«Αλάτι» Πηγή: https://pixabay.com/en/salt-nature-eat-food-spice-91539
Name - Origin
Αλάτι
ETYM αλάτι < later αλάτιον, dim. of ἅλας (Babiniotis 2005, entry αλάτι,το, 115)
ομνοσκιά (Yialousa) = αλάτι (salt) and ομνισκιά = αλατιέρα- salt cellar (Panaretos 1963, 169)
In the study of Efrosini Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou entitled "The salt lakes and salt in Cyprus during modern times. The role of salt in traditional life" (2001) the collection of salt in the salt lakes of Cyprus is described:
'Salt collection has continued to be carried out in the same primitive way until the present day, since the mud at the bottom of the salt lake, underneath the salt, does not allow the use of machinery. They would divide the surface of the salt lake into large rectangular sections and, in order to facilitate the movement of people and animals, the workers would make paths with sacks and pieces of salt. They would walk in the mud wearing only socks to protect their feet. For two weeks they would collect the salt by forming small piles on either side of the paths. Afterwards, they would shovel it into lightweight double openended baskets, the ‘συρίζες’ (sirízes), which would be placed on the shackled backs of donkeys and carried out of the lake, and then forming a pile of them, each group of workers would make its own pile (…) The salt which was in piles would be loaded by tractors onto trailers and, after being weighed on the scales, it would be unloaded onto the ‘αλώvι’ (aloni) where they would form a pyramid-shaped pile. It would stay there for about a year (until sold).
Functional and symbolic role
According to Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou: 'Salt had multiple uses in the traditional household, since most types of food were not readily available on the market but had to be prepared at home and in large quantities for multiple use. Salt was the main preservative ingredient, along with wine/vinegar, instead of the modern means that did not exist at that time. Thus, the most common daily food of the rural population, the olive, could be preserved in brine (water and enough salt to keep an egg afloat). Halloumi and flaouna cheese are also preserved thanks to salt. A pig would be slaughtered usually during Christmas and its various parts would provide food throughout the year; they would make lountza, hiromeri, loukanika and other products for which salt was as much essential as wine was. They would also sun-dry salted pieces of goat meat, making 'tsamarella' or 'apohtin' (pieces of lean meat). These delicacies are still being prepared in the same way until today.
In the traditional society of Cyprus, salt is associated with a number of customs, symbolic acts and superstitions:
- It is not considered good to borrow or lend salt, oil or water, especially during the night (Papacharalambous 1940, 24).
- When a visitor is unwelcome, salt is thrown under his chair to make him leave.
- Salt must not be stepped on or over, for then it will split the couple of the household.
- When boiling milk to make halloumi, a bit of salt is thrown into the fire to ensure the success of halloumi (RizopoulouIgoumenidou, 2001).
"In the past, on Clean Monday, young girls used to prepare the "armyrokoulloura" (salty buns) by sifting the flour and kneading it with their left hand. They would bake them on 'satzin', a hemispherical metal utensil. They would eat one piece and put the other piece under the pillow to dream of their future husband. A similar custom is also found in Greece" (RizopoulouIgoumenidou, 2001).
Salt had an important place in birth customs:
- The gifts that were brought to an infant were symbolic. In Lapithos, after the congregation, the baby was taken to the house of the grandmother or, if there was none, to the house of the godmother of the mother and was always given something white such as salt, sugar or cotton wool to live for many years, until his/her hair would turn white that is. In Rizokarpaso, salt was hung in a pouch on the infant's cradle to ward off evil.
- Salt is directly connected with the baby's mind, as evidenced in the custom of ‘salting’ a baby immediately after birth. Moreover, while giving the newborn baby salt as a gift, they would wish for him/her to become a wise person, serious and mature quickly. They would later put the salt in the baby's food.
- After cutting the umbilical cord, the midwife would give the baby salt, wine, oil or sugar. The salt and wine would either be put in the water used to bathe the newborn, or the baby would be sprinkled and left for a few hours or even days before being bathed a second time. The main reason was disinfection and avoiding infection. At the same time, they believed that salt would make the baby a strong enough person to withstand labour, it would ‘tighten’ his/her mind and make him/her smart and wise. At the same time, by ‘salting’ the baby, they wanted to eliminate the unpleasant odour of perspiration or body odour in general.
- They had to acquire the salt without weighing it and without paying for it, sometimes even without speaking. In some villages, they had to pound it in a mortar and pestle, and not in a hand mill, otherwise the baby would become a bad person. The pounding had to be done with a stone that weighed exactly one oka (=400 drams) and no less than 400 drams, so that the baby's mind would be right (full).
- It was believed that the baby would resemble (in character) the person who would pound the salt or put the baby salt or bathe the baby. Three clean women would put salt three times with their three fingers and pour wine while making a wish for the baby. The midwife was usually the one to bathe the baby, using water which had been boiled with salt. After the first bathing, in some villages, they would apply salt to the whole body of the baby, even inside the mouth and eyes, leave it for a few hours or days and bathe the baby again with water.
- After having delivered, the new mother would take a bath and then the midwife would massage her with a mixture of salt, cumin and wine. Before using the salt, it would have to be taken outside at night repeatedly for the stars ‘to see and give it magical-healing properties’.
- One of the gifts that would be placed in the basket-gift to the new mother was salt, since it was believed that it would protect her from evil spirits. Salt was also a main part of the midwife's reward. The Turkish Cypriots in particular, believed that salt was necessary to make the midwife happy (in order to find out about the use of salt in the above birth customs, see. Protopapa 2009, 97-112, 233-234, 310, 319, 321, 329, 409).
- In Tillyria, when the pregnant woman would deliver, the first thing the midwife would do, would be to cut the baby's umbilical cord with a pair of scissors. Then, they would put salt on the baby’s entire body and wrap it in clothes. They believed that the baby would lack strength and vitality if not ‘sprinkled' with salt. The expression "you are completely unsalted," is common and used for someone who cannot do a task, is weak or incapable (because he has not been salted well) (Exadaktylos 1982, 163-164).
- In the Maronite community, the midwife and the attending women (Maronites) would add salt into the water before bathing the newborn (Fragiskou 1989, 240).
- "When the baby was born, the midwife would ‘rub’ it with salt and wrap it in cloths to keep the salt in", i.e. bathe the baby to clean it and put myrtle, then dress it and put it in the cradle. The women (relatives, neighbours and friends) who were present and discreetly watching, would urge the midwife to ‘rub’ the baby with lots of salt so as to become tight (strong). The salt had to necessarily be coarse and pounded into a mortar and pestle (not a handmill), so that the newborn's mind would not spin like a handmill, i.e. not to become unstable or light-headed.” (Yangoullis 2008, 10).
Additional information and bibliography
In his text, Dioskourides speaks of the dense sea salt in the salt lakes of Cyprus. Pliny also speaks of the good quality of Cypriot salt: 'Marinorum maxime laudator cyprius a Salamine...'. In addition to the salt of Salamina, the same author also speaks of the salt of Kition: "Magis tamen extenast is quem Citicum appelavimus ....". Other younger travellers who passed through Cyprus also speak of the salt of Salamina (Salamis), such as Martin von Baumgarten: "There is a lake near here (in Salamina) which produces wonderful salt... which is exported in large quantities to Syria, Greece, Italy and other countries..." The same salt is spoken of by Beauvau, Le Sage and others. Le Sage even etymologises the foreign name of Salamina -Sallinefrom the very sal (salt) that was coming out of it. Salt was used extensively in folk medicine of Cyprus, especially for skin diseases and against poisonous bites/stings (Chrysanthis 1943, 21-22).
During the Middle Ages and especially during the Venetian period (1489-1571), Cypriot salt was collected in very large quantities and was one of the main exporting products. It was a controlled and consumed commodity, not only a basic component of the Cypriot diet but it was also used as a preservative, in the preparation of animal feed and in agriculture. That is why it was a state monopoly. The Venetian Democracy needed large quantities of salt to meet its needs and to exploit the potential for export, especially in the regions of the Ottoman Empire. This is why it exploited Cypriot salt, giving it an importance equal to that of sugar and wheat (RizopoulouIgoumenidou, 2001).
Seigneur de Villamont, who visited Cyprus on his way to the Holy Land in 1589, reports that the captain of their ship bought some of the, white as alabaster, salt from the Larnaca salt lake to salt 18 or 20 oxen and cows that he had bought as provisions for the voyage (Cobham 1908, 175).
"[...] Salt's properties of preserving, cleansing, melting, actively and passively disinfecting, etc. were appreciated by folk medicine but still gave salt the power to penetrate the realm of magic and to be surrounded by various superstitions. Salt is included as an ingredient in many remedies' (RizopoulouIgoumenidou, 2001).
Yangoullis K.G. (2008), Κυπριακά ήθη και έθιμα του κύκλου της ανθρώπινης ζωής, του εορτολογίου και των μηνών με στοιχεία γεωργικής λαογραφίας (Βιβλιοθήκη Κυπρίων Λαϊκών Ποιητών αρ. 67), Theopress Ltd., Nicosia.
Exadaktylos C. (1982), «Λαογραφικά Τιλλιρίας», Cypriot Studies MΣt΄, 163-170.
Babiniotis G. (2005), Dictionary of Modern Greek Language. With comments on the correct use of words. Interpretative, Orthographic, Etymological, Synonyms-Ansonyms, Main Names, Scientific Terms, Acronyms, Centre for Lexicology, Athens, Greece.
Panaretos A. (1963), «Κυπριακαί λέξεις», Cypriot Studies KZ’.
Papacharalambous G. Ch. (1940), «Έθιμα, προλήψεις και δεισιδαιμονίαι των Κυπρίων ΙΙ», Cypriot Studies III (1939), 13-30.
Protopapa K. (2009), Τα έθιμα της γέννησης στην παραδοσιακή κοινωνία της Κύπρου, Publications of the Centre for Scientific Research, XLIX, Nicosia.
Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou E. (2001), «Οι αλυκές και τo αλάτι της Κύπρoυ κατά τoυς Νεότερoυς Χρόvoυς. Ο ρόλoς τoυ αλατιoύ στηv παραδoσιακή ζωή», Το ελληνικό αλάτι (H´Three-day Workshop, Mytilini, 6-8 November 1998), Ministry of AegeanCultural Technological Foundation ΕΤΒΑ, Athens, 303-314.
Fragiskou A. (1989), Ιστορία και λαογραφία Μαρωνιτών Κύπρου, Nicosia.
Chrysanthis K. (1943), '«Κυπριακές φαρμακευτικές ύλες στο "Περί ύλης ιατρικής" του Διοσκουρίδη», Cypriot Studies ΣT΄ (1942), 19-44.
Eleni Christou, Dimitra Zannetou, Ivi Michael / Stalo Lazarou, Petroula Hadjittofi, Argyro Xenophontos
Επισυναπτόμενα Αρχεία
Η αλυκή της Λάρνακας, αποξηραμένη κατά το καλοκαίρι. Πηγή: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyprus_-_Larnaka_Hala_Sultan_Tekke_and_salt_lake.JPG
Foods
Antakeos - sturgeon
Ancient name for a fish, which identifies with sturgeon. According to Sopatros of Paphos, antakaios was consumed salted.
Foods
Armyrokoulloura
Savoury pitta of Clean Monday, made of flour, salt and water. In the evening, a piece of the pitta was placed under the headrest of the young girls who were hoping to dream of their future husbands.
Foods
Artymata
Cypriots would usually use the word "artymata" to indicate only pepper and no other spice.
Traditional Recipes
Black Olives
“…salt them and leave them in the basin. Stir them until the salt dissolves and they are ready” (Testimony of Panagiota Charalambous, Kyperounda).
Foods
Elies koumniastes - Black olives koumniastes
Elies koumniastes were prepared using ripe black olives. Cypriot women would wash the olives, they would put them in brine for 3-4 days and would store them in a koumna (clay container) with salt.
Foods
Elies tsakkistes - Tsakkistes olives
Green olives which, during their preparation, were crushed with a stone.
Foods
Loukaniko - Cyprus sausage
Pork sausages produced from coarsely minced pork, soaked red wine, to which various spices are added and smoked.
Foods
Pithkia - rennet
It was turned into a a special coagulating powder used in the production of halloumi and other Cyprus cheese.
Foods
Preparation of traditional charcuterie
The main types of traditional Cypriot charcuterie are loukanika (sausages), lountza, hiromeri, zalatina, posyrti (bacon), tsamarella and apohti.
Foods
Terminthos (Tremithkia, troumithia) - terebinth
The tender shoots of the tremithia tree were consumed after preserving them in vinegar or brine.
Traditional Recipes
Tsakkistes green olives
“Crack the olives. Place them in a container with water. Add the water, salt and lemon juice and mix. Put the olives in bottles and fill them with the marinade” (Georgia Neocleous, Kyperounda).