THE SWEET RITUAL BREAD OF AUGUST
While being deeply mesmerised with bread offerings symbolism, two years ago the sweet ritual bread offerings to st. Fanourios in Greece caught my attention as it made its appearance very prominent in my life when a delicious recipe of it that arrived in my kitchen.
His name Fanourios comes from the Greek word 'Φανερωνω' which means I reveal. So followers of his path will bake the 'Fanouropita' the pie /pita in his honour asking to him to reveal something they have lost, reveal a secret hidden in the family or just reveal them love and health in the broader context.
St. Fanourios story is humbling and circles around the energy of offering and helping everyone in need and beyond. The essence of giving, the essence of care, nourishment, help and assistance. Offerings of food, offerings of love, care, attention. Offerings towards the divine and within the community. Offerings towards each other as this is all we truly have. This magical network we choose to have around us that sustains us and makes us stronger together.
‘Fanouropita’, is one of last sweet ritual breads remaining as a thread connecting us with the ritual bread offerings in Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, going even further back to Mesopatamia and Sumeria.
The ingredients of ‘Fanouropita’ have to be either 7 or 9. I have a special connection with the number 9 but I felt that I wanted 7 ingredients for my version of ‘Fanouropita’. Number 7 is a sacred number in Ancient Egypt and a symbol for completeness, spiritual awakening and inner wisdom. Number 7 is the sum of spiritual 3 and the material number 4. The fusion of the two worlds including it all in completion.
The ingredients of this ritual bread hold in their essence the deep and sacred symbolism rooting into the past and appearing across many cultures, belief systems and the magical world.
LUGHNASADH HARVEST TART
INGREDIENTS (makes a cake of approximately 26 cm ⌀)
500 g self rising flour
20 g baking powder
11 g cinnamon powder
300 g fresh orange juice (approximately from 4 - 6 oranges)
the zest from 2 oranges
200 g olive oil
170 g white sugar
EQUIPMENT
+ A large enough mixing bowl to prepare the batter
+ A bowl or a container for liquids with a minimum volume of 600 ml
+ A round baking tin or spring form of 26 cm ⌀ and some baking paper
+ A sieve and a kitchen scale
+ A zester
+ A wooden spoon or a spatula
+ A good working oven
+ your creative hands connected to the heart
PREPARATION
Properly clean and tidy up the space where you will be working. Light a beeswax or a white candle and cleanse your space energetically with some sage or frankincense. Pass your bowls and cooking utensils above the flame of the candle and the cleansing smoke while you are tuning into your heart and intentions for the creation of this cake. What are you seeking to be revealed to you?
In your mixing bowl, sieve together the self-rising flour, the baking powder and the cinnamon powder. Mix well - using a spoon or your hand and set them aside.
In the other bowl or liquids container, measure the oil.
Rinse thoroughly the 2 oranges and zest them in the oil. Then squeeze the oranges to get a 300 g weight in juice and add it to the oil and zest mixture. Stir in the sugar.
Mix well and add the liquids to the bowl with the flour and mix well to create an homogenous batter.
The batter will be a bit stiff and a little bit like a bread dough! Don’t expect the consistency of a cake batter, so if it sticks a bit more this is ok!
Throughout the process of mixing and preparing, bring your intention towards your cake. What is it that you wish for? What are you asking for? Love, Abundance, Joy, Health? A part of yourself you have lost or seeking to find within you?
Transfer the batter to your baking tin, you have previously lined with some baking paper and smeared with some oil.
Bake the ‘pita’ in preheated oven at 170°C for 50 mins or until you poke its centre with a skewer and it comes out clean.
When ready, remove the ‘pita’ from the oven and let her rest on a cooling rack.
Slice the ‘Fanouropita’ and offer the pieces as offerings to anything sacred you are connected to and share it with the community around you.
Blessed be and much love,
Alexandra
