BANAT HERITAGE

Ritual Bread of South Banat

Organised by the Vršac City Museum and the Regional Centre for Protection of Banat Cultural Heritage, a new creative workshop for children with developmental disabilities, pupils and students of Jelena Varjaški elementary and secondary school, was held on Friday 25^th September 2015.

This creative workshop was conceived by Ms Andrijana Radić, an ethnology curator. The topic of the workshop was Christmas Ritual Bread of South Banat. Andrijana told children about ritual bread, revealing them how bread used to reflect wishes, fears and hopes of people in times when it was created. The Christmas Ritual Bread is a special kind of ritual cake which Orthodox believers used to make in many villages for Christmas holidays. The preparation of ritual bread was accompanied by various rules. According to the folk belief, the ritual bread has, among other, fertility powers, which is why it is taken to the crop fields and vineyards, and is given to cattle.

The children had an opportunity to see what such bread actually looked like. “The Sun”, “The Ploughman’s Hand”, or “The Sickle” pie breads graphically indicate the principal conditions of vital importance for the life of people of our region in the past. The pupils got a task to draw on paper what people used to draw in dough of Christmas bread. The topic was therefore to draw what was important in their lives and what they would like to have. Andrijana was assisted in this educational process by teachers of Jelena Varjaški School and by employees of the City Museum.

As usual, a basket of sweets was a reward for the effort of the children to their great joy. In addition, the drawings of each pupil will be presented at the exhibition which is going to be organised by the Museum after the completion of the workshop cycle.