«Αλεύρι για ζύμωμα» Πηγή: Στάλω Λαζάρου (Λετύμπου, 2016)
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.
Name - Origin
Savoury pitta made with flour, water and salt.
It was a savoury pitta, made with flour, sifted and kneaded with the left hand, baked on a brick. After the evening meal they would eat a piece of bread and put the rest of it on their bedside to dream of their future husband (Papacharalambous 1965, 180-181).
The most common means they use to foretell their future, is the pitta they make on Clean Monday, which reveals the future husband. The young girls eat no food on Clean Monday and "sift the flour axinostrafa", i.e. with their left hand. They also knead it with their left hand and make a pitta, which they bake on the charcoal (Papacharalambous 1948, 27-28).
On Clean Monday the housewives knead the almirokouloura; they sift the flour with their left hand and bake the pitta on a grill, using always the left hand. The opposite of what is usual (use of the left hand) is related to magic, that is, something is done the other way round in order to achieve something else (Yangoullis 2008, 108).
Functional and symbolic role
On Clean Monday, the young women tried to predict their future husband using the "armyrokoulloura". After church service, on Clean Monday, they would eat a piece of bread and put the rest of it on their bedside to dream of their future husband (Papacharalambous 1965, 180-181; Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou 2001).
At sunset, after returning from church service, they cut a piece of the pitta and eat it. They put the rest of it under their pillow and sleep. It is believed that in the evening they will see their future husband in their dream or the road leading to the future husband's village. If they do not see a road in their dream, it means that their husband will be from their own village. If the same is repeated three times, then they believe that they will also get a handsome husband (Papacharalambous 1948, 27-28).
In the old days, on Clean Monday, the pitta was also made (also called armyrokoulloura). The purpose of the pitta was to predict the future of the single girls and boys in a miraculous way. The girl who would bake the pie had to follow the following procedure. In the afternoon, she would knead flour with her left hand and knead again with her left hand. After kneading the pitta, she would bake it on the satz̆in (cooking utensil, a shallow clay dish with two handles or a metal plate on which pittas were baked) with her left hand. Then she would eat three bites and give also to both the dog and the cat. She would put the rest under her pillow. At night in her sleep she would dream of the person she would marry and on which neighbourhood she would eventually live (Yangoullis 2008, 68).
Additional information and bibliography
Yangoullis K.G. (2008), Κυπριακά ήθη και έθιμα του κύκλου της ανθρώπινης ζωής, του εορτολογίου και των μηνών με στοιχεία γεωργικής λαογραφίας (Cypriot customs and traditions of the human life cycle, of the calendar and of the months with elements of agricultural folklore), Βιβλιοθήκη Κυπρίων Λαϊκών Ποιητών αρ. 67 (Library of Cypriot Folk Poets no. 67), Theopress Ltd, Nicosia.
Papacharalambous G. Ch. (1948), «Πρόκλησις μαντικών ονείρων και λατρεία του Αδώνιδος εν Κύπρω», Cypriot Studies III (1946), 25-35.
Papacharalambous G. Ch. (1965), Κυπριακά ήθη και έθιμα, Cypriot Studies III, 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
Ivi Michael, Eleni Christou / Petroula Hadjittofi, Argyro Xenophontos
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