MULTICULTURAL MANNERS : Russian Hospitality Out of This World
A historic moment occurred last week when, 250 miles above Earth, American astronaut Norman E. Thagard stepped from a Soyuz space capsule into the Russian space station Mir. The cosmonauts immediately offered him bread and salt.
What did it mean?
According to Russian traditions of hospitality, when visitors enter a home, the hosts bow and present them with their best platter covered by a white cloth. The platter holds a whole round loaf of bread, preferably black, and a mound of salt. Guests break off a piece of bread, dip it into the salt and eat it while hosts say, Dobro pozhalovat, meaning “welcome.” In breaking bread, knives (potential weapons) are set aside. The roundness of the bread symbolizes a continuous relationship.
The cosmonauts had to specially wrap the bread and salt so there wouldn’t be floating particles. Although the form of the custom had changed, the meaning remained: No matter how little a household--or spaceship--might have, hosts are willing to share their food.
Americans of European ancestry often bring bread and salt when visiting a new home. Bread symbolizes the wish for a full larder. Salt is associated with money, purity and protection from evil.
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