Dyvuvannia – is the unique decoration of a festival wedding table, the emerging of which we owe to the ancient Ukrainian traditions. This wedding bakery is considered to be a very symbolic rite which is undeservingly pushed out by the modern fashion craze.
Dyvuvannia doesn’t mean surprise as many of us may think but it means girlhood. From olden times the long tresses were a symbol of girlhood. That’s why dyvuvannia reminds the long hair of girls which is decorated with flowers and ribbons.
Ingredients:
- 200 ml milk
- 7 g fresh yeast
- 200 g flour
- 8 g salt
- 60 g sugar
- 60 g dairy butter
- 1 eggs
- 1 yolk
Cooking
Predough
Dissolve fresh yeast in a slightly warm milk. Add 100 g of sifted flour and mix the ingredients. Place the mass in a warm, dark place for 2-3 hours.
Then add salt, sugar, room temperature dairy butter, the remaining flour and egg. Mix everything. Knead dough. Add flour if necessary (you may need extra 100 g of flour). The dough should not stick to fingers. Form the dough in the shape of a ball, dust it and put in a dark warm place for 2-3 hours. Punch the dough from time to time during this period.
Then form “dyvni” from the dough. Roll out the dough. Cut it into strips (3 cm breadth each). Make cuts approximately at intervals of one centimeter. Twist the stripes around dry reeds or wooden skewers or branches of cherry trees. Grease the “dyvni” with yolk and bake them in an oven.
Then place the “dyvni” on a wooden kitchen board. Grease them with sugared water of dairy butter, cover with a napkin and leave for a night.
Then the “dyvni” are united in one tree and decorated with candies, ribbons and knot of ribbons. At the end of the wedding feast dyvuvannia was given away to all lone women. Such rite symbolizes that girlhood ends and a bride becomes a married woman.
Nowadays the tradition has slightly changed; fiancé and fiancée hand around dyvuvannia to all of the guests. However same as before to getting this wedding treat most of all tend lone women. It is widely thought that if a girl puts a piece of dyvuvannia under her pillow then her betrothed will appear in dreams. Also if a girl gives a treat her honey, she can philter him.
Enjoy your meal!
Do you have a favorite Ukrainian recipe for wedding bakery? If so, please let us know in the comments below or write us an e-mail.
