Teterki are a ritual Northern Russian cookie that was baked on March 22 (spring equinox). One of its purposes is to “call out”, call, to welcome spring. The shape of these cookies is usually round with an intricate design inside. Today, grouse are mainly prepared from wheat flour, with sugar, nuts, and raisins added. Sometimes the dough is prepared using eggs. But I wanted to try a traditional recipe, having dug through a lot of online material on the topic, I couldn’t find anything specific, only a general description of the cooking process, so the recipe given here is experimental. And one more thing, before baking, the grouse must spend the night in the freezer, so if you plan to prepare them for a specific day, start on the eve. If your family knows how to cook real grouse, please share the classic recipe.
Number of servings: I got 5 large cookies, but everything here is individual, it depends on what kind of utensil you use to measure the ingredients, and on the thinness of the dough rope.
You will need:
- measuring cup(we will measure products not in grams, but by volume, I took a small coffee cup of 125 ml.);
- 4-6 cups rye flour (the amount of flour will depend on other ingredients, such as whether you use honey);
- 1 cup of water;
- 1 cup honey (I used liquid honey);
- 1/2 teaspoon salt;
- 1 cup boiled potatoes(optional);
- sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds(optional);
- vegetable oil for greasing prepared grouse(optional);
Preparation:
- When choosing a recipe for grouse, I was guided by the following description: “Before, grouse were made in water, from rye or barley flour. “Pour in vodka, add salt, rye flour and skut (roll into ropes).” Sometimes hemp or flax seeds are added to the dough, then The vyukhas will be thicker, and the seeds in the finished cookies are crispy. Rye vyukhas come out dark, so crushed boiled potatoes are sometimes added to them to lighten them. The twisted cookies placed on boards are taken out into the cold and kept there until the next morning. Frozen, it is more convenient to put them in the oven - the pattern can no longer be disturbed. Well-baked grouse are greased with linseed oil and placed on the table. As you can see, my list of products for the recipe is slightly different. Firstly, it seemed like a good idea to add honey to the dough. Secondly, I didn’t have any hemp , no flaxseeds, no flaxseed oil. So I replaced the seeds with sesame seeds, of course this is not the Northern Russian version, so I didn’t add sesame seeds to the dough, but only sprinkled a couple of cookies, and instead of flaxseed oil I took olive oil ( unrefined I didn’t have any sunflower on hand), but first things first.
Pour 3 cups of rye flour into a heap, add salt, make a well in the middle and add water and honey, knead everything thoroughly. Add pre-boiled and mashed potatoes. It is distributed over the dough in small lumps, so knead thoroughly again. At this stage I even used a mixer.
I couldn’t find the proportions anywhere in the descriptions of preparing grouse, so the volume of ingredients was selected “according to how it felt.” The dough turned out to be quite soft, it could be stirred with a spoon, but not rolled, so I started adding flour. It took me another 2 cups of flour to get the dough into a ball. Since I used honey, the dough turned out to be very sticky, that is, sprinkling it with flour, it was already possible to work with it, but if you continued kneading, it still began to stick to your fingers.
Remembering the honey dough for gingerbread, which after being in the refrigerator became elastic and pliable, I formed my dough for grouse into a ball, wrapped it in film and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Having taken out the cold dough, we begin the process of rolling into ropes. We work with the dough as with plasticine, rolling “sausages” between our palms.
It should be noted that my dough did not lose its stickiness, so I had to periodically “dip” it in flour. In addition, the tourniquets turned out to be quite soft and constantly tore. But my daughter and I did not despair, placing future grouse on sheets of baking paper sprinkled with flour. In places where there is a break, we carefully connect the strands (this is where the stickiness of the tespa helps) and continue to “curl the pattern.” First, three rows of dough rope are laid out in a circle - a symbol of the sun, and then, inside the ritual circles, you can give free rein to your imagination. If you did not add seeds to the dough, then at this stage you can sprinkle the dough, slightly pressing the seeds into the dough.
My daughter was completely delighted with the creative process of laying out the drawing of future cookies!
Place the grouse blanks directly on the same sheets of paper in the freezer overnight.
Well-frozen cookies really hold their shape. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and you can start baking. Before putting the grouse in the oven, separate the piece from the paper on which it was lying, sprinkle the paper again with flour, and then into the oven - in this case the dough will not “bake” and the finished cookies will be easy to remove.
We bake the grouse for 15-20 minutes, maybe a little longer, this largely depends on the thickness of your rope; the cookies should not burn, but dry out. Since we used rye flour, the cookies will turn out quite dark, at some point it seemed to me that my grouse began to burn in particularly thin places, but perhaps this is how it should be, because they say that they were previously broken into pieces, and then The resulting crackers were chewed like sunflower seeds.
I coated the finished cookies with butter and they immediately became glossy and shiny. The appearance, of course, only benefited from this procedure, the taste was not affected, but I would not recommend putting such crackers in your pocket.
In general, I didn’t wait until all my cookies were completely browned (I was afraid they would burn), and I took the grouse out of the oven. They turned out to be very pleasant in taste, moderately sweetish, crispy parts - like crackers, the thicker parts are quite dense and hard, like, for example, bread crusts that have not yet dried, but it is quite difficult to bite through. At some point I was even upset because of the excessive hardness; we were still more accustomed to baked goods or crumbly cookies. I even decided that I would cover the grouse with varnish and hang it in the dacha as a decorative element :) However, all the grouse were eaten very quickly!
Imagine! Bon appetit!
If you have a more interesting or traditional recipe for grouse, please write, I will be very glad!
A beautiful ancient custom lives on the Kargopol land. In the spring, at the time of the solar equinox - when day and night are measured, "teterki" are baked in the local villages.. Elderly women say that previously, on the “grouse day”, everyone who was on the bride’s side at the wedding was sure to bring gifts to the newlyweds - grouse of their cooking. And most of all, the mother brought them to young women, so that they would not think that she was stingy, and so that each member of the household would eat at least one that day.
Grouse work is a painstaking task that the owner herself could hardly complete in a week. Therefore, all her relatives helped her: grandmothers, the young woman herself (who was sent to her father’s house for these days), and even older children - there was no extra space at the table while working. So, together they will roll (that is, wind, roll) one hundred to two hundred grouse, arrange them in different patterns. Moreover, some will be prepared from the best semolina flour, adding hemp seed to it (for the son-in-law), some will be baked from rye flour, and the rest from barley.
Each family has its own dough recipe, but grouse are basically baked from shortcrust pastry, kneaded with butter, sugar and various flavorings. Eggs or sour cream are also added to the dough to increase the plastic properties and improve the quality of taste of the finished grouse.
The dough lace laid on planks was taken out into the cold - the grouse lay there until the next morning. Once frozen, they could be safely placed in the oven - the pattern could no longer be disturbed. And sometimes, for speed, they were laid out on a wooden shovel and - immediately - into the oven, where they quickly dried and browned. Well-baked grouse were greased with linseed oil and laid out on the table. Here both our own and other people’s children admire them, and neighbors will come to “look at the patterns.”
On the eve of the grouse day itself, the mother of the young woman (and if she was not alive, then the mistress of the house was a “big woman”) put the gifts prepared for the young woman into baskets. Among them were white wheat loaves, and barley breads on rye called “Dvinyanka”, and rybniks with fish baked in dough, and “kalitki” - a kind of cheesecakes stuffed with millet and barley groats, and “pancake” pies wrapped from pancakes with oatmeal, and thin, in the shape of a semicircle, stuffed with all kinds of berries, “hotel” ones. There were two baskets of all the goodies.
In the third, carefully so as not to break them, they placed the grouse. Simple “twists”, curled with a single or double spiral, were not taken, so as not to lose face in front of people. They put the most patterned ones - as many as would fit, but so that there were at least forty.
The hostess placed the first two baskets on the ends of a stake, and carried the third in her hands. She walked alone, without assistants: everyone should have seen that several gifts could be conveyed! If the son-in-law's house was far away, the treats were carried on horseback. Having reached the place, the mother-in-law asked the hostess where to place the gifts she had brought. And when she posted it, she apologized: “Don’t judge, matchmakers and matchmakers, the richer you are, the happier you are!”
“Well, that’s enough, matchmaker,” the owners answered, “what else, God forbid!”
In some villages, gifts were accepted without looking, while in others they were immediately laid out on the table, looking at the patterns of grouse in the light. The guests looked at it, the neighbors came to have a look, then discussing among themselves, “does the young woman of the family feel good about giving gifts to her son-in-law?” The young woman herself had to treat those present with gifts. She brought everyone a grouse, and then only the women remained at the table: “grouse day” was considered a “women’s holiday”...
And to this day, in a number of villages in the Kargopol district of the Arkhangelsk region, especially in Oshevenskaya Sloboda and its environs, On the day of the spring solar equinox, mothers go with grouse to their sons-in-law, daughters and grandchildren. Today, grouse are also cooked for children for fun. The grandmother will begin to prepare dinner, knead two handfuls of flour with milk and sugar and bake a delicious grouse for her grandchildren. They run with them along the village street.
Getting to the unusual art, the dough is rolled out on a floured table into a long, thin rope. And they arrange it in various patterns. Both old and young here know how to curl a grouse, but among the cooks there are also true masters of their craft. Among them are friends Alexandra Aleksandrovna Savinova and Marfa Alekseevna Sokolova, who live in the same house. On the eve of the grouse day, they will invite Anna Aleksandrovna Rudakova to come and help with the dough and remember the patterns together.
A.A. Savinova and M.A. Sokolov making grouse.
Photo from 1977
“I used to make all kinds of grouse,” says Alexandra Alexandrovna. “I baked mesh-lattice, and from ring to ring, otherwise I’ll lay the grouse down with just eight grouse.” Or I’ll give him some sunshine and give him curls. Sunny, it also has curls - so my little grouse will be curly! I’ll also put them in little rings—both my mother and my grandmother made them...
Watching and listening to how folk craftsmen work and what they tell is always instructive. It is here that their attitude towards the work of their hands is revealed, the meaning of the works they created is learned.
Marfa Alekseevna and Anna Aleksandrovna roll out the dough, and Alexandra Aleksandrovna arranges it in patterns on the boards.
- What a new little grouse I’m going to curl! First, I’ll lay out the big ring, then I’ll lead the sun. From the sun there are rays-kerchiefs on four sides, circle the circles three times and you’re done/
“Marfushka, fix the birch tree,” Savinovna suggests.
- No, you’re the pattern maker, you do it, and we’ll help.
Alexandra Alexandrovna lays out a new grouse:
- First, I’ll make a stem near the birch tree, I’ll make clefts from it in all directions, and on them there will be ringlets, like leaves. So here is our Anna Rudakova, that this birch tree gave rise to this genus. Gliko, how many children and grandchildren there are, how many clefts of Rudakovism have blossomed...
The grouse laid out in this way are taken to the pantry - there they will lie until the morning. When the housewife heats up the stove and the wood burns out, she will sweep “under” the stove with a fragrant broom of spruce branches, “lower” the heat a little so that the grouse do not burn, but only dry out and brown, and begin to transfer them from the planks to the shovel. And from there it goes straight into the oven, and in a few minutes the grouse are ready.
The ornament of Kargopol grouse preserves archaic solar symbolism to this day. All of them are a circle the size of a dinner plate. This circle consists of three contours - “circles”, curled “in the direction of the sun”. “Okolysh” is like a frame around the main pattern, which is made up of stylized plant, and more often geometric and zoomorphic motifs: “birch”, “konik”, “kurushka”... Geometric figures are directly related to cosmological symbolism, this is the basis of all grouse without exception .
The central part, which gives the name to the pattern, can consist of circles - “rings”, “eights”, a large cross, a “sun” and “conics”, “semi-conics” or wound “curls” running around. The middle can be filled by three spirals curled in different directions, and four one-sided “views”...
The ancient folk beliefs of the Slavs are visible in the images of Kargopol grouse. It is remarkable that individual motifs of these spring ritual cookies, or even simply similar patterns, are found in the baked patterns not only of many regions of Russia, but also of other Slavic peoples. They are often used in embroidery and weaving patterns, wood carving and painting, ceramics and jewelry.
Russian and, more broadly, Slavic songs and riddles tell about the golden-haired sun, images of which could be found not only on peasant textiles, but even in book miniatures and icon ornaments. Here in grouse it is depicted “with curls”. And what is a cross if not a sign of the spring, brightly shining sun? The oblique cross is a symbol of the sun running quickly across the sky, an image of heavenly fire.
A straight equal-armed cross with curved (in our case, curled) ends in a number of regions of Russia, and before throughout the Indo-European world, was associated with ideas about eternal life. They liked to depict this motif in the form of four (most often) horse heads, as if walking in a circle. After all, it is precisely in the movement of the sun - the change of day and night, winter and summer - that, according to popular belief, lies the meaning of earthly existence.
Teterkas with “koniks” and “semi-koniks” represent a development of this ancient motif. Before us are stylized images of fleet-footed horses, which from ancient times in folklore symbolized the eternal movement of the sun.
But why is the spring ritual cookie called grouse?
In Rus', the arrival of spring birds always signaled the imminent onset of long, warm days. And for the tiller, this is, first of all, the time of fertility of the mother of the damp earth. From time immemorial, the legend of the kindest of birds, the fabulous Pava, has lived in people's memory. As soon as she flew in from warm countries and spread her feather-rays, every “potion” that grows on earth came to life after a long winter sleep. Mythological riddles directly call Pava the sun.
Almost every cargo regiment woman embroidered such a miracle bird on her clothes and household items; her image was familiar to everyone from childhood. But the favorite toy of Kargopol potters is “a woman with grouse”. Before us is a woman in a wide-brimmed hat, like the sun, who holds two birds in her raised hands. This image is rooted in hoary pre-Slavic antiquity. The figure of a “woman with black grouse” was the personification of spring.
In Kargopol, as in a number of other northern regions, an ancient legend has been preserved about a bird dedicated to the sun - the capercaillie. Local residents called it the deaf grouse, or simply the grouse.
Every time you encounter in Kargopol villages the custom of baking grouse on the day of the spring solar equinox, you are amazed at the living memory of the people, which brought to us the image of the sun, as ancient as the world, giving life to all living things and well-being to man.
Sections: MHC and ISO
Goals:
Educational:
- Introduction to ritual cookies - grouse.
Educational:
- Development of skills in working with art materials (plasticine), creative imagination, artistic taste;
- Development of fine motor skills of the muscles of the hands.
Educational:
- Fostering respect for the culture and traditions of your people.
Equipment:
Materials for the student: oilcloth, stacks, plasticine, hand wipes.
Materials for the teacher: Presentation “Magic plasticine”, exhibition of students’ works, tables “Main elements of the ornament of ritual cookies “Teterki””, “Types of Kargopol grouse”; photos of grouse.
I. Organizational moment
Hello guys! The topic of our lesson is “KARGOPOL TESTERS”.
II. Introductory talk
Let's remember which ones you know traditional forms of ritual cookies, Russian people?
There are traditional forms of ritual cookies that existed in different regions of Russia and also had “bird” names: “larks”, “sparrows”, “bullfinches”, “waders”, “magpies”, “cockerels”. Back in the 19th century. in different provinces of Russia, with the help of such cookies they called for spring. Scientists note that this ritual is close to Maslenitsa and is also aimed at the arrival of spring and ensuring fertility in the new year.
Are you familiar with the word grouse?
III. The stage of preparing students for active learning of new material
“Tetera” or “teterka” is a special twisted cookie. It is prepared from dough rolled into ropes, that is, in Kargopol, “rolled”, and laid out in the form of waves, loops, spirals, lattices, circles, plants, bird figures, and less often animals.
But why are the ritual cookies called “grouse”? Maybe because in Kargopol, as in a number of other northern regions, the capercaillie begins spring, the pine grouse sings its song to the grouse and sees and hears nothing around. Local residents called it the deaf grouse, or simply the grouse. Or maybe they called it that by comparing the rye twisted sun with a gold coin that walked along the Tersky coast in the old days and was called “teterka” from the ancient word “teter” - golden. Yes, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that this beautiful ancient custom lives in people’s memory. “Teterki” is the good spring sun that we northerners always wait so patiently for.
When and for what occasion are they baked?
IV. Stage of assimilation of new knowledge
A beautiful ancient custom lives on the Kargopol land. In spring, at the time of the equinox (March 9 (22) according to the church calendar, this is the day of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia (or, locally, the day of the forty saints). According to legend, at the beginning of the 4th century, 40 Christian soldiers from the Armenian city of Sebastia, not wanting to renounce their faith, were condemned to stand naked on the ice of the lake. However, a miracle happened: the ice melted, the water became warmer. Afterwards, the warriors were subjected to painful execution, and then they began to be revered as saints) when day equals night; They bake grouse in the local villages. Elderly women say that previously, on the “grouse day”, everyone who was on the bride’s side at the wedding always brought gifts to the young couple - “teterkas” of their cooking. And most of all, the mother brought them to young women, so that they would not think that she was stingy, and so that each member of the household would eat at least one that day.
The “grouse” task is painstaking; one housewife can hardly complete it in a week. Therefore, all her relatives helped her: her grandmother, and the young woman herself (who was sent to her father’s house for these days), and even the children - there was no extra space at the table while working!
So, one hundred to two hundred “grouse” will be woven together and tied in different patterns. Moreover, some will be prepared from the best flour - semolina, adding hemp seed to it (for the son-in-law), some will be baked from rye flour, and the rest from barley.
The dough lace laid on planks was taken out into the cold - the “grouse” lay there until the next morning. Once frozen, they could be safely placed in the oven - the pattern could no longer be disturbed. And sometimes, for speed, they were laid out on a wooden shovel and immediately into the oven, where they quickly dried and browned.
Well-baked “grouse” were greased with linseed oil and laid out on the table. Here both their own and other people’s children admire them, and their neighbors will come to “look at the patterns.”
On the eve of the “grouse” day, the mother of the young woman put the gifts prepared for the young people into baskets. Among them were white wheat loaves, and barley bread on rye flatbread - “Dvinyanka”, and rybniks with fish baked in dough, and “kalitki” - a kind of cheesecake stuffed with millet and barley groats, and “pancake” pies wrapped from pancakes with oatmeal, and thin, in the shape of a semicircle, stuffed with all kinds of “hotel” berries. There were two baskets of all the goodies. In the third, carefully, so as not to break, the “grouse” was placed. Simple “twists” curled with a single or double spiral were not taken, so as not to lose face in front of people. They put the most patterned ones - as many as would fit, but so that there were at least forty.
The hostess placed the first two baskets on the ends of a stake, and carried the third in her hands. She walked alone, without assistants: everyone should have seen that she had gifts - as many as she could carry! If the son-in-law's house was far away, the treats were carried on horseback.
Having reached the place, the mother-in-law asked the hostess where to put the gifts she had brought. And when he laid it out, he apologized, judge, matchmakers and matchmakers, the richer you are, the happier you are!
The young woman was supposed to treat those present with gifts. She brought everyone a grouse, and then only the women remained at the table: “grouse day” was considered a women’s holiday.
The “grouse” ornament has ancient symbolism of the sun - they all represent a circle the size of a dinner plate. The circle consists of a circle-sun, and ends with three large circles - rims, rings, curled according to the sun. Like a frame around the main pattern. And the main pattern consists of stylized floral, geometric and zoomorphic motifs. These motifs give the name “grouse”.
The central part, which gives the name to the pattern, can consist of circles - “rings”, “eights”, “big cross”, “sun” and “conics”, “semi-conics” or wound “curls” running around. The middle can be filled by three spirals curled in different directions, and four one-sided “views”...
The main elements of the ornament of the ritual cookies “Teterki”
In the old days, vyukha was called a yarga, which was a square with curved ends. “Vyukha” is the most common pattern in Kargopol.
What do these “tether” figures mean? Straight crosses are symbols of fire and the sun. A cross with curved ends is often called a kolovrat - also denoting the movement of the sun in a circle, solstice, rotation. What wishes did the craftswomen put into their “grouse”? The lattice “#” is a wish for fertility, gold - holiness, divine grace. A tree (most often a Christmas tree) is a symbol of the interconnection of everything in the world, a symbol of long life. The “star” looks like a rhombus - it was a symbol of the sun, a sign of fertility, goodness, happiness, full life. A rhombus with branches symbolized reborn life.
A rhombus with a central motif could mean both a sown field and an eye watching the machinations of “dark forces.” For example, a dot, one of the first and simplest elements, is little noticeable in itself, but it is a symbol of the beginning; it is not for nothing that the expression “reference point” exists. The Kargopol “tether” with three contours (circles) receives life in the skillful hands of a craftswoman. In the middle is a spiral swastika. The swastika marked the eternal movement of the heavenly body. The ideas of sowing and reaping, embodied by the swastika, were primarily associated with grain (what flour was made from for baking “grouse”). The death of the grain determines its future birth.
There are a lot of curls and curls in the “grouse”. A spiral folded in several turns was considered one of the most ancient symbols, denoting the universe visible to people, in the center of which is the throne of the Almighty. Probably, in “tethers”, as in other products of arts and crafts, craftswomen expressed their concepts of the world with the help of conventional signs: a straight horizontal line denoted the earth, a wavy horizontal line - water, a vertical line turned into rain; fire and the sun were depicted with a cross.
In “grouse” the craftswomen were able not only to depict the sun, but also to say what people expected from it: spring, flowering, warmth, joy. Here the solar disk turns into a cheerful, festive pattern. With what love and diligence the craftswoman laid out patterns in a “grouse” from the thinnest strand of almost two meters long. They look like rays from the middle of the sun. But at the same time, these are not just rays. Look, there is an amazing flower inside the circle here. But on these gingerbread cookies the flower turned into some kind of complex, intricate pattern. But this looks like grass, curly and lacy. And all this seems to be moving, spinning. It seems to be made quite simply: ordinary dough flagella are arranged in spirals, curls, loops - and such beauty is born!
V. Stage of checking students' understanding of new material
All “tethers” are a circle. This circle consists of three contours - “circles”, curled “in the direction of the sun”. “Okolysh” is like a frame around the main pattern, which is made up of stylized plant, and more often geometric and zoomorphic motifs: “birch”, “konik”, “kurushka”.
So today we will lay out the grouse, which we will mold from plasticine.
Stages of work:
Roll the tourniquet as long as possible. The thickness of the bundle should not exceed 0.5 cm. Of course, we won’t be able to make it 2 meters straight away; we will gradually increase it.
Choose your drawing.
We place the grouse.
VI Stage of summarizing the lesson
Thank you for your attention, the lesson is over.
Types of Kargopol grouse
- A.A.Savina. Spring ritual cookies - “grouse”. Photo 1977
- Rye dough. D. 13.5-18.5. Village of Gar.
Recently I heard about the strange tetora (grouse) cookie. They made it before in Kargopol. I think it can be baked for Easter.
Ritual meaning of tether
Teters are fancy cookies made from rye flour. In the old days, tetera was made once a year - on the days of the spring equinox. Strings were rolled out of the dough and various patterns were twisted from them: in the form of waves, spirals, loops, lattices, images of nature, and less often they made figurines of birds and animals.
There are traditional patterns that are written about in books, and they are even given names. Our ancestors used these cookies to “call out” the arrival of spring and a fertile year. They baked a lot of grouse because they lasted for a very long time. To roll out so much dough into bundles and fold figures out of it, housewives called on their entire family and friends to help.
Teters loved to gnaw on children and young people during gatherings. The children ran around with the grouse among the guests and compared who had the prettier and tastier ones.
Later, grouse began to be used for wedding ceremonies. They were baked in large quantities on the fortieth day after the wedding. Normally, this is a hundred grouse. With them, the mother-in-law and other relatives of the bride went to visit their son-in-law. And every year, the wedding day was celebrated with the mother-in-law's grouse.
As time passed, the meaning of the rituals was lost, the teters were forgotten, and even if they baked them, it was simply for treats.
How grouse are made
In the old days, grouse were made only from rye or rye flour, the dough was kneaded in water, salt was added and the dough was rolled. (In the north, instead of rolling, they used to say skate). Sometimes flax seeds were added to the dough.
The lace made from the dough was first taken out into the cold to freeze a little, and in the morning they were put in the oven, without fear that the pattern would be broken. The baked grouse were greased with linseed oil and laid out on the table.
My little grouse To make the teters whiter, crushed boiled potatoes were added to the wheat dough. Later they began to bake grouse from white flour. Nowadays, they are made from premium wheat flour, add sour cream or yogurt, egg, condensed milk if desired, and salt. If you like sweet cookies, add sugar. But keep in mind that the pastry may fall apart during baking. And you won’t be able to store such grouse for long.
When making tethers, keep in mind that the flagella must be laid tightly, even pressed against each other, so that the cookies are stronger and the elements of the bundle do not fall out of it. You can improvise and create your own pattern. Bake the grouse in a preheated oven for ten to fifteen minutes.
Teterki are ritual cookies that are baked on the day of the spring equinox from unleavened (often rye) flour. The dough is rolled into thin rolling pins, from which a circle with a pattern inside is laid out. This is a symbol of the sun and the coming warmth. They treat guests with grouse, and also go to visit the newlyweds. The bride's family brings the grouse to the groom's family in a special basket. In some regions this tradition is still alive. Children who are treated to grouse always look through them at the spring sun, rejoicing in the warmth and light.
On the holiday of the solar equinox, when day is measured against night, and the external sun begins to shine brighter, housewives made “larks” and “grouse” from dough... At this time, housewives here bake special “grouse” cookies in the form of a circle consisting of three “circles” - contours, curled “in the direction of the sun”. In its middle they often lay out a cross - a “tall sun”, surrounded by “curls”. According to the cooks, “the real sun also has curls.” Such a radiant sun is found in the ornament of spinning wheels, and on local fabrics =
G.P. Durasov "Kargopol clay toy" (1986)
Kargopol grouse can be compared to other traditional forms of ritual cookies that existed in different regions of Russia and also had “bird” names: “larks”, “sparrows”, “bullfinches”, “waders”, “magpies”, “cockerels”.
Back in the 19th century, with the help of such cookies, spring was invoked, most often it was timed to coincide with Maslenitsa (for the Orthodox, Magpies are celebrated on March 22, and not on March 9).
On this day, newlyweds are ritually honored with grouse:
On the first day of the “forty saints”, a year after the wedding, the mother and relatives of the bride go to her son-in-law with grouse. The grouse were carried in a special basket, which was kept for this occasion. In Oshevensk this custom is still maintained.
How to cook teters?
Grouse is prepared from dough rolled into strands, as they say in Kargopolye, “skanogo” (roll, sukat - twist, twist, curl), and laid out - “curled” - within a circle in the form of waves or loops, spirals, lattices, circles , plants, figurines of birds, less often animals.
Nowadays, northerners bake butter grouse, usually from white flour. Previously, grouse were made in water, from rye or barley flour: “They will pour in some vodka, add salt, rye flour and skut.” This dough comes together easily and thinly.
Sometimes hemp or flaxseeds are added to the dough, then the seeds will be thicker, and the seeds will crunch in the finished cookies. You can also add crushed boiled potatoes to rye vyukhi (for lightening?).
The twisted cookies placed on planks are taken out into the cold and kept there until the next morning. Once frozen, it is more convenient to put it in the oven - you won’t disturb the pattern.
Well-baked grouse are greased with linseed oil and placed on the table. Here the kids admire them, and the neighbors will come to “look at the patterns.”
There are many types of grouse: “Patterned”, “In rings”, “Patterns”, “Flower”, “Pretzels”, “Swan”, “Watch”, “Kuderochki”, “Branch”, “Views”, “Eights”, “ Ladder”, “Gear”, “Koniki”, “Carriage”...
What to do with them?
Treat children, give gifts to loved ones, give to livestock, offer to the awakening elements, lift higher to the Sun, looking into the light. Tethers bring the arrival of Spring and fertility in the new year.
Rye grouse can be stored for a whole year.
Based on materials from the publication "Kargopol Grouse". Kargopol, 2002. Author-compiler Sheveleva E.
Moscow teters
(practical experience of a single Rodnoverie family)
Since we could not find rye flour in the bins, we made a desperate decision to prepare unleavened dough from wheat flour. As a result, the recipe turned out like this:
3 cups wheat flour,
3/4 cup cold water,
2 tablespoons sugar,
1/2 teaspoon salt,
2 eggs.
...The process of twisting the grouse turned out to be unexpectedly long and took four hours. It turned out that it is more convenient to roll the dough on the most chipped cutting board: the surface does not need to be perfectly smooth.
The work had a soul-lifting effect for us, and we happily sang all the familiar spring incantation songs.
...But no matter how much the rope curls, the long-awaited moment of laying out the desired pattern on a baking sheet will come. We liked to do this starting from the center of the tether. Pay special attention! The coils of the bundle should be laid tightly and even deliberately pressed against each other, otherwise individual elements will simply fall out of the finished cookies.
Practice has shown that from the 3 cups of flour suggested in the recipe, about 25 grouse with a diameter of 7-10 centimeters are obtained. Knowledgeable people say that you can make each cookie the size of the entire baking sheet. We haven’t tried it yet, but we recommend it to you.
Then everything was very quick and very simple: the grouse were baked in the oven at a temperature of 200º for 10-12 minutes.
And 10 hours later the Sun moved from the southern hemisphere to the northern, and Spring came. We greeted her with grouse, which is what we always want you to do.
People are healthy
Glory to the gods!
Goy!
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