Wedding pretzels

Two days before the wedding that used to take place only on Sundays (nowadays weddings take place other days as well) people prepared the well known wedding pretzels: “nifopsomo” (the bride’s bread), bread rolls for the best men, for “Kaniskia” (presents from the relatives of the couple) and for “Lagina” that is the jag with the wine for the guests. All the women of the village gathered to help with the kneading. Once they made the dough they kneaded it and then shaped it in large or small rolls. Other women sat in small tables with several tools (sticks, bobbins, scissors, nippers, combs) in order to make the so called “ksomplia” (ornaments) with which they would decorate the rolls. This was a procedure where they used all their imagination and often competed with each other as to whom would make the best ornament. “Ksomplia” mainly consist of birds, roses, lizards, chaplets, grapes with leaves and the so called “deses” (bindings).

Source:(printed material: Anogeia, i gi tou mythou kai tou oneirou (Anogeia, the land of myth and dreams), p. 101)

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Tags: sweet local flavours, pretzels, cretan wedding