KARAVAYNITSA

KARAVAYNITSA is a woman baking wedding karavay bread. It is a common Slavic ceremony when people cooked ceremonial karavay bread, its origin is connected with ancient traditions of worship to the Sun, nature powers (see Earth-Water). It was believed that the way karavay was baked was equal to the way the newly married couple would live. The baking process included prigovory, idioms and proverbs, ceremonail songs. The design of the karavay bread had local traditions. The “horned” karavay bread was baked in dough from apple tree branches or was designed with figures of a duck and a goose, etc. E.g., according to the Ukrainian  tradition  of  Bashkortostan,  people invited even amount of K. who were happy in marriage, for the newly married couple to live safe and sound. The ritual of baking karavay bread was registered by V.Y. Babenko in Zolotonoshka village, Sterlitamakskiy district, Stepanovka cillage, Aurgazinskiy district, RB, etc.

V.Ya. Babenko, M.A. Pilipak