Christmas 2018
The seventh of January, and a note on kutia — the first dish, and the one nobody skips.
A blessed Christmas to everyone marking it today.
Twelve dishes, and the first is always kutia: boiled wheat, poppy seed, honey, sometimes nuts. It is not the best dish on the table and everybody eats it first anyway.
The reason is that it is not really food. Wheat is the crop, poppy is sleep and the dead, honey is sweetness and continuity. A spoonful is set aside, and in some households thrown at the ceiling, which I have seen and which nobody explained to my satisfaction.
Twenty Christmases here and kutia is the dish I understand least and would defend most. Every tradition needs one component that resists explanation.
A peaceful evening to your household.
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