That has not happened with our people, and pancakes he will oven. And not it is connected neither with the religious world-view, or with the status of a person, or with his material standing. For example, pancakes on Shrove - it is like to work on Monday: headache, you want to sleep, don't know why - but the work is going. And a glimmer of this tradition in the soul of the Russian already not the first hundred years, all overgrown lots of folklore and passions.
And that's what the glory of our compatriot, so it is the fact that he knows and loves beautiful and delicious to eat! I think as time and combines both of these virtues in themselves, being not only the way of food, but also a ritual, like magic. And for this reason to блину particular, is not a simple relationship. Often this product cookery is used in the cultural life of the simple Russian man as a character, playing the role of the main attribute in a large number of ceremonies. Almost all events in the religious life of the North-Eastern Slavs, relating to the cult of death, connected with pancakes. They accompanied the dead in the last way, they are trying to feed the souls of the dead, they are sometimes considered the «ticket» in the other world. The majority of the Slavs, this function is performed other bakery products - кныши, new rolls кутья, Kalita, but it is the Russians dug pancakes. A list of all the ceremonies and all cases of their application practically is not possible. They are the gift of the personages, which without warning came in the house. But the main cult «pancake day» became the holiday of Maslenitsa, when retreats winter, and the days become longer with each passing hour. Welcoming the arrival of the warm sun, people identified pancake with the image of the sun, but once people bow down to him. And the shape and color of the pancake is associated with the sun disc. A week goes on holiday pancakes, and in particular in the second half of this week. Then the people bake a lot of that food and feed exclusively on them. Again, this may be due to the belief and calendar cycle - the increase in the length of the second part of the year.
A huge variety of recipes for cooking, forms and types of the Blinov says about the great importance of this dish for the people. And an absolutely normal phenomenon is what every Russian mistresses cooking pancakes on his own, known only by her and the women from her family recipe. Each of them makes its flavor, its innovation in the formula of dishes, with a piquancy and originality.
And the process of cooking pancakes is an art, going beyond the scope of cooking. Here it is necessary to feel subtly all the laws and physics, and chemistry, and geometry. The procedure of the kneading of the dough, heat the pan, fill dough on a red-hot iron, determination of the thickness and shape of a pancake - all this requires great skill, based on their own experience and the experience of the previous generations.
The diversity of the material used for the preparation of the dishes, simply defies the imagination. As the basis used all sorts of flour: wheat, barley, oats or corn. As an additive could be any fruit, both fresh and candied, honey, dried fruits and so on. Bake pancakes and with turnips, and with the Swede, and the garlic, and with the potatoes.
In any case, delicious pancakes can be only pancakes.