#manzanec

[pagan-stitches]

Ironed the Easter altar cloth today. Explanation of motifs here .

[azuisreading]

“I don’t know. I mean, you have the look. Clean cut, muscular, lots of tattoos.” Her voice dropped an octave. She lifted her shoulders, and then she reached out to touch the tattoos that covered the length of his arm. Somehow, she had allowed her fingers to trail up his arm, and when her eyes met the edged of his sleeve near his elbow, she instinctively inched it up, the tension rising between them. She let her fingers investigate the designs, one intricate pattern woven into another, blending between the branches of a tree.

By the time she had his sleeve all the way up, she had managed to change positions. Kneeling next to him, lost in thought, she released a ragged breath. Her heart was pounding, though she hadn’t been sure when that began. Then she lifted her head, slowly drawing her attention to Blake’s emerald-green eyes. He was staring back at her, his gaze dark and dripping with desire. She pressed her lips together before drawing them apart to lick them. The energy between them suddenly filled the room. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she knew exactly what she wanted.

Under the Maple Tree by Manda Manzanec.

[westernmanews]

GREENFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – After three years under construction, the newly renovated Franklin County Courthouse is open in downtown Greenfield. It opened on Monday after a $60 million renovation that began in February 2014.

The building is much bigger than in its temporary location on Munson Street, offering four floors as opposed to two.

It has six courtrooms which have much more up to date technology. The courtrooms have monitors on the walls behind the bench and at the jury box. They also have an improved sound system to preserve records and testimony.

This building houses all five of the county’s court departments. “This building now incorporates juvenile and housing court so all the different court departments in Franklin County are all under one roof,” William Manzanec explained. “Before, they were separated.”

Mazanec also told 22News that the building is energy efficient, allowing more light in with a green roof. It also takes less energy to heat the building than the old one.

The courthouse is the first in the state to have Wi-Fi for visitors.

[pagan-stitches]

French Toast inspired by Manzanec and Vánočka

I love the combination of vanilla and lemon that is found in Czech Easter and Christmas bread. At the holidays I like to use leftovers to make French toast. I adapted my everyday French toast recipe to reflect the flavors.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp lemon extract

6 slices Pepperidge farm brioche (this is just the brand I use so I know that this is the perfect number of slices for the recipe)

Vegetable oil or spray

Cinnamon sugar

Directions:

Combine first four ingredients.

Dip slices of bread in egg mixture and fry on both sides in small amount of oil. Sprinkle one side with cinnamon sugar

Serve with butter and maple syrup

We like it with bacon

[pagan-stitches]

Hagging Out: March

 --

My celebration of the Equinox was two fold.  Most importantly I drown a Morana dolly in the creek in the woods behind the house, and secondly I baked.

The drowning of Morana (or Marzanna, or Marena, or Mara, or Smrtka . . . ) is an old Slavic tradition and the beginning of my devotional year.  On the fourth or fifth Sunday of Lent, depending on the region, an effigy of the goddess is thrown into the river to drown; sometimes she is also burned.  We know that people have been drowning effigies of the goddess since at least 1420, when it was forbidden by the Catholic church, but probably for much longer.  It is a misconception by many that Morana is only a goddess of winter and death.

“However, many historical sources and traces of her cult (particularly in the West Slavic beliefs) show clearly that the cold winter is only one of the faces of this goddess. After getting rid of the winter effigy, another similar one was being brought up in a procession around the villages and fields - it was a symbol of spring, the same goddess being reborn after the winter phase and waking up nature’s vital strength for the upcoming growing season. Many of such informations survived in countless folk songs and rituals.” --Lamus Dworski

This is the first year that I drown a doll that I made the preceding year.  Before this I always made a doll at the equinox to drown.  This year the doll that I made to symbolize Morana’s rebirth last year was used in every seasonal ritual and in the end drown.  I plan on doing this yearly going forward.

This year’s dolly will be showing up in many, many posts.

As part of the death and rebirth ritual last year I made a set of Morana prayer beads representing the dark half of the year.  This year I made a set representing the light half.

Another addition to the ritual this year was spending at least a half hour every night the week before I drown Morana in meditation and prayer with her, annointing her with oils and holy water and burning incense.

The second thing I did to celebrate the equinox was bake!  First I baked Slavic spring birdies to “release” into the wild.  I released the majority of them the Thursday before I drown Morana.

“Even before the leaves bud out, as the snow begins to thaw, one must invite–indeed coax–the spring to arrive. If one simply waited, Spring (being willful) might not choose to come, and then, with last year’s food bins already almost empty, one could not survive. To bring the spring proactively, Russian mothers baked bird-shaped pastries in early March and their children clambered about setting these little larks and snipes out like duck decoys on the rooftops, fence posts, and snowless patches of ground, hanging them from trees and bushes or even tossing them into the air, meanwhile singing such songs as:


Larks, Larks, Give us Summer,

We’ll give you Winter,

There’s no food left for us”

–“The Dancing Goddesses” by Elizabeth Wayland Barber

In an earlier time in Ukraine and other Slavic nations, on the Holy Day of the 40 Martyrs, (March 9, O.S; March 22, N.S.), the return of the birds in the spring was celebrated with special spring songs (vesnianky). Birds made of dough were also baked representing the larks that were migrating back to the north.

I started releasing the birds into the wild with my friend @msgraveyarddirt  a few years ago.  I was delighted to find a picture in a book on the traditions of the Znojmo region of Moravia (where my great-grandparents are from) earlier this year and realize that the birds are indeed one of those pan Slavic traditions.

This morning before I drown Morana, I woke up at 3 am and could not fall back asleep.  So I decided to bake.  I began making my first manzanec and while it was rising went out to do my Morana ritual.

“Pavla Velickinova, the head of the public diplomacy department at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., says mazanec is one of the oldest documented Easter foods in Czech history. It comes from the expression, "mazat," which means to anoint, she says. This is why it's baked on White Saturday, the day that reminds Czechs of the last rites of Christ.

This tradition of making mazanec as an Easter treat dates back to the 15th century, says Karen Von Kunes, a professor of Slavic language and literature at Yale University.

But even before that, she says, people across Europe baked this kind of bread around springtime. "In Europe, it was a custom to celebrate spring with making this ... type of pastry," she says.” --NPR

The site where I found the recipe said that the cross represented the sun, unlike the NPR quote above.  In my personal devotions I could certainly see it representing the wheel of the year.  The dough is nearly the same as the  vánočka (Czech braided Christmas bread) that I made for štědrovečerní večeře (Czech Christmas Eve dinner).  The smell of lemon peel and vanilla is forever forward going to be related to the holidays.

@msgraveyarddirt​ thank you as always for hosting #haggingout.  I’m glad we revisited this theme as my yearly rituals are constantly growing and evolving. ( I in no way expect you to publish this until the 29th--I just wanted to get it all down while it was fresh in my mind.)

[azuisreading]

Just then, a gentle breeze danced between them, leaving strands of red hair covering Sasha’s eyes. Blake sucked in a deep breath; she was so beautiful. The way she didn’t care about how messy her hair had become as it blew in the wind. The way her dark freckles contrasted with her pale skin, and how they dotted her nose and scattered across her face, highlighting her high cheekbones. It was a different version from yesterday, when she’d worn makeup that covered up the freckles and had earrings that dangled to her shoulders. She was gorgeous then, but nothing compared to the raw beauty she displayed now. Sasha drew her hand up to her face, tucking the strands that had come loose behind her ear, and that’s when his eyes went wide and he inhaled sharply. That scar. It was right there. He wanted to reach out, to touch it. To tell her he was sorry. But the wind came back, causing her hair to fall loose again. He knew he had to wait. He couldn’t mention the scar again. Not yet. And then, as if by pure force, her eyes shifted to his, their gazes meeting through her tousled hair. Her hand lifted to her face. Her fingers trailed the lines from her forehead to her ear.

Under the Maple Tree by Manda Manzanec.

[azuisreading]

“It’s pretty good,” he said, watching as Sasha toyed with the piece that sat on her paper plate, uneaten. “It tastes better when it’s in your mouth.”

Under the Maple Tree by Manda Manzanec.

[pagan-stitches]

Jerusalem - The mosaic of The Lamb of God among the saints in side apse of Dormition abbey

“Christians celebrate Christ's death and resurrection by sacrificing a lamb and eating its meat. In such acceptation, the lamb is considered Christ's Body. Therefore, eating lamb at Easter is a way for Christians to welcome Christ and His sacrifice within them.”

Our Porters Lamb with Red Wine Gravy from two years ago.

I imagine that there is also the practicality of eating lamb at Easter because it is available. Where I live in the American South ham is the dominant meat dish served. Neither my husband or myself are particularly crazy about ham (I remember loving it as a child at Gran’s house at Easter . . . and Christmas . . . and New Year’s—quite honestly I think I grew sick of it.). And this is the one time of the year when the local markets do carry a small selection of lamb.

Why don’t Americans eat lamb? Supposedly:

“Blame it on World War II, when American servicemen in Europe were fed mutton dressed up as lamb and hated the strong musky flavor of adult sheep. When the soldiers returned home, many of them banned lamb from their dinner tables, which meant a generation of kids grew up unfamiliar with the delights of real lamb.”

Before the Porters recipe experiments began I had only had lamb when eating out at Indian, Greek, and Middle Eastern restaurants where I fell in love with the robust taste. So I was excited to try the Porters recipe, but a little hesitant as well. Both of us had grown up with moms who cooked rather uninspired roasts. I wasn’t sure how receptive he would be. But his reaction was quite positive, though he finds the gravy a bit overly sweet and dabs on the tiniest amount.

This year’s lamb.

I rather suspect now that we’ve had it for Easter dinner several years in a row that its become tradition.

In addition to my Porters cooking to celebrate my Scots-English heritage I had to do something inspired by the Czech side of the family—I made my first manzanec, which is basically an easier version of the Czech Christmas bread (no braiding!!!). Czech breads have made the scent of lemon peel and vanilla an integral part of the holidays for me!

Manzanec pictured with my kraslice and new embroidered Easter cloth.

I also planned on celebrating White Sunday/Provody (kind of a spring time Day of the Dead the Sunday after Easter) and wanted to have the red Easter eggs to bring as offerings to the graves I visit and for my ancestral altar. The eggs didn’t turn out as red as the picture in the onion skin dye recipe and I was quite disappointed (my mother in law and I had been saving the skins for months!) but the orangey color has grown on me.

White Sunday ancestral altar

As always thank you @graveyarddirt for sending me down this Porters journey with your gift of the cookbook several years ago.

Everyone is invited to follow along and participate in the @portersposse seasonal cooking challenges.