1/19/2014
1/18/2014
AGION OROS ( MOUNTAIN ATHOS )
AGION OROS
Athos is situated in the peninsula of Halkidiki in the North of Greece.
Athos in Greek Mythology in is the name of one of the Gigantes ( giants ) that challenged the Greek Gods during the Gigantomahia. Athos threw a massive rock against Poseidon which fell in the Aegean Sea and that's how the Mount Athos was created. According to another version of the story, Poseidon used the mountain to bury the defeated giant. Athos is mentioned by Homer, Herodotus and Strabo.
According to Athonite tradition the mountain of Athos was blesed by Virgin Mary who was overwhelmed by the wonderful and wild beauty of the mountain.It is certain that monks have been there since the fourth century, and possibly since the third. During Constantine's reign both Christians and pagans were living there. During the reign of Julian the Apostate, the churches of Mount Athos were destroyed, and Christians hid in the woods and inaccessible places.
During the Ottoman Empire the Sultan recognised the monasteries' properties.The 15th and 16th centuries led to relative prosperity for the monasteries but the Ottomans taxed them heavily. As a result, Athos had economical crisis in 17th century.
In 1749, with the establishment of the Athonite Academy near Vatopedi monastery, the local monastic community took a leading role in the Modern Greek Enlightment movement of the 18th century. This institution offered high level education.
According to the constitution of Greece,Mount Athos (the "Monastic State of Agion Oros") is, "following ancient privilege", a "a self-governed part of the Greek State, whose sovereignty thereon shall remain intact", and consists of 20 main monasteries which constitute the Holy Community, and the capital town and administrative centre, Karyes, also home to a governor as the representative of the Greek state.
There is a prohibition on entry for women, called avaton (Άβατον) in Greek, to make living in celibacy easier for those who have chosen to do so. Monks feel that the presence of women.
The Athonite monasteries possess huge deposits of invaluable medieval art treasures, including icons, liturgical vestments and objects. Today the 20 monasteries of Mount Athos are the dominant holy institutions for both spiritual and administrative purposes, consolidated by the Constitutional Chart of the Holy Mountain. Since the beginning of Mount Athos' history, monks were living in lodgings of different size and construction quality. All these monastic lodging types exist until today, named as seats , cells, huts , retreats, hermitages, caves, sketae.
1. Where is Agion Oros situated?
In the .................... of Greece.
a. North
b. South
c. West
d. East
2. Monks have been in Agion Oros since the .................. century.
a. 3rd or 4th
b. 8th
c. 10th
d. 15th
3. There are ......... monasteries in Agion Oros.
a. 2
b. 10
c. 20
d. 30
4. ...................... are not allowed to visit Agion Oros.
a. women
b. kings
c. politicians
d. teachers
1/13/2014
CUCCIA
Cuccìa is a traditional, Sicilian dish containing boiled wheat, berries and sugar, which is eaten on December 13, the feast day of Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Siracusa (Syracuse). The dish is consumed in Sicily and in isolated areas of Southern Italy as well as their communities abroad. It commemorates the relief from a
food shortage in Sicily and the unexpected arrival of a cargo of wheat, which tradition says arrived in the port of Palermo on Saint Lucy's Feast in 1646. According to custom, bread should not be eaten on
December 13; cuccìa should be the only source of wheat,
and the primary source of nourishment for the day.
Cuccìa is prepared differently from
family to family and in different regions. Some make cuccìa as soup, others as
a pudding. Most traditional preparations add sugar, butter, chocolate and milk Cuccìa may owe its origins to Sicily's Byzantine period (535-965 AD) since a variant, koliva, is prepared in the Balkans. The most
likely candidate for its origin may be its most similar counterpart, Kutia (pronounced kùtcha), an identical dish served throughout Ukraina, Russia, and Poland. As in Sicily, this dish is eaten only during the Christmas season, and
its basic preparation (boiled wheat and honey instead of sugar) remains
strikingly similar.
1. Cuccia
is consumed
a) Only
in Sicily
b) Only
in Syracuse
c) In Sicily
and Sardinia
d) In Sicily and its communities abroad
2. Cuccia
was created to remember
a) An earthquake
b) A seaquake
c) A food shortage
d) A water
shortage
3. Cuccia
has
a) Balkan origin
b) Arabian
origin
c) Norman
origin
d) Spanish
origin
ZEPPOLE DI SAN GIUSEPPE
Zeppole
di San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph’s Zeppole) are very popular in the Vesuvius area
and, in the past they were prepared in the streets by “frittellari” (people who
prepared only fried food in the streets). They have different origins, they can come from the nuns of San
Gregorio Armeno (a Naples area that is for
its Christmas cribs) or other monasteries in Naples. The first written recipe
dates back to 1837 and we can find it in the Neapolitan cooking book by
Ippolito Cavalcanti
They
are generally prepared in the period of Saint Joseph (19th March)
and now they are also the typical sweet for Dad’s Day (19th march).
The main ingredients are: flour, sugar, eggs, butter and olive oil, egg and
milk cream, icing sugar and black cherries in syrup to decorate. According to
Neapolitan tradition there are fried and baked zeppole. They have a circular
shape with a central hole of about 2 cm and they are covered with egg and milk
cream and black cherries in syrup. Nowadays you can find zeppole full of cream
but they are not traditional.
1. Zeppole come from
a) Rome area
b) Milan area
c) Florence area
d) Vesuvius area
2.
They are prepared for
a)
Saint John’s Day
b) Saint Joseph’s Day
c)
Saint Elizabeth’s Day
d)
Saint Anthony’s Day
3.
They are covered with
a)
Only cream
b)
Only black cherries
in syrup
c) Cream and black cherries in syrup
d)
Peaches in syrup
MARTORANA FRUIT
Martorana
fruit is a typical Sicilian sweet (in particular from Palermo and Trapani). It
is a worldwide famous sweet because its preparation and packaging want, about
the forms and appearance, the perfect imitation o reproduction of fruit and
sometimes vegetables or fish. Inside it is like marzipan but more sweeter and
tasty. The base of its recipe is exclusively made of almond flour and sugar. Traditionally
it was prepared for All Souls’ Day celebrations but nowadays you always can find it.Its name comes from
Saint Mary of the Admiral Church or “Martorana Church”, built in 1143 by George
of Antioquia ,admiral of the Norman King Roger II. It was near a Benedictine
monastery founded by the noblewoman Eloisa Martorana in 1194, who its name
derived from. Martorana fruit was also prepared in a monastery in the historical
centre of Palermo where nuns prepared and solt it until the middle of 1900.
According
to a famous tradition. Martorana fruit
was born because the nuns of Martorana monastery, to substitute the
picked fruit of their garden created new fruit with almonds and sugar to adorn
the spoiled garden for the visit of the Pope.
Martorana fruit is an imitation of:
a) Cities and houses
b) Churches and horses
c) Fruit, fish and vegetables
d) Marzipan and almonds
Martorana
fuit was made for
a)
All Saints’ Day
b) Christmas’ Eve
c)
Easter
d)
All Souls’ Day
Nuns created Martorana fruit because
a) They want to offer it to Madonna
b) They want to embellish their garden
c) They want to earn money
d) They want to embellish their church
CARTELLATE
Cartellate
are sweets from Puglia region but they are produced also in neighbouring
regions. They are generally prepared at Christmas and for the Christian
tradition they could be the aureole or
swaddling-bends that wrapped Jesus in his cradle but also the crown of
thorns of the Crucifixion.
Some
students say that the word cartellata comes from the Greek word κάρταλλος (kartallos)= basket with a pointed shape. They were
represented, for the first time, by a rocky picture of the 6th
century B.C. found near Bari city. It represents a similar sweet called
“lanxsatura”. A dish full of them was
offered to Gods according to Cerere worship that probably had Greek origins. At
the beginning of the Christian era,
these ritual pancakes were transformed in gifts to Madonna prepared to evoke
her help for a good harvesting. Cartellate are also mentioned as” Nuvole et
procassa” (Clouds) in a 1517 report written in occasion of the wedding lunch of
“Bona Sforza” daughter of Isabel of Aragon and in a document of 1762 written by Benedictine nuns
in Bari.
1.According
to Christmas tradition “Cartellate” are
a) Jesus’ meal
b) Madonna’s meal
c) Jesus’ halo
d) Madonna’s crown
2.Cartellate
were represented
a) In a Leonardo’s picture
b) In a Michelangelo’s picture
c) In a wooden picture
d) In a rocky picture
3.Cartellate
were mentioned
a)
For the marriage of
Isabel of Aragon
b)
For the marriage of a
Benedictine nun
c) For the marriage of Isabel of Aragon’s daughter
d)
For the marriage of
Isabel of Aragon’s son
CASTAGNOLE
Castagnole
are a Carnival sweets that you can find everywhere in Italy but their origins
are from the north part of the country. After mixing
the most important ingredients: eggs, sugar, flour and butter little
balls are created. Then they are fried in hot oil. Castagnole are served
covered with icing sugar or sometimes with honey. We have two kinds of them:
one without stuffing and one with stuffing of
vanilla cream or milk cream. Another variation is to bake them.
Castagnole
recipe is surely very old: a 1700 manuscript was found in Viterbo Record Office
where four Castagnole recipes are described and one of it is about baking them.
Generally people think that to bake them (to make sweets softer) is a recent use but this manuscript reveals
that this is not true.
1.Castagnole
have their origins in
a) Sicily
b) The north of Italy
c) Everywhere in Italy
d) Sardinia
2. Castagnole can
a) Be covered with chocolate
b) Be covered with honey
c) Be full of chocolate cream
d) Be full of ice cream
3. Castagnole old
recipes were found
a) In an old monastery
b) In a Church Office
c) In a Record Office
d) In a Sales Office
PARROZZO
Parrozzo or pan rozzo (rough bread) is a typical cake from the region of Abruzzo in Italt. It is commonly related to Christams gastronomic tradition.
Parrozzo was invented in 1920 by Luigi D'Amico, owner
of a bakery in Pescara. D'Amico wanted to create a cake that resembled the
traditional rough bread made by the local farmers with corn flour. Parrozzo has the same hemispherical shape,
contains eggs to mimic the yellow of the corn, and is covered with a layer of
dark chocolate that reminds the burnt surface of the bread.
The first person to try parrozzo was the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio that celebrated the new creation with a madrigal "La Canzone del
Parrozzo" (the song of parrozzo), written in abruzzese dialect:
The dough of parrozzo is made of semolina (alternatively yellow
or white flour with starch), sugar, eggs, ground, almonds, bitter almond essence and orange or lemon skin. All
these ingredients are mixed and baked in an aluminium hemispherical tray. When
the cake has cooled down, it is removed from the tray and covered with molten
dark chocolate.
1. Parrozzo was
invented in
a) Rome
b) Pescara
c) Naples
d) Milan
2.The first to try
Parrozzo was
a) Napoleon
b) Benito Mussolini
c) The poet Dante
Alighieri
d) The poet
Gabriele D’Annunzio
3. Parrozzo is
covered with
a)
White chocolate
b)
Gianduia chocolate
c) Dark
chocolate
d)
Dark chocolate with almonds
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