is a sign that the hero of the occasion will also have problems with alcohol. The meal should be plentiful, but serve small portions of food to the guests. If there are leftovers on the plates, the child will be unlucky in life.

It is not customary to serve pork dishes and pancakes at christenings. Otherwise, you have endless scope for imagination. As part of our traditions, you can arrange a small tea party, a buffet or a full-fledged feast - choose to your taste!

What to cook for christening? Examples of dishes.

Pass the meat through a meat grinder, add chopped cheese and garlic. Mix, adding sour cream, gradually adding starch. Place in the cold and let stand for 30 minutes.

Place the meat mass into the heated oil in a frying pan using a spoon dipped in water. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

Beverages. For sweet drinks, you can serve juice cocktails, garnished with a sprig of mint, or lemonade based on sparkling water with jam syrup. Here is the composition for 3 liters: syrup 200-250 g, water is added up to the neck of the jar. Drinks are left to stand for 5-10 minutes until ready. in a cool place.

You can prepare anything for a child’s christening, focusing on the children: buy nuts, candies, and other sweets.

Recipes for baby christening

Baptism is an important event that occurs only once in a lifetime. For a long time it has been celebrated among a wide circle of relatives and friends. Grandma's pies are considered one of the obligatory treats.

In many families, recipes for a child's christening are passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, it takes a kindred hand to make grandma's pies and cookies.

In addition to baking, there must be porridge on the table. The rest of the dishes for the child's christening are chosen by the parents at random. Guests sit down at the table after the baptism ceremony taking place in the temple.

Salads. Salads for a child’s christening should be prepared on the same day. In this case, they will retain their delicate aroma and pleasant taste. The “Caprice” salad can be called hearty.

The Epiphany of the Lord is one of the largest Orthodox holidays, the Day of the Light of Saints, the holiday of ablution and cleansing. On this day the heavens open and all prayers will be answered. You definitely need to take a swim in a cold ice hole (if this is not possible, a cold shower will do - everything is good for health). And after that, be sure to warm up with hot dishes.

In the old days, on January 19 (new style), Epiphany Day, it was customary to fast until the evening. After swimming, people warmed up with borscht or cabbage soup. And in the evening they set the table as on Christmas (only without observing the “12-course rule”).

After cleansing, the fast, which was strictly observed on January 18 (Epiphany Eve), ends. And this means that the hostess has somewhere to roam. Of course, due to the absence of restrictions, you can prepare your favorite holiday dishes - meat, snacks, baked goods. In the past, for dinner on Epiphany, many fish dishes were served, bread, crumpets, and pies were baked.

But if you want to touch the oldest traditions, then use this collection of recipes. These are the dishes our ancestors enjoyed (with a few reservations).

The central treat was always sochivo - wheat or rice porridge with honey, poppy seeds, nuts and raisins. There are a huge number of recipes for its preparation; in the article dedicated to Epiphany Christmas Eve, they are already described in detail, so we will not dwell on it.

Let's move straight to the main dishes for the feast of the Epiphany:

For the first course - thick borscht or Ukrainian cabbage soup.
For the second course - pork is a must. Our ancestors roasted a whole pig. It must be broken by hand (the head of the family did this). Yes, such a dinner for two or even four will be plentiful - there won’t be enough room for the rest of the dishes. Therefore, we suggest here limiting ourselves to the original stew with pork and beans.
Snacks can be very different. Fish and mushroom pates were very popular.
Dumplings are another must-have dish for January 19th. If you've been buying semi-finished products all year, now is the time to make your own dough. And use potatoes, egg and cheese as filling.
Epiphany of the Lord is a holiday of cleansing of soul and body. A is one of the best products for cleansing the body. Fried liver, cooked correctly, can be the perfect finishing touch to a holiday table.

Real rich borscht is very tasty. But if you want to really warm up, be sure to try this dish. It is also called rustic Ukrainian borscht. Products you will need:

0.5–0.8 kg pork ribs;
5–6 potatoes;
2 onions;
0.5 kg of sauerkraut (you can use spicy, homemade cabbage);
100 g millet;
2 medium or 1 large carrots;
0.5 liters of tomato juice;
7 tbsp. tablespoons olive oil (you can take vegetable oil);
1 tbsp. spoon of flour;
salt, herbs to taste (dry dill “looks very good” in cabbage soup).

How to cook cabbage soup?

Cook the ribs until cooked (as soon as the water boils, add salt). Add peeled and washed potatoes to the broth and continue cooking. Separately, chop the cabbage, wash the millet and fill it with water, put it on the fire and cook until tender.

Carefully remove the boiled potatoes from the broth, grind them into puree, mix with prepared cabbage and millet, add all this to the meat broth. It should boil for 10 minutes. During this time, we make the frying: sauté the onions and grated carrots, pour them with tomato juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Combine the frying with the cabbage and fry the flour separately in a frying pan. As soon as the pan boils, add flour and butter to it - the dish is ready. Very tasty with sour cream and hot, but can be eaten cold.

For a juicy pork stew, take 0.7–1 kg of meat, 2 cups of red beans, 6–7 potatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, spices and salt to taste. If you want stew with dumplings, add half a glass of flour, 100 ml of milk, 1 egg and a pinch of salt to the list.

For dumplings, you need to boil 50 ml of milk and add flour to it (gradually) with an egg and cold milk (the second half). The dough will be sticky, but try not to overdo it with flour, otherwise the dumplings will be too tough. The dough must be kept warm for 20 minutes before cooking.

For the stew:

finely chop the meat;
peel and cut potatoes into cubes;
cook the beans.

The pork should be lightly fried and salted. Place the boiled beans, then the meat and potatoes in layers in a bowl, fill with water (do not cover the potatoes completely). Heat the oven and set the stew to bake. After 30 minutes, take out the dumplings (tear the dough with your hands into pieces of 3-4 cm each), crushed garlic and a little more water (to cover the dough). Bake everything together for another 15 minutes. The finished pork stew can be decorated with cilantro, basil, parsley, and dill.

The pate can be made from champignons alone (it’s not mushroom season after all). To do this, take 200–250 g of mushrooms, 1 onion, 50 g of butter, 40 g of low-fat cream, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 tbsp. spoon of olive oil. If you want an original taste, add a sprig of rosemary.

Garlic, rosemary and onion should be chopped and fried. Add finely chopped champignons to them, simmer for 10 minutes over medium heat and pour in cream. After boiling, keep it on the fire for another 8-12 minutes, then grind everything in a blender and add softened butter. You can make sandwiches with.

Dumplings require three food groups.

Dough. 200 g flour, 5 tbsp. spoons of water, 2 yolks, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of butter and a pinch of salt.
Filling. 10 g of dry dill (3-4 sprigs of fresh), 2 eggs, 3-4 potatoes, 100 g of cheese (you can use feta or ricotta).
Gravy. 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 5 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil.

To make the dough, sift the flour and melt the butter. Add cold water, yolks, butter to the flour. Mix all this lightly and leave it in the refrigerator for half an hour. For the filling, boil an egg (peel, chop), prepare mashed potatoes (with butter or milk), grate cheese, add dill. The gravy is prepared in well-heated oil (fry the onions and carrots, add sugar, wait for it to dissolve). The dough for homemade dumplings must be rolled out very thin. Then they cook for 10 minutes and turn out tender.

For the finishing touch you will need 0.5 kg of beef liver, 1 egg, a teaspoon of sugar and salt + 0.5 teaspoon of soda, an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, olive oil. The liver can be breaded in cornmeal or breadcrumbs - whatever you like.

The liver must be thoroughly washed, dried with a napkin and coarsely chopped. Separately mix the egg, salt, soda, sugar, finely chopped or crushed garlic. This is a marinade that is poured into the liver for at least 2–3 hours (longer is better).

Chop the onion, fry it, remove it from the pan and lay out the liver (you can roll it in breading). Cook the liver separately for 3-4 minutes, then return the onion, reduce the heat to low, close and let it cook for another 5-7 minutes. Before serving (if you don’t have enough experience yet), check one piece of fried liver - cut it into the butt and make sure that the center is no longer red. So, you can submit.