history
Simon-Juda Thadeus festival in Slovakie
The double feast of the Apostles Simon (the Gay) and Thaddae of Judah (the Brave) is approaching. According to folklore, it is a significant day of weather and farming, so much so that it is associated with a well-known saying throughout the country: – “Simon-Jude has arrived, woe to you, O reigning father!” In other words, from the beginning of October onwards, it is time to dress warmer. In some regions it was not Dömötör but Simon who was the day of the shepherds’ reckoning and hiring (Kiskunfélegyháza, Horgos, Zenta, Sárvár). Between the two days the shepherd and the hired man who had been sent away for the year had 3 days off. The most beloved vine patron saints of Hegyalja, Simon and Judah, have their altars in Sárospatak. The harvest must begin on their feast day. Among the Transylvanian Saxons, Simon and Judah Day, in Transylvanian: Seimegojd, is the day of the marriage boundary. A girl who does not go out into the forest when the moon rises must wait until the following year to find a husband. In the villages of Mátéfalva and Sászpéntek, this is the day for girls and boys to choose their future husbands.
Were Saint Jude and Saint Simon cousins of Jesus?
St Jude Thaddeus and St Simon, the two least known apostles, are paradoxically the two cousins closest to their Master (others refute this, see article continued) At least tradition is quite certain about Judas Thaddeus, since Scripture makes it clear that his father, Alpheus, was the brother of St Joseph, while his mother, Mary Cleophas, was the cousin of the Virgin Mary. As for Simon, his origins are obscure. Their common liturgical feast also derives from the fact that they both preached the Gospel in Persia and were martyred there.
Juda, the faithful disciple
When the Eleven dispersed from Jerusalem to preach the kingdom of God in other countries, Judas Thaddae of Galilee and Samaria set out for Syria, Armenia and ancient Persia. It was in this area, according to authoritative sources, that he met Simon, and through their missionary cooperation tens of thousands of people from Babylonia and other cities were won to Christ. As always, the Gospel won both followers and enemies: the hour of the supreme witness finally arrived for the two apostles, when they called themselves Christians. It was a brave act, for they were arrested and taken to the Temple of the Sun, the sentence imposed on both of them being to worship either the goddess Diana or the goddess Diana, and thus deny Christ. Judas Thaddeus’ response was to declare the pagan idols false. When he said this, two terrible demons came out of the temple and destroyed him. According to another version, the witnesses to the scene were frightened and threw themselves wildly upon the two apostles, who were brutally killed. Their relics are kept in St Peter’s Basilica.
The truth is that Simon died before 117 in Persia or Jerusalem. His relics are in Rome in St Peter’s Basilica and in Toulouse, France. He was canonised after his death and has since been the patron saint of dyers and embroiderers.
Judas Thaddeus, on the other hand, died in Persia or Jerusalem in the second half of the 1st century. His relics are also in Rome in St Peter’s Basilica and in Reims and Toulouse in France. He became the patron saint of those in difficult circumstances.
Follow the rooster
The history of the fairs of Simon and Judas Day in Sturovo (Parcovie) began in 1546, but the date on which Charles III granted the town the right to hold four fairs a year on 6 August 1724, namely George, Bartholomew, Simon and Judas and Luca Day, became a crucial date for the town. For a time there was a fifth; the proceeds were used to build the church. According to the charter of privilege, the fair was held at the end of October (the saints’ name day), but during the Czechoslovak Republic it was moved to the beginning of the month, as 28 October was a state holiday. Since then, it has been held in early October (this year the 477th from 12 to 16 October).
What is interesting is that in the pre-Tatar period in Hungary, fairs were held mainly in neighbouring Esztergom, and its weekly markets and fairs became famous far and wide, and the natives of Sturovo-Parcovie were familiar with the atmosphere and customs of markets and fairs. Parcovie’s time came when Esztergom was no longer the capital and royal seat of Hungary after the Tartar invasion.
And the people of took the opportunity and applied for permission to hold the lucrative fairs, Esztergom of course did not take kindly to it, and even protested against it, because the people of Esztergom also had a fair on the day of Simon and Judah, but its reputation was not even close to that of Parcovie. According to the publication of the Little Library of Local History, the fair of 1847 started on Saturday – later on Sunday – and lasted 8-10 days. Around the church, masonry sellers, gingerbread makers, weavers, tailors, bootmakers and other craftsmen sold their wares. In the area around the present-day thermal baths, farmers set up tents for fish and wine. Circus performers and comedians entertained the crowds in the park in front of the town hall. From the Maria Valeria Bridge (renamed in 2001 fter Sisi’s daughter) to the so-called Renner Mine, the cabbage barges and rafts of the Farkasd and Negyed were moored, and apart from the pubs, this was perhaps the noisiest place. Michael Vércse, a contributor to (Sturovi and its neighbourhood), also describes the so-called “wood channelling” in one of his articles, detailing old customs. In the old days, at fairs, young people could hardly wait for nightfall. While walking, the boy could pat the girl with the wooden spoon he had bought at the fair, and the girl could pat the boy, regardless of his social class. It was inadvisable to get angry, because then you would have to take it out on the person in question. In Hajdan, the fair was held in the second half of October (Simon Judah Day, 28 October). As soon as this was over, the preparations for the fair began. The fair itself usually lasted 8 to 10 days, but in more than one case it lasted up to two weeks. As the Parcovica Fair falls on 5 November, the day of Prince Imre, the end of the fair usually coincided with the fair. The separate fair was later cancelled.
Parcovia and Simon-Judah Day 12-16, 2023 October
Párkány in Hungarian, or Sturovo in Slovak, lies opposite Esztergom on the left bank of the Danube. The settlement was also known as Kakath and Parkan before Turkish times. The name Kakath, how interesting, comes from the noun cock. The Turks, occupying the settlement, built a fortress here and gave it the name Dsigerdelen Parkan (= gutting fortress, i.e. a fortress that drills or wedges a hole in the enemy’s liver).
Today the small town of just 11,000+ inhabitants has two major attractions: the thermal baths and the Simon Judah Festival, which will be held for the 477th time this year. What’s interesting is that this fair has only been rediscovered in the last decade, with many people from Hungary and from other countries coming over, not only from Esztergom but also from further afield, for the fair atmosphere. There is an increasing number of entertainment, handicrafts and folk art. There will be no shortage of gastronomic delicacies and drinks. The promenade stage will host concerts in different styles.
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The story of Devana’s the Hungarian goddess of love
Only few people have heard of Devana, the Hungarian goddess of Love but legend has it that long ago, when the gods walked the earth in human form, the temple of Devana, stood on the highest hill above the Danube and Morava rivers. Devana was the daughter of Tengrí, the god of Thunder, and Mother Earth, the protector of women. All this can be seen from an inscription on a tombstone in the former settlement of Herculia, now known as Gorzium in the village of Tác in Hungary near Budapest. So Devana was an independent spirit from birth, and later, like the Greek goddess Diana, she was a constant hunter riding a mare, taming the wolves and foxes in the forest, which never left her side. All this made it difficult for her father to control her, and that’s where the trouble began.
Devana’s unbridled love of freedom, her unladylike behaviour, was unacceptable to powerful male leaders like Tengu and Mithras, the latter was the god of the rising sun, wisdom, truth and faith. Her father, along with the chief god, believed that her deviant behaviour, -which included constant hunting and wearing her hair loose (unmarried women had to braid their hair) so that she would refuse to marry anyone, angered them.
Regardless of who each tribe considered to be the chief god, her father Tengu or Mithras, Devana believed that she should rule over the three realms of the gods, the living and the dead: the sky, the real world and the underworld, the realm of the dead. When the gods learned of this plan, her father had had enough of his daughter. One day he followed her into the forest, and she howled so loudly that Devana’s wolf and fox allies were forced to flee, leaving her to fight her father without her helpers. The girl attacked her father first with arrows and later with spears, but he was too strong.
Like most goddesses, Devana was a shapeshifter, so she suddenly transformed herself into a lion in the hope of defeating her father. But she failed, because her father turned into an even more powerful lion, and Devana continued to fight as a kestrel. Her father then turned into an eagle and took her in his claws. With one last effort, Devana turned into a fish and slipped from his grasp. As her father watched his daughter fall, he called to his wife, Mother Earth, to catch his daughter with a fishing net. She obeyed, and Devana’s rebellion was over.
Devana was then given the castle of Devin for peace, where she became a popular and beloved goddess, and the lovers turned to her in joy and sorrow, for Devana comforted them, helped them, and made them happy. They did not turn to her in vain. Her temple, built for her by her devotees, was always full of fragrant flowers, and her altar was filled with sweet-smelling smoke. The petitions rang from morning till night:
Please, Goddess Devana, give us to each other!
Devana has abandoned my beloved, return her to me!
Devana, help me not to let the third come between us, and so on…
And Devana helped, she listened to everyone, she turned everything to good, even if the requests came from beyond the mountains or from far away… she heard every sigh, she kept every thank you.
Once, however, a youth warrior arrived to her temple on the waters of the Danube:
I love you, goddess Devana, leave your temple, let us escape together! He didn’t even wait to hear her reply, the very minute he took her by the arm and tried to embrace her.
Go away dark knight, I cannot belong to one, for I belong to all! -cried Devana. But the knight would not budge, and as the worshippers around him rushed to Devana’s aid, the knight drew his sword and swung it twice. Devana put both arms protectively in front of her face, and her rosy skin was wounded, a drop of blood falling from the sword cut. At that moment, the temple collapsed, the goddess fainted. She sighed one last sigh and said in a dying voice:
Love cannot be claimed with blood, it was written that at the first stroke of the sword the temple would dissolve into nothingness and I myself would become a cloud. Mark well, men, that wrath and love, these two cannot go together. With that, she breathed her last, and only her name Devana remained.
But what mortal men no longer knew was that Devana had been rescued by her father and then forced to marry his rival Verbascum, the god of the Underworld, protector of cattle, magic and the Lowlands. Devina had never wanted to marry, and resisted for a while to stay single, but eventually Verbascum turned into a basil flower and calmed her down. Although they were not in love, they stayed together. And Devana’s power has not disappeared, for she has helped pure-hearted lovers many times over the centuries. For example, in Hungary, which was torn into three parts during the Turkish era for 150 years from 1541-, she helped to the beautiful Juliet and Captain George Dévényi, the story goes like this:
On one occasion, when the Turks were marching on Vienna, the high castle of Dévény was besieged on the way. For months they cannonaded, shot and stormed the walls, but they could not take it, because it was valiantly defended by Captain George Dévényi, a young married man with his wife, who nursed the wounded in the castle. The Turks, like so many times before, wanted to take the castle by trickery. They sent envoys in fancy dress to the gate and shouted it:
You are valiant warriors, may Allah make you rich! And to make you even richer, tomorrow we will march from under the castle. All we ask of the captain, the gallant George Dévényi, is that he come to us at dusk for supper, so that we may bid each other farewell.
I’ll be there!- said George Dévényi, who knew the Turks well, of course, and knew that this was a trap, so he said to his lieutenant. Even if I order it in writing, because it is a forged letter. If you are captured, taken prisoner, do not open the gates. The captain bade his beautiful young wife a most bitter farewell. Tears were shed by his wife, but there was nothing to be done for the castle. He took his two good men with him and rode to the Turkish’s camp. He was given a good dinner, pilaf, lamb, beer and black coffee, Jaffa oranges and Arab dates, but when George Dévényi was about to leave, Prince Ahmed ordered him to:
Give me the castle!
I would rather die, -said George Dévényi, I will not give up. And if you force me to write this down, up in the castle, they will not believe you. Thou hast made thyself ugly, and thou art a vile man. Is this hospitality?
The Prophet has commanded from heaven that I should have the castle, and this command is stronger than hospitality,’ said the Turkish leader and beckoning to his servants, they bound Dévényi and his two loyal men and took them prisoners. The next day they stormed the walls again, but were unsuccessful. Finally, they retreated back to Istanbul, but they took George Dévényi with them, in chains. They locked him in the infamous Yedikula the Seven Tower. The news was brought to Mrs Julia by a Hungarian soldier who had escaped from the Turks. The woman, accompanied by a rich gift, twice asked to be interrogated by the Prince Ahmed, but he refused.
Weeks later, the woman, Juliet, decided to go to Istanbul and try to find a way to get in to see Prince Ahmed. And then, in a dream, the goddess Devana appeared to her in the night, and suggested that she take her harp with her, and when the muezzin’s singing died away on the balcony of the minarets, she should go to the Sultan’s palace and sing a beautiful song to him, accompanied by her harp. At the same time he gave her a wonderful voice. And the next day Juliet did so. Her voice sounded like a bird’s, her fingers made silvery notes on the harp, for Devana had helped her, and though her lamentations were sad, they still spelled the Sultan’s doom.
Who is the young woman who sings like a nightingale under the window of my palace?” he asked his servant.
A Hungarian woman from far away,- came the reply.
Bring her up to my palace, let me hear her in here! A few minutes later, Juliet was standing in front of the huge padishah.
Your voice is beautiful, your music sounds like paradise, play for us, Hungarian woman!
Sing for the women of my harem!
Juliet bowed to the bright-faced padishah and began to sing again. But this time she plucked happy songs on her strings. The women and men liked them so much that they listened until dawn. Three nights she had to repeat her playing, then the Sultan said:
Teach my first wife Fatima how to play the harp and I will reward you handsomely. After three more days, Fatime learned the songs. She had a beautiful voice, so the Sultan listened to Juliet and Fatime’s duo with rapt attention.
Like a lark and a nightingale! The Sultan rejoiced and raised his ring fingers and said: Ask for anything, Hungarian woman, and you shall have it!
I ask for my greatest treasure, George Dévényi, the prison captain!
Bring him out!- the Sultan clapped three times with his hand. The servants found George Dévényi with great difficulty in the depths of the Seven Towers. With a horrible face, gaunt and in tattered clothes, he was ushered into the hall. A man’s eyes were closed in the bright light, for he was used to the bright light. But when he recognised his wife he could not believe his eyes.
Juliet!- he gasped.
My sweet husband!- said Julia and fell into his arms. I have come for you.
Unchain him!- said the Sultan, -for this woman is not only a treasure because of her voice, not only of her silver throat, but she herself, with her whole heart, her love, her loyalty to you, is worth more than the treasure of worlds.
Then the Sultan gave them two horses, two servants, and two packed travelling bags, and so they arrived home to the castle of Dévény on Christmas Day.
Harira soup & Sugar festival
Ramadan is over at the end of April and the Muslim community celebrates with Eid Al Fitr, the Sugar Festival. Do only sweets end up on the table then? And what makes Eid Al Fitr so special? I asked my Moroccan frien Chaimae el Hathat
For about a month, Muslims do not eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset. For Chaimae Ramadan is a period she looks forward to every year. “It is a spicy, but also a very beautiful period. We spend more time with our family and the togetherness is great. There is nothing like breaking the hunger pangs together after a day of fasting,” Chaimae said.
So what do you eat during Ramadan, after sunset?
“We break the fast with a date, milk or water. After that, I always eat Moroccan soup and drink a lot of water. With us, a lot of salads also end up on the table, complemented by spring rolls or puff pastry snacks. With many Moroccan Muslims, honey biscuits end up on the table. But equally, pasta or vol-au-vent may follow afterwards.”.
Ramadan concludes on 21 or 22 April with Eid Al Fitr. What does the Sugar Festival mean to you?
“During Eid Al Fitr, we celebrate the end of that month of fasting. For me, it is also a time to be thankful that I was able to participate in Ramadan again. This is not the case for everyone, there are people who cannot participate, due to illness for example. Most people take a day off from work. You can compare it to Christmas, everyone is nicely dressed up and gives presents to each other.”
How will you experience the celebration this year?
“It will be a special Eid Al Fitr because we will be celebrating. The family traditionally gathered at her house. Eid Al Fitr is all about being with your family and taking time to catch up. In the morning, the men usually go to the mosque. Meanwhile, a sumptuous breakfast is prepared. Having breakfast together with the family is one of the highlights for me. I look forward to enjoying my morning coffee every year.”
What ends up on your table?
“With us, these are typically Moroccan dishes. During breakfast, Moroccan tea and biscuits are certainly not to be missed. There are also pancakes or some sort of doughnut and bread on the table. Afterwards, couscous, for example, follows. And during the Sugar Festival, a lot of delicacies end up on the table that are unfamiliar to many. For example the msemen is a typical of Eid Al Fitr and really delicious! They are square, leafy pancakes. They are often eaten with honey, but you can also combine them with savoury things. If you want to spend a little less time in the kitchen, I can recommend a simple Moroccan tea.” And this soup is so delicious that you can eat 3 plates of it!
Harira
Harira is a rich soup made with tomatoes, broad beans and chickpeas. The soup owes its delicious flavour to the oriental spices.
Ingredients: 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 5 tomatoes, 2 stalks of white celery, 1 sweet potato, 150 g broad beans, 1.50 l vegetable stock, 250 g canned chickpeas, 1 tsp ras el hanout, 1 tsp ginger powder, 1 tsp turmeric, 0.50 tsp cinnamon powder, olive oil, salt & pepper to taste
Finishing touch:
100 g sour cream, lemon wedges, 2 tbsp finely chopped mint, 2 tbsp chopped coriander
19 ingredient selected
Methods:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place the tomatoes in an oven dish and drizzle with olive oil, squeeze the garlic over them and season with salt and pepper.
Place in the oven for 25 minutes.
Finely chop the onion. Cut the celery into small pieces.
Peel and dice the sweet potato.
Fry the onion glazed in olive oil. Add the celery and sweet potato to the onion and add the ras el hanout, ginger powder, turmeric and cinnamon. Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Blend in the oven-fried tomatoes until smooth. Pour this along with the stock to the vegetables and bring to the boil. Simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.
Skin the broad beans. Rinse the chickpeas under cold running water. Add them to the soup along with the chickpeas. Let cook for another 5 minutes.
Ladle the soup into bowls and finish with the fresh mint and coriander and a spoonful of sour cream.
Top with the lemon wedges.
Butter week, the Russian carnival
Butter or pancake week alias Maslenitsa also known as Butter Lady, Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefare Week is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday, which has retained a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its ritual, celebrated during the last week before Great Lent, that is, the eighth week before Eastern Orthodox Pascha.
The date of Maslenitsa changes every year, depending on the date of the celebration of Easter. It corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival, except that Orthodox Lent begins on a Monday instead of a Wednesday and the Orthodox date of Easter can differ greatly from the Western Christian date.
The traditional attributes of the Maslenitsa celebration are the Maslenitsa effigy, sleigh rides, festivities. Russians bake bliny and flatbread, while Belarusians and Ukrainians cook pierogi and syrniki.
Traditions
During the week of Maslenitsa, meat is already forbidden to Orthodox Christians, and it is the last week during which eggs, milk, cheese and other dairy products are permitted, leading to its name of “Cheese-fare week” or “Crepe week”. The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is bliny – thin pancakes or crêpes, made from the rich foods still allowed by the Orthodox tradition that week: butter, eggs and milk.
Since Lent excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from spiritual life, Maslenitsa represents the last chance to take part in social activities that are not appropriate during the more prayerful, sober and introspective Lenten season.
In some regions, each day of Maslenitsa had its traditional activity. Monday may be the welcoming of “Lady Maslenitsa”. The community builds the Maslenitsa effigy out of straw (из соломы), decorated with pieces of rags, and fixed to a pole formerly known as Kostroma. It is paraded around, and the first pancakes may be made and offered to the poor. On Tuesday, young men might search for a fiancée to marry after Lent. On Wednesday, sons-in-law may visit their mother-in-law, who has prepared pancakes and invited other guests for a party. Thursday may be devoted to outdoor activities. People may take off work and spend the day sledding, ice skating, snowball fights and with sleigh rides. On Friday, sons-in-law may invite their mothers-in-law for dinner. Saturday may be a gathering of a young wife with her sisters-in-law to work on a good relationship.
Sunday of Forgiveness
The last day of Cheesefare Week is called “Forgiveness Sunday”. Relatives and friends ask each other for forgiveness and might offer them small presents. As the culmination of the celebration, people gather to “strip Lady Maslenitsa of her finery” and burn her in a bonfire. Left-over pancakes may also be thrown into the fire, and Lady Maslenitsa’s ashes are buried in the snow to “fertilize the crops”
At Vesoers on Sunday evening, people may make a poklon (bow) before one another and ask forgiveness. Another name for Forgiveness Sunday is “Cheesefare Sunday”, because for devout Orthodox Christians it is the last day on which dairy products may be consumed until Easter. Fish, wine and olive oil will also be forbidden on most days of Great Lent. The day following Cheesefare Sunday is called Clean Monday because people have confessed their sins, asked forgiveness, and begun Great Lent with a clean slate.
Modern times
During Soviet times, Maslenitsa, like other religious holidays, was not celebrated officially. However, it was widely observed in families without its religious significance, as an opportunity to prepare crêpes with all sorts of fillings and coverings and to eat and share them with friends. After the start of perestroika, the outdoor celebrations resumed, although they were seen by some as an artificial restoration of a dead tradition. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Russians have returned to practicing Christianity, the tradition is still being revived
With increasing secularization, many Russians do not abstain from meat and Maslenitsa celebrations can be accompanied by shashlik vendors. Nevertheless, “meat still does not play a major role in the festivities”.
Many countries with a significant number of Russian immigrants consider Maslenitsa a suitable occasion to celebrate Russian culture, although the celebrations are usually reduced to one day and may not coincide with the date of the religious celebrations.
On 20 March 2017, the British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mirror described the Maslenitsa as a Hooligan training ground however one of the centuries-old traditions in this folk festival is “wall-on-wall” (‘stenka na stenku’, Russian), which involves sparring between men dressed in traditional folk clothes!
Belgian oil balls for carnival
In almost every city in Belgium, carnival is celebrated with a street parade. But in two carnival towns, Binche (which has a carnival museum) and Aalst, the fun lasts for 3 days. What adds to the carnival’s glamour is that professional dancers, dressed in original 16th century Spanish costumes, parade around in wooden masks performing the famous wooden shoe dance. Oranges are thrown into the crowd, resulting in a thick layer of oranges covering the city on the 3rd day. Belgian bakers’ shops sell the famous Olie boll, an oil donut made only during Carnival. In Flanders and Brussels, the oil balls are called smoutebollen, which translates into English as bacon balls (smout means animal fat, but the real smout is fried in rapeseed oil). To make the donuts, the Flemish use an ice cream dispenser and fry the 2 scoops of dough in the fryer. When the spherical balls rise to the surface, the donut is ready. The dough is made from flour, eggs, yeast, salt, milk and baking powder or yeast, usually with the addition of raisins, blueberries and sometimes lemon zest. There is also an apple version of this Belgian donut, which, as the name suggests, is made with apples, and since it is yeast-based, the dough must be left to rise for at least 1 hour.
Ingredients:
600 g flour
50 g yeast
25 cl water
25 cl lukewarm milk
2 packets of vanilla sugar
1 tbsp. sugar
4 eggs
a pinch of salt
How to prepare:
Mix the flour with a little water and milk.
Add a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast in the milk.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, add the vanilla sugar and then add the yolks. Mix the yolks with the whites (you should get a dough with the consistency of a galuska). Leave the dough to rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Using a tablespoon or ice cream scoop, drop the small doughnuts into the fryer. Turn them while frying so that both sides are nicely golden brown. Finally, sprinkle with icing sugar.
Jelly
Jelly or aspic is usually made from broth and served in a mould with boiled meat, vegetables or eggs. It is sometimes called an aspic jelly. The simplest form of jelly is essentially a gelatinised version of the traditional soup.
History
Kitab al-Tabikh, the earliest known Arabic cookbook from the 10th century, contains a recipe for fish asparagus called qaris. This dish was made by cooking several large fish heads with vinegar, parsley, cassia, whole red onions, routa (radish), black pepper, ginger, galangal, cloves, coriander seeds and pepper. The resulting dish was coloured with saffron to give it a ‘bright red’ colour. The boiled fish heads and spices were then removed from the boiled stock before the tongue and cheek were returned to the stewing process, until the liquid and all its contents had cooled and gelled.
According to a poem by Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who described a version of the dish made from Iraqi carp, “it was as if the fish, ruby-coloured, had been set in pearls … soaked in saffron, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, shimmering vibrant red on a bed of silver”.
In the history of gastronomy, meat aperitifs were made before fruit- and vegetable-flavoured aperitifs. In the Middle Ages, cooks discovered that concentrated broth could be made into a jelly. A detailed recipe for aszpik can be found in the French book Le Viandier, written in or around 1375.
Finally, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Frenchman Marie-Antoine Carême, ‘the king of cooks and the cook of kings’, created the so-called a chaud froid, which means ‘hot-cold’ in French, and referred to dishes that were prepared hot and served cold. The aperitif was used as a sauce for many cold fish and poultry dishes, where it added some ‘succulence’ and flavour to the dish. Carême also recorded the different types of aspsis and how to prepare them in his cookery book.
Aspic became popular in America in the early 20th century. By the 1950s, meat jellies had become a popular dinner staple, as had other gelatin-based dishes such as tomato aspsis.
Today, aspicot jelly can be colourless (white aspicot) or in various shades of amber. Aspic can be used to preserve food, enhance the flavour of food or decorate it. Preserving meat in aspic prevents spoilage because the gelatine keeps air and bacteria out, so cooked meat or other ingredients stay fresh longer.
There are three types of aspic according to their consistency: fine, sliceable and too firm, fatty. Fine asps are soft. Slicable aspikos should be prepared in a terrine or aspic mould. It is firmer than fine asparagus. Aspic that is too firm is never used for consumption but rather for decoration. Aspic is often used to coat food in gastronomic competitions to make the food shine and look more attractive to the eye.
Aspic with meat for 4 people
Ingredients: 1 kg of head, ears, nails, nose, skin, 1 red onion, 4-5 cloves of garlic, 5-10 whole peppercorns, 2 laurel, 10 dkg of mixed vegetables, 2 purple onions, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp of mustard seeds cooked in a vinegar marinade
Preparation: Drain off the first juices, then drain, add the onions, bay leaf, whole pepper and some vegetables. Cook over a simmering heat until tender. Drain, debone, layer on top of each other, preferably pressed, and cool. Cut into shapes, place in the bottom of the plate, then pour the degreased stock over the top. To serve, top with thinly sliced, salted purple onion, pickled with lemon juice and sprinkled with a few mustard seeds
Affenberg (the Monkey hill) at Lake Constance
Salem is a municipality in the Boden-see district of Baden-Würtemberg in Southern Germany, located 9 km north of Lake Constance. It is famous for the cistercian Abbey Salem (12th century) and the Monkey hill, called: Affenberg.
The founder and owner of the park is the Alsatian Baron Gilbert de Turckheim. He opened the first enclosure, La Montagne des Singes, Monkey’s hill in 1969 in Kintzheim in Alsace, the second in 1974 in Rocamadour in southern France. In 1976, the “Affenberg Salem” was added on leased land of Salem Castle. Since 2006, the park director has been Roland Hilgartner, a zoologist with a doctorate in primatology. The concept provides for a restriction to one animal species on generously dimensioned areas. Therefore, the behaviour of the Barbary macaques in Salem does not differ from the animals living in the wild. In 2005, another monkey enclosure was created in Trentham in Staffordshire (England).
The Affenberg Salem is an animal park west of Salem in the Lake Constance district and also Germany’s largest open-air monkey enclosure. The main attraction of the over 20-hectare woodland are almost 200 Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvana) that roam freely there. There is also a free-flying colony of white storks that breed on the roofs of Mendlishauser Hof every year, a herd of fallow deer, and a large pond that is considered a refuge for many different bird species.
The Salem Monkey Mountain is characterised by the fact that there are no separating grids or ditches to shield visitors from the animals. Visitors move through the natural forest on permanent paths.
From mid-March to early November, Affenberg is open daily in all weathers and is on winter break from early November. The winter break is considered an undisturbed mating season for the monkeys. The founder and owner of the park is the Alsatian Baron Gilbert de Turckheim. He opened the first enclosure, La Montagne des Singes, in 1969 in Kintzheim in Alsace, the second in 1974 in Rocamadour in southern France. In 1976, the “Affenberg Salem” was added on leased land of Salem Castle. Since 2006, the park director has been Roland Hilgartner, a zoologist with a doctorate in primatology. The concept provides for a restriction to one animal species on generously dimensioned areas. Therefore, the behaviour of the Barbary macaques in Salem does not differ from the animals living in the wild. In 2005, another monkey enclosure was created in Trentham in Staffordshire (England). To bring visitors closer to the animals, there is an interactive information system and there are moderated feedings where visitors can get information about the Barbary macaques, storks and fallow deer.
Currently (as of 2022), there are three primate groups with just under 200 animals at Affenberg. Barbary macaques live in well-organised social groups of 60 to 80 animals; they are in constant communication with each other, emitting a wide variety of sounds or using expressive mimicry.
While the rank of females is innate, males have to work hard to achieve their rank. To become an alpha male, a good network with many high-ranking supporters is needed. Showing their long canines helps them to make a special impression on their competitors and to impress them accordingly. The “tenure” of an alpha male lasts an average of two to five years at Monkey Mountain and depends on competitive pressure.
The original home of Barbary macaques is Morocco and Algeria, where they live in mountains up to 2000 metres above sea level. The animals also feel at home at Lake Constance, as the climate there is very similar to that of their native country. Barbary macaques are threatened with extinction. Around 10,000 animals still exist worldwide. According to experts, a population can only survive if at least 150 specimens belong to it.For this reason, the Salem Monkey Mountain forms an important reserve population. The monkeys are also an important tourist attraction.
In addition to its importance as a tourist attraction, Affenberg enjoys a high international reputation as a research site. Almost half of what is known about Barbary macaques today comes from Affenberg. There is cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, the University of Zurich and the German Primate Centre in Göttingen.
Storks
At home on Affenberg Salem is a free-flying breeding colony of white storks with around 90 birds. Storks are migratory birds, returning to the same eyrie each spring to breed.
As the white stork was already extinct in many areas of Baden-Württemberg in the mid-1970s, reintroduction projects were started. In 1978, the Affenberg founded the Stork Station, which contributes to the protection of storks in Baden-Württemberg. The reintroduction of a few breeding pairs at Affenberg Salem established a free-flying colony there.
Fallow deer
In the extensive fallow deer enclosure, too, one can move freely among the animals. A capital fallow deer lives there with around twenty hinds and young animals
Émile Zola, Yves Montand and the time of the cherries
Émile Zola, the well-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalizm, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalizm. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined “J’Accuse” Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel prize in literature in 1901 and 1902, was almost certainly assassinated for his writings in response to the famous Dreyfus trial. The trial, which sparked mass hysteria and anti-Semitic pogroms, caused the greatest political crisis of the 19th century in France, dividing society into two camps for a decade.
Dreyfus, a traitor to his country
On 15 October 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a French military officer of Jewish origin, was arrested on charges of treason. On 5th January 1895, he was humiliated and stripped of his military rank, and on 15 January he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island (Cayene, French Guiana). His innocence was later proven because a conman, Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, posing as Count Esterhazy, sold French military plans and secrets to the German military leadership for money in exchange for debts. In 1894, after Alfred Dreyfus was tried and convicted of espionage, Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of the French army’s counter-espionage department, became suspicious because he recognised Esterhazy’s handwriting on documents attributed to Dreyfus.
Anti-Semitism
According to some legal experts, anti-Semitism was clearly a factor in Dreyfus’ conviction. For example, Picquart, who wanted to clear Dreyfus, was tried by some people to discourage him with arguments that he should not be embarrassed because a Jew had been convicted. Some of the accusations also highlighted Dreyfus’s Jewish origins, which had been cited as a kind of obvious ‘motive’ to explain the betrayal. After Dreyfus was indicted, anti-Semitic pogroms broke out in several regions of France, and several anti-Semitic newspapers covered the case closely, some even contributing to the fabrication of false evidence, thus further fuelling the anger.
In response, Émile Zola published an open letter entitled J’accuse (I accuse), addressed to the President of the Republic, Félix Faure. In a letter on the front page of the French newspaper L’Aurore, Zola accused the judges of having acquitted Esterhazy on the orders of the War Ministry. Zola was tried and convicted for libel, from which the writer fled to England. From then on, however, France was divided, with one side defending the army, which did not rule out Dreyfus’s innocence, and the other strongly in favour of Dreyfus’s guilt, and Jew-hating sentiment was rekindled. In 1898, Colonel Henry, who had been found to have fabricated the evidence against Dreyfus, committed suicide and Esterhazy fled to England.
By this time, however, ‘l’Affaire’, as the French press and historiography of the time have since referred to the Dreyfus trial, had become a central political issue dividing the society. Thus the Dreyfus affair became a point of conflict between the royalist, nationalist right (the ‘anti-Dreyfusards’) and the pro-Republican, socialist, anti-clerical left (the ‘Dreyfusards’), and ultimately led to the strengthening of the Republic and the political left, and the weakening of the influence of the army and the Catholic Church in France. Among those who opposed Dreyfus were Édouard Drumont, Paul Dérouléde, Maurice Barrés and Charles Maurras. He was backed by George Clemenceau, Jean Jaurés and the writer Anatole France, among others. In the following years, it became clear that this was not a miscarriage of justice but a legal scandal, as evidence was falsified to cover the real culprit
The murder
Zola had just finished his novel about the Dreyfus trial, ‘Vérité’ (Truth), and had planned a sequel, ‘Justice’, but on 29 September 1902, because of the unexpected cold Zola was freezing in his Paris apartment (Rue de Bruxelles) and asked to heat up. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning during the night. An investigation was launched into the suspicion of murder, but was unsuccessful.
Zola’s death was blamed on his enemies, who had tried to kill him several times before because of his conduct in the Dreyfus trial, but were unable to prove it because of the inadequacy of police investigation. For a week from the day of the funeral, the foyer of Zola’s house was packed with prominent writers, academics, artists and politicians, all eager to pay their respects to the great writer. But Zola’s enemies used the occasion for a malicious celebration. In the newspaper L’Intransigeant, Henri Rochefort claimed that Zola had committed suicide after discovering Dreyfus’ guilt..
Zola was then buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. He was eulogised by Anatole France, who called the writer “the conscience of humanity” and was sang the famous chanson “The Time of Cherries”, a song from 1866 with lyrics by Jean-Baptiste Clément and music by Antoine Renard. The chanson later became the revolutionary song of the Paris Commune, with incendiary verses added to the lyrics. After Zola’s funeral, “The Time of the Cherries” became a metaphor for what life would be like when the revolution changed social and economic conditions. It is believed that Clément dedicated it to a nurse who fought during the Semaine Sanglante (“Bloody Week”), when French government troops overthrew the Commune. Since then, there have been many versions of the original lyrics in French-speaking countries, but in my opinion the version popularised by Yves Montand (1921-1991) is the most beautiful one (The clock in the town hall in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis alternates every hour between two different tunes, ‘Le roi Dagobert a mis sa culotte à l’envers’ and ‘Le temps des cerises- The time of the cherries’. This song inspired the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia to adopt two cherries as part of its logo and the French Communist Party to adopt a new logo in 2018).
And that was not the end of the story of Zola’s, because on 4 June 1908, just five years and nine months after Zola’s death, another scandal broke when the writer’s remains were moved to the Panthéon, where they were placed in a crypt shared with Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. The ceremony was disrupted by a journalist named Louis Grégori and the anti-Semitic writer Edouard Drumont, who came to kill Dreyfus, who was attending the ceremony as a guest of honour. Grégori, who had not made a name for himself in the Dreyfus trial, remained relatively moderate in his comments during the discussions of the so-called “Affaire”, but it turned out that he did not agree with Dreyfus’ acquittal. He knew that among the guests of honour was Alfred Dreyfus, who had been fully rehabilitated by the French Court of Cassation in 1906, and then awarded the Legion of Honour and promoted to the rank of Major, with a military parade in his honour. So, on 4 th of June, Grégori arrived armed with a press pass authorising him to take the steps of the Panthéon and an 8mm revolver loaded with five bullets. He fired two shots at Major Dreyfus, wounding him in the arm and forearm. Grégori was immediately detained by the crowd and arrested, charged with attempted premeditated murder. Later on Grégori was eventually acquitted by a Paris court, which accepted his defence that he had not intended to kill Dreyfus, but merely to warn him. The Jew-hating far right outright welcomed Grégori’s “very French” gesture.
But to return to Zola: an investigation by the journalist Jean Bedel in 1953, published in the newspaper Libération under the title “Was Zola murdered?”, raised the idea that Zola’s death was not an accident but a murder. The investigation was based on the discovery by the Normandy pharmacist Pierre Hacquin, who was told by the chimney sweep Henri Buronfosse that he had deliberately blocked the chimney in Zola’s Paris apartment. According to literary historian Alain Pagès, this was probably true, and Zola’s great-grandchildren Brigitte Émile-Zola and Martine Le Blond-Zola confirmed this explanation of Zola’s carbon monoxide poisoning. According to a report in the newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, Brigitte Émile-Zola said that her grandfather, Jacques Émile-Zola, son of Émile Zola, told her when she was eight years old that a man had come to her house in 1952 to give her information about her father’s death. The man was with a friend who was dying and who confessed that he had received money to plug Émile Zola’s chimney!
Prince Pückler invites you to his table
Dedicated to pleasure
I have just returned from a week’s adventure in Germany and, as always, I came back with a wealth of experiences. This year’s new discovery was the Branitz Castle (region Brandenburg) and its Duke Hermann von Pückler Muskau! This colourful character’s book “Zu Gast bei Fürst Pückler” was worth every penny. It gave me a glimpse into the 19th century gastronomy. The exquisite taste of the so called “Green prince” (he was a landscape architect as well) is evident not only in the preparation of the food but also in the presentation, the setting, in the attention to all our senses!
Hermann von Pückler Muskau (1785-1871) was a shining personality. He was a German nobleman, renowned as an accomplished artist in landscape gardening, as well as the author of a number of books mainly centering around his travels in Europe and Northern Africa, published under the pen name of “Semilasso”….no wonder why he is remembered above all for the ice cream named after him! But a look at Pückler’s books reveals many more discoveries.” If you go on a trip, you should always have a bottle of ketchup with you.” This is Prince Pückler’s urgent recommendation, which many a modern gourmet will turn up his nose at.
However, a glance at the list of ingredients is reassuring. Mushrooms, anchovies, walnuts and tomatoes enriched the seasoning paste in the 19th century, which enjoyed a much better reputation then than today. Pückler apparently brought back from England not only the latest garden ideas that made him known as the Green Prince, but also various sauces, a frying machine and a fondness for luncheons – a second breakfast. He even set up his own salon in Branitz Palace for this purpose: with violet silk upholstery, black wood panelling and furniture. -“My main characteristic is a taste that seeks to achieve perfection in everything,”- he said of himself. He referred quite immodestly to the culinary disciplines and in particular to the culinary disciplines. This is evident from many letters that were published in anthologies during his lifetime. They brought the prince the necessary money, which he gladly spent on his extravagances.
The importance he attached to refined dining culture is also shown by the Branitzer Tafelbücher (table’s book). Between 1854 and 1871, Pückler’s court marshal documented the complete gift-giving at the princely table, who was invited to dinner and when, what dishes were served and what wines went with them. Beef with anchovy sauce, Gottbuss crayfish and pineapple pralines were often served – and ice cream only once. If a menu offered a choice of two soups, the guest could be sure that he was paying for an extremely exclusive round. Especially if “pudding a lá Nesselrode” was then served for dessert. The name alluded to an important politician of the time. For the dishes were also meant to stimulate conversation. If the prince’s gardener friends were visiting, rare vegetables such as ice cabbage or chervil would appear on the plate.
They formed the basis for one or the other shop talk and were preferably from the castle nursery. Pückler liked to refer to the philosopher Seneca, who praised country life with produce from one’s own field. Regional was the seal of quality: with cucumbers and asparagus from the neighbourhood or pike slices in Spreewald sauce. Parsley soup is mentioned more than 200 times in the table books and the prince himself created a recipe for potatoes a lá Semilasso-as he called himself (a remoulade made from egg yolk and vinegar is the simple secret!) “If you please me with your visit, I promise you good dinners, where the culinary art only helps nature!”-he wrote in an invitation. Every ingredient should remain unaltered and all the good edible things should taste like themselves.
Pückler’s refined homecooking
He kept records of his dining pleasures. A total of five volumes with gold edging and bound in leather provide information about 3500 menus. At Branitz Palace, ladies and gentlemen received a feudal welcome in the 19th century. Serving a refined dinner with at least six courses demonstrated the host’s style and willingness to create. But the prince gave special honour to the potato, to that very common vegetable in numerous variations -he learned about its preparation as a salad with egg and vinegar during a journey through the Pyrénées and wrote it down.
At 1 o’clock luncheon in the breakfast room
Pückler liked the custom from England so much that he wanted to celebrate it at home as well: At a distinguished visit in the intimate atmosphere of a salon in gold and violet.
A lá francaise
The Prince wanted the furnishing of the breakfast room to be in Louis XIV style. He sent the carpenter pictures from a Parisian magazine after which he was to make the buffet and set it in black and gold.
Carp á lá Chambord
From his own breeding he paid to the Branitzer spezialiteiten. In 1864 it was presented to Queen Augusta, whose visit Pückler had long longed for. Days before, he had the menu rehearsed to perfection.
Sweet aftermath
“If we were also poor, Lucie would cook me pancakes!”- the prince noted. But even without need, he loved simple regional dishes, like Lusatian pancakes. A sauce made from fine port wine and egg yolk gives them that certain something.
May you come with a good hunger
The menu card of 1846 for a Berlin gentlemen’s party announces no less than 15 courses. Alexander von Humboldt was one of the most important guests each evening.
Eis-cream
Layered in red, white and brown is a bestseller today. Here is the recipe:
Neapolitan Ice Cream or Fürst Pückler Eis
Pückler ice cream was created by a confectioner from Brandenburg and named after the count Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. The ice cream consists of three layers – chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, and is commonly called Neapolitan ice cream or Harlequin ice cream. His elaborate presentation was: a piano made of ice cream
Ingredients
- 1 oz dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp whipping cream
- 7-8 strawberries hulled
- 6 cups vanilla ice cream softened
- whipped cream optional
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate with the cream, stirring until smooth. Mix two cups of the ice cream with the chocolate until well blended. Pour into the bottom of a 9×5 pan, smooth with a spatula, and freeze for about 2 hours.
- Layer 2 cups softened vanilla ice cream over the chocolate layer and smooth with a spatula. Freeze for one hour or, if it is firm enough, add the strawberry layer right away.
- Blend strawberries into a puree. (There should be about 1/4 cup.) Mix puree with the remaining vanilla ice cream. Pour over hardened vanilla layer, cover, and freeze for another hour before serving.
- To serve, turn over and remove from pan onto plate. Cut into slices and serve with sweetened whipped cream, if desired.
If you’re interested in the recipes of Prince Pückler’s you can order the book: Zu Gast bei Fürst Pückler (Guest at Prince Pückler’s): 65 historic recipes reinterpreted by Tim Sillack the chef in the Cabalier House next to the castle!
THE HISTORY OF THE MUMMIES OF VÁC/Hungary
The discovery in 1994 of 264 naturally mummified human remains and an osseous chest containing the remains of 40 people in Vác/Hungary attracted a great deal of attention all over the world.
Vác is a small town in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. It’s located 35 kilometres (22 miles) north of Budapest on the eastern bank of the Danube river, below the bend where the river changes course and flows south. The city, with its rich cultural life and many curiosities, is the seat of a Catholic bishop for a reason. The entire historic city centre is an area of historical monumental importance. It has been the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric since the 11th century.
Construction of the Church of the White Friars of Vác (Fehérek templom) began in 1699 and was consecrated to the Virgin Mary in 1755. It originally belonged to the Dominican Order, the so-called “White Friars”, from which it takes its name. The church also had two crypts, the dates on the ornate wooden coffins indicate that the burials took place between 1731 and 1808.
Why were the remains of the Vác mummies only found in 1994?
While renovating the church, a workman saw a crack in the wall and when he hit it with a hammer, he discovered that he heard a hollow sound. He broke through the wall and found a stone staircase leading down. After going down the stairs with the parish priest, they found a crypt with painted coffins.The parish priest immediately called experts to the church, who spent about six months uncovering the crypt. The mummies from Vác lay in rows of stacked, ornate coffins. The coffins were marked with the names of the dead and the date of death. It is unique in the world that so many naturally mummified bodies remain. Experts have been searching for answers to the question of how the bodies could have survived in this condition. The average temperature in the room varied between 8 and 11 degrees Celsius, which is very similar to the climate in caves and underground caverns in Hungary. The combined effect of environmental factors (temperature, humidity, air pressure) facilitated mummification. As the coffins were stacked on top of each other, the higher ones became less waterlogged.
Most of the coffins were made of pine, but several hardwood coffins were found. The active ingredient in pine wood had a beneficial effect on the preservation process, and the wood shavings sprinkled around the bodies absorbed body fluids, thus promoting desiccation. Tuberculosis infection was found in 89 percent of the bodies and was the direct cause of death in 35 percent of them, according to DNA tests. As the majority of the internal organs were intact, the bodies could be subjected to the necessary anthropological, pathological, genetic, dental and morphological tests.
The results allowed conclusions to be drawn about the dietary habits, lifestyle, diseases, injuries, age, kinship and social contacts of the inhabitants of Vác 150-250 years ago. The study of the mummies from Vác can also play a very important role in research into various diseases (HIV, Kaposi’s sarcoma, TBC-plague) and their development.
The contemporary death registers were kept in the Upper Town Parish and facial reconstructions were also carried out on some individuals. One such person is Teresa of Borsodi, whose body preserves excellent traces of the caesarean section performed on her. It is clearly visible that the surgical incision line, 14.5 centimetres long, starting above the pubic bone, extends all the way to the navel. A mummy of a nun, Teresa of Alexandria, shows that her heart has been removed, leaving a large hole in her chest. Researchers have offered two possible explanations. One is that Teresa died on her way to Bratislava and the heat meant that the whole body could not be transported home, so only the heart was buried. The other explanation is that this was to avoid a state of death.
There are also questions about what happened to Rozalia Tridentin, who is missing her ring finger and little finger on her left hand. Her fingers were found next to her body, wrapped in a paper with a Czech writing on it, but why they were cut off is not known. One of the most ‘famous’ and frightening mummies in the crypt is Antonia Tauber, a former teacher. Her mouth is screaming because the funeral directors did not tie her jaw, which opened when the muscles relaxed. After her body was excavated in the crypt, research was carried out and it was discovered that the Baroness’s severe spinal deformity was not only lateral, but also caused a back and abdominal hunchback and hunchback. Her death was probably caused by this disease.
The discovery of the mummified bodies and coffins has naturally attracted not only researchers and experts, but also the general public, as they are an unusual sight. Anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the mummies in Vác can see some of the artefacts, many coffins and pottery at the Memento Mori exhibition at 19 Március at 15 Square in Vác, from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see and photograph (see above and below) these mummies when they were being exhibited at the Budapest Museum of Natural History.
spajzgirl 