of russian origin

7/28/2019 Of Russian Origin

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Of Russian origin: Snegurochka

Image from www.sapupa.ru

Snow girl

Snegurochka, also known asthe Snow Maiden or Snowy,

is a unique character of

Russian folklore and anessential part of Russian

New Years celebrations.

The origins of Snegurochkaare contradictory. The roots

of this feminine character

can be found in Slavicpagan beliefs. According tolegend, she is the daughter ofFather Frost and the Snow Queen.

However, another Russian fairy-tale tells a story of an old man and woman who had

always regretted that they did not have any children. In winter they made a girl out of

snow. The snow maiden came alive and became the daughter they never had. They calledher Snegurochka. But when the summer sun began to warm the land, the girl became very

sad.

One day she went into the woods with a group of village girls to pick flowers. It began to

get dark and the girls made a fire and began playfully jumping over theflames.Snegurochka also jumped, but suddenly she melted and turned into a white cloud.

In some parts of Russia people still follow the ancient tradition of drowning a strawfigure in the river or burning it on the bonfire to dispel the winter. This custom

symbolizes the transition

from winter to spring.

Snegurochka's love story

Image from slavs.org.ua

Snegurochka became

widely known in the 19thcentury after Russian

playwright Aleksandr
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Ostrovsky wrote the play Spring Fairytale based on the legend. The play portrays the

young beauty as the daughter of Frost and Spring. She is immortal and she lives in her

fathers winter forest. Snegurochka is lonely and would happily give up her immortalityfor the ability to feel love, like normal humans.

Snegurochka's mother Spring gives her a gift of a Love Wreath that makes her capable of

loving. However, as soon as she falls in love she leaves her forest and melts at dawn as

the sun touches her with its rays and turns her into a cloud. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakovthen wrote an opera Snegurochka based on Ostrovskys play.

The soul of the New Year

The modern image of Snegurochka appeared at the turn of the 20th century, as shebecame a popular character in children's New Years celebrations and theatrical

performances. Little girls enjoyed being dressed up as Snegurochka by their mothers in

light winter attire and sometimes a cap.

Snegurochka has always been an essential part of the New Years celebrations and a

helper to Father Frost, the Russian Santa Claus. Young, beautiful and smiling, shealways travels with Father Frost on a horse-drawn sledge to visit children and give them

gifts; she acts as a mediator between Father Frost and the children.

Image by IzoSoft

Looks and personality

Snegurochka is foreveryoung and beautiful.

According to the legend the

old man and woman whomade her from snow used

two deep blue beads for

eyes, made two dimples inher cheeks, and used a piece

of red ribbon for her mouth.

Snegurochka was very

beautiful, but when shecame to life, she was even better. Snegurochka is often depicted with snow white skin,

deep sky-blue eyes, cherry lips and curly fair hair.

Originally Snegurochka wore only white garments and a crown, decorated with silver and

pearls. Her present day costume is blue, red, white or silver and her crown is sometimes

replaced by an embroidered cap with fur edging. She is probably one of the mostattractive female characters in Russian culture.
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Where to find her

Snegurochka is said to live deep in the winter forest. Snegurochka's modern place of

residence is quite real - it's the Russian city of Veliky Ustug (in the fairytale, her origins

are in the Russian city of Kostroma). Nowadays, Father Frost is considered to be hergrandfather rather than her father, as in the old legend.

Sitro

Image by Nataliya

Leskina

Sitro is a non-

alcoholic carbonateddrink that smells of

lemons, tangerines

and oranges.

The name originated

from the French citron (lemon). According to legend, the drink made from lemon peelswas brought to Russia from Paris in 1812 by Russian soldiers and officers after they

defeated Napoleons army.

The rebranding of the drink took place in the USSR in the middle of the 1950s when

the authorities sought to boost to the development of carbonated water production in the

country. First, the brand was called Extra Sitro but then it was reduced to only thesecond word. The creators of the drink wanted to keep the mysterious name of French

origin as an attraction. The first sitro labels were decorated with sights from both Parisand St. Petersburg.

Sitro became one of the two most widespread names of lemon-based drinks in the

country. The other one is limonad (lemonade). The difference between the two is that

sitro, aside from the lemon acid, sugar and syrup, contains the flavor of tangerines andoranges. In limonad you may find some other fruit additives like apples and pears.

Carbonated water consumption was quite unique in the USSR. In parks and on the streets

of Soviet cities there were lots of bubbling water machines that sold the sitro and other

brands by the glass. All you had to do was insert a coin into the machine and 15 seconds

later you got the mix of soda water and lemon syrup. Some clever kids noticed that it wasmuch tastier to fill half of the glass first, then take a second coin and fill the remaining

part. The secret was simple: it was the delicious syrup not the water that always came

out first.

Image from

www.oldmos.ru


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It was much harder with sitro bottling operations. The price of one bottle was 27 kopecks

as much as the bottle of beer. This made the drink barely affordable for many Soviet

residents on a daily basis. Sitro and other carbonated drinks became a holiday feature forkids. You could hardly find a festivity table in the country that did not have a bubbly

bottle on it.

Sitro has been mentioned by many Soviet writers of stories and poems for the younger

generation. School kids in many Russian films dreamt of it during lessons. If they

decided to skip school, the first place they went was a sitro machine somewhere in thepark. This drink was also used as fuel for a car in the stories about Dunno by the

childrens writer Nikolay Nosov a fairy-tale in which the main character does not know

much but is always lucky due to his good nature.

Years went by but the technology of sitro production remained unchanged. It was

produced in small volumes, which did not let manufacturers keep the price low. The glassbottle alone accounted for one third of the cost. You could easily exchange water for

money at special stations but there were not many of them in the cities. Some peopledid not bother themselves with it.

Most sitro was produced at small factories. Some were located in rural areas. The workers

of these plants realized that if you mix the sitro substance with alcohol you did not needvodka any longer. That scientific discovery helped many men live through 1980s a

time when the volume of vodka production was much lower than the demand.

In the middle of 1970s Pepsi entered the Soviet market. So the allegiance of the

consumers immediately shifted to the American drink, as some people used to call it.

At the end of the 1980s Cola-Cola also made a debut in the USSR. This was a major

setback for all sitro producers.

Image fromwww.kio.ru

The recovery ofRussian sitro started

at the end of the

1990s when somebusinessmen

relaunched the

production of thealmost forgotten

drink. Many regional

producers now sell itin many cities around

the country. The

brand survived the ban of the Russian authorities to use the name of the fruit for the

carbonated drink but sitro manufacturers managed to convince authorities that it would


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not be wise to freeze the brand with a lot of history behind it. It still sells despite the

protests of many health-oriented Russian parents, who claim carbonated drinks like sitro

are unhealthy for their children.

Heres a recipe for homemade sitro: just slice some lemon peels into tiny little pieces and

put them into the pot. Then squeeze in the juice of 4 lemons add some sugar (accordingto your taste) and fill with water to the top. Heat the pot for 10 minutes. After that, put the

drink into bottles and let it cool down.

Written by Oleg Dmitriev, RT

Of Russian origin: Pelmeni

The heart of Russian cuisine

A plate of pelmeni might not look like much to the untrained eye, but it forms the heart ofRussian cuisine and culture. It's served in every Russian restaurant, cooked in homes

across the country and every family likes to think it has its own special recipe.

Image by IzoSoft

So what is pelmeni?Basically, its a type of

dumpling consisting of a

particular filling that iswrapped in thin uneven

dough. It is usuallyaccompanied by lashings of sour cream. The fillings differ but essentially they are mincedmeat (pork, beef or sometimes lamb), fish or mushrooms - and watch out, they can get

very spicy depending on the amount of herbs, onions and black pepper used in the

seasoning. Pelmeni breath can last a few days...

The history of pelmeni

The word itself comes from pel'nyan' literally "ear bread" in the native Finno-Ugric Komi

and Mansi languages. No one knows for sure when pelmeni first entered Russian cuisine

but one theory suggests that stuffed boiled dumplings in general, originated innorthwestern China - this would explain the use of spices such as black pepper, which are

not native to Russia and had to be imported.

The general thought is that pelmeni were carried by the Mongols to Siberia and the Urals

and then gradually spread as far as Eastern Europe. The dish was particularly favored byhunters, who were looking for light, easy-to-prepare, nourishing food to take with them

on long trips in the winter.


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So different

Although Pelmeni is a Russian national dish, it does have numerous look-a-likes - in

particular the Ukrainian vareniki and the Polish pierogi, which are varieties of dumplings

filled with mashed potatoes, cheese or berries. The easiest way to spot the difference is tolook at the shape and size; a typical pelmeni is almost circular and about two inches in

diameter. The other forms are usually more elongated and larger in size. Also, pelmeni

will never have a sweet filling, unlike its Ukrainian counterpart.

Another distinguishing feature of the hardy pelmeni is that it can be kept frozen for long

periods of time with little loss of quality or flavor; in fact the water they're boiled in canbe great for making soup. Indeed freezing pelmeni is a popular choice. In Siberia the

dumplings are generally frozen outdoors and preserved through the winter, and then taken

on long journeys, as the food is non-perishable and easy to cook.

But pelmeni is not just found in the big freeze of Siberia. Wherever there is a Russiancommunity you're bound to find some ready-to-cook pelmeni lurking. It's become a part

of everyday life, and in big cities the store bought variety is seen as a kind of Russian fast

food - a favorite among students and bachelors.

Preparing pelmeni

Image by IzoSoft

Cooking usually meansboiling for about 5 minutes,either in water or clear broth

in which it can later be

served. Some recipes

suggest frying the pelmeni after cooking until they turn golden brown. Then, once ready,the dumplings are served up with a dollop of sour cream, or sometimes butter, mustard or

horseradish.

Here is a recipe to try:

Ingredients:

Dough

-1 1/2 cups flour-2 eggs

-1/2 cup water


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-1/2 tsp. salt

Filling

-1/2 lb. ground beef

-1/2 lb. ground pork-2 medium onions, finely chopped

-1 tsp. salt-1/2 tsp. black pepper

-garlic to taste

Method:

To make the dough, combine the flour, eggs, water and salt. Knead mixture. Let rest for

30 minutes. Mix the ground beef, ground pork, onions, salt, pepper and garlic together.

Cut the dough into three equally sized pieces and roll each one into a cylinder thediameter of a finger.

Cut each cylinder into pieces the size of a walnut, then roll each piece into a very thin flat

cake with a diameter of about 2 inches. Put some of the ground meat mixture in the center

of each flat cake (quite a lot, but not so much that you can't seal up the dough). Then foldthe dough in half and join up the edges to seal them. Pinch the corners together: you

should now have a ravioli-shaped "flying saucer."

Boil the pelmeni in

salted water for sevenminutes, or until theyfloat to the surface.

Serve them in soup

plates with sour

cream or in broth.

Written by CharlotteLomas-Farley, RT

correspondent

Of Russian origin:

Domostroy

Extract from

Domostroy


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Home improvement, or How to beat your wife without knocking her teeth out

It still serves as a guide for male chauvinists all over Russia, though few have actuallyread it. Domostroy, which literally means domestic order, takes its name from a series

of manuscripts dating back to the 16th century. They offer a set of rules supposed to help

mediaeval Russians run a good household. And while much of the advice offered inDomostroy has become all but obsolete, the main take-home message the wife must

always consult her husband is still popular with traditionalists.

Man of God

You wont get any Brownie points for guessing that the author of this manuscript was a

man. With a few exceptions, women in mediaeval Russia were illiterate, and the narrativeshows plenty of what feminists would call male biases.

Popular history has it that Domostroy was most probably authored by the clerk Silvestr, a

priest in the Kremlin Cathedral of the Annunciation, though some researchers suggests itwas compiled in Moscow from different writings, probably in the 1550s, a period when

Russian society was undergoing reform and reestablishing its links to Europe.

There is also some disagreement over the work's target audience. Some historians believe

that this almanac was written for the nobility. Others hold that rather than appealing to thehighest echelon of society, Domostroy targeted the medieval upper-middle class,

particularly rich merchants and government officials.

As Russia was undergoing rapid change, its social system was becoming more inclusive

of people with different backgrounds. Whereas Boyars, the Russian nobility, learned

social norms within the family circle, groups positioned lower in the social hierarchyrequired instruction to integrate into an environment that was new to them.

Rules of engagement

Matchmaking. N.Pimonenko

Domostroy covers thefamily's obligations

from three angles: itsduties toward God,relationships between

family members, and

the practical tasksinvolved in running a

large household. The

chapters detailing a household's responsibilities before God were mostly copied from


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earlier religious texts.

Men were to go to church several times each day, and make sure that other familymembers attended to their spiritual needs. Women and servants attended services "when

they were able," but they too were to pray every day.

Domostroy is usually celebrated for its practical approach to issues big and small. For

example, amid prescriptions of God-fearing, it also advises the faithful against shuffling

their feet in church.

If God sent children, sons or daughters, the father and mother must take care of these

their children... The children must be brought up in the fear of God, and in good

instruction and sensible teaching, in wisdom and politeness and work and handicraft...Such children and their parents are loved by God...

In ancient Russia, the term "family" referred not only to a husband, a wife, and their

children, but also to dependent relatives and servants, most of whom were serfs similarto slaves. While Domostroy calls on masters to exercise wisdom and restraint, it also

provides extensive instructions on the topic of corporal punishment for those whodisobey.

Enjoin your servants not to talk about other people. If they have been among strangers,and have noticed anything bad there, let them not repeat it at home; nor should they

spread rumors about what is going on at home... Let a servant not put his finger in his

nose, nor cough, nor clean his nose, nor clear his throat, nor spit. If he absolutely must do

so, let him step aside...

A woman's place

Photo from

http://gorod.tomsk.ru/

Even though written

by a man and for amale audience,

Domostroy talks

extensively about

women and theirplace in life. Keeping

women in check was considered not only a man's virtue and duty, but also part ofmaintaining overall order in the country.

In all affairs of everyday life, the wife is to take counsel with her husband, and to askhim, if she needs anything... Let her put on the best garment, if she receives a guest, or

herself is invited somewhere to dinner...By all means let her abstain from drinking liquor,


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for a drunk man is bad enough, but a drunk woman has no place in the world...

The position of women at home, as it is described in Domostroy, presented an interesting

dichotomy. She was neither a complete slave, nor a complete master. She was considered

a servant to her husband or father, yet a mistress to her servants.

Since at the time marriage was primarily a political and economic tool, with young

women expected to follow blindly their parent's choice, Domostroy does not talk about

any emotional ties between husband and wife. The two were expected to love God ratherthan each other.

A woman had to be chaste, pious and hard-working. Her biggest possible virtue waschastity and after that - being a good mother to her children and a wise wife to her man.

Yet, in case of any extramarital transgression on the woman's part, Domostroy providedits readers with a detailed action plan, though with some reservations.

"Husbands should not use wooden or iron rods on their wives, or beat them around the

face, ears or abdomen, lest they cause blindness, deafness, paralysis, toothache, ormiscarriage."

It goes without saying that wives had no right to punish their husbands for adultery. Infact, the church authorities would only grant a woman a divorce if her husband

committed an act of treason against royalty, or if he tried to murder her. In the man's case,

a wife's adultery was considered a sufficient reason for divorce, in addition to a list ofothers.

Written by Oksana Boyko , RT correspondentOf Russian origin: Birch Juice

Image from

www.orshanka.by

Divine nectar

Beryozovy Sok (birch juice)

is the sap from a birch tree.It is a water-like sweet

liquid. Its the only kind of juice in Russia that is venerated in songs about the love of the

Motherland. The ancient Slavs worshipped various Pagan gods. And birch was one of themost sacred trees. At that time it was forbidden to take the juice out of the tree for regular

use it was to be saved for rituals. But after the introduction of Christianity the ban

gradually disappeared. And people started to collect birch nectar for everyday needs.
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Collecting birch juice

To collect the sap you have to go to the birch grove, of course. The only time you can get

the juice is during the 20 day period from the middle of March to the beginning of April

thats when the core of the tree is filled with juice. During some winters this period maybe reduced to 10-12 days. Because of melting snow its important to wear rubber boots

otherwise one can get soaked.

Theres no other way to do it the only time you can collect the juice is during the 20 day

period from the middle of March to the beginning of April thats when the core of the

tree is filled with juice. During some winters this period may be reduced to 10-12 days.

So, when in the grove you should take these five steps to get the birch juice: tie the bottle to the tree

drill a hole into the trunk

insert a tube into a hole and put its end into the bottle wait when it's done, take the bottle and don't forget to say "thank you" (this is what

some experienced people do) because youll have to come to the same tree to ask for

the juice again.

Professionals say that a small birch can produce up to 5 liters of juice per day. But youve

got to make sure that youve done no harm to the tree your cuts have to be small. Theother rules are:

never choose young trees for juice collection

when collecting the juice from a branch, bandage it.

Fresh birch sap can be preserved for 5-6 days at most. There are two ways to preserve it:if you do it at home, you freeze it. In factories you have to pasteurize it - this slows the

growth of microbes. If the juice is preserved for a long time its taste may become

distorted.

Image from www.topos.ru

Juicy facts

The price for birch sap

differs in many countries. InJapan it can reach the

equivalent of 70 U.S. dollars per liter. But in USSR it was produced on a mass scale.

Thats why it was the cheapest juice to buy - it cost seven or eight kopecks for a 250ml

glass (a glass of tomato juice, for example, used to cost from 10 to 12 kopecks). It wasalso sold in 3-liter jars. There was never a shortage of birch juice as was the case with


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meat and dairy products. This generated gossip about the lack of authenticity of the juice

people joked that the birch juice was just a mixture of water, sugar and lemon acid

which was never the case.

But at the end of the 1980s birch juice became a rarity in stores. The reason the horrible

nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Northern Ukraine, one of the key areasof juice collection. Harmful clouds caused acid rains in other juicy places in European

Russia, which led to the eradication of mass production.

Now birch juice is being brought back into tradition thanks to body-builders and fitness

instructors as it contains sugars, proteins, amino acids and enzymes the key elements

that help you stay fit. Its also good for the stomach. The price for a 1.5 liter bottle forfitness purposes is about 5 euros.

At the beginning of the 1970s a popular folk-rock group from Belarus called Pesnyary

recorded a track called Birch Juice. In the ballad, a man who has to work outside the

USSR for the good of the Motherland recalls a moment from his childhood when hedrank birch juice. He wants to return home as quickly as possible to enjoy the taste of thissweet refreshing drink. Thanks to this song the juice like the birch itself became a

symbol of the love of the Motherland.


Of Russian origin: Zakuska

Image by IzoSoft

The drinks companion

Zakuska is a a generalword for appetizers,

starters, entrees, hors

d'oeuvres, however in mostcases it is the food, which

accompanies vodka and

other strong drinks likewhisky, cognac or brandy.

The word zakuska became

popular in Russia in the18th century. At first it was a synonym for breakfast. According to tradition, it consisted

of cold dishes only. Leftovers from the previous nights dinner were also welcome. Lateron the word zakuska was applied to all cold dishes of Russian cuisine.

The most authentic Russian zakuska are the following: pickled fare (cabbage, cucumbers, mushrooms)

salted fish (sturgeon, salmon, caviar)


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smoked meat (ham, poultry, cold-boiled pork).

In the 19th century the list grew longer thanks tokholodets . Some European entrees

also became zakuska, like French pate and marinated vegetables and German "bread and

butter." The 20th century brought more pickled fare, along wit canned fish, olives and

pickled salads. Russians still do their own pickling at home and at theirdachas(summerhouses).

The advantages of zakuska

Image by IzoSoft

The way zakuska are servedhas evolved over the years.

At first zakuska were served

long before lunch or dinnerand consisted of two or

three dishes and vodka.

Over the years they wereconsumed in increasingly

closer proximity to dinner

and by the late 19th century

became an inseparable partof the dinner itself. The

three basic ingredients

remained unchanged - fish,

meat and vegetables.

Perhaps the main vehicle keeping zakuska popular is strong drink, which requires somelight food as a chaser to avoid getting drunk. Few Russians sip on drinks - they simply

don't know how. They drink vodka and other drinks by shots. And zakuska is the prime

assistant in this business.

There is a Russian saying that says "kogda p'esh, zakusyvat'nado" (when you drink, youshould have some zakuska). Keeping in line with it the Russian drinking culture has

produced some drinking and eating combinations the world has never known before.

Some examples are cognac with herring orkholodets, port wine with sprats and whiskywith pickled cucumbers.

Pick your favourite

Today notions of strong drink and zakuska are inseparable - during Russian parties peopleusually sit at the table and have vodka and zakuska for an hour or two - sometimes
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longer. And only then are they ready for the main course.

Listed below are some of the most popular Russian zakuska to accompany vodka:

pickled cucumbers and tomatoes:

herring with onions; pickled mushrooms with onions;

cold salty salmon; cold pickled cabbage (something like German sauerkraut)

kholodets and fish aspic;

vinaigrette( a mix of beetroots, pickled cucumbers, onions);

onions marinated in vinegar; a can of Baltic sprats on rye bread with onions;

caviar on bread with butter;

Russian meat salad with slices of meat or chicken, pickled cucumbers, green peas andmayonnaise (or sour cream)

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