Ružice od jabuka

Cvijeće je jedno od primarnih simbola Beltanea kao sabata usred proljeća. Oltar i krug se obično krase cvijećem, pa zašto ne i kuhinju malo ukrasiti njime?

Potrebno je:

• 2 pakiranja (cca. 550 g) svježeg lisnatog tijesta (odmrznutog, po mogućnosti već u obliku tankog lista)
• 6 Idared jabuka (slatko-kisele)
• 1 limun
• 4 jušne žlice šećera
• 1 jušna žlica cimeta
• 1 jaje
• malo brašna

Priprema:

1. Zagrijte pećnicu na 200°C.
2. Odstranite srž jabuka (dakle peteljku i sjemenke) nožem, ili posebnom spravicom koja služi ovome. 
3. Izrežite jabuke na pola po dužini (odakle je bila peteljka pa do dna) i režite polovice na tanke ploške. 
4. Zavrijte vodu i, kad je uzavrila, iscijedite u nju limun i ubacite jabuke. Poklopite i ostavite da se jabuke namakaju nekoliko minuta.
5. Izvadite jabuke kad primijetite da su omekšale i ostavite ih da se cijede na papirnatim ubrusima.
6. Pobrašnite radnu podlogu i izvadite na nju lisnato tijesto (ako već nije tanko razvaljano, razvaljajte ga). Izrežite tijesto (po širini) na trake širine cca. 4 cm.
7. Razmutite jaje i izmiješajte u jednoj posudici šećer i cimet.
8. Svaku traku premažite jajem i pospite šećerom i cimetom.
9. Slažite jabuke na trake tijesta tako da gornje polovice ploški (s korom) vire van tijesta i da se rubovi ploški poklapaju.
10. Ruže formirajte na sljedeći način:
1. Preklopite donju polovicu svake trake preko jabuka (i dalje ca. polovica jabuke treba viriti van tijesta).
2. Motajte tijesto u smotuljak s jednog kraja na drugi.
3. "Uštipnite" kraj lisnate trake i bilo koji drugi komad lisnatog tijesta kako bi se spojili.
11. Posložite ružice na lim za pečenje (kojeg ste prethodno prekrili papirom za pečenje), ili u kalup za muffine (kojeg ste prethodno nauljili i pobrašnili).
12. Pospite ružice mješavinom šećera i cimeta.
13. Ostavite ružice u frižideru 15 minuta da se sve slegne.
14. Pecite na 200°C 15-20 minuta.

Apple Roses

Flowers are one of the primary symbols of Beltane as a Sabbat that marks the midpoint of spring. The altar and sacred circle are usually decorated with flowers, so why not decorate your kitchen with them too?

You Will Need:

• 2 packs (ca. 550 g) fresh puff pastry dough (unfrozen and preferably already in the form of thin sheets)
• 6 Idared apples (so tart apples basically)
• 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• some flour

How To Prepare:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Remove the apple cores (so the stem and the seeds) using a knife, or a special tool called an apple corer.
3. Cut the apples lengthwise (so from the stem downwards) and then cut these halves into thin slices.
4. Boil a pot of water and, once it has come to a boil, squeeze in the lemon and throw in the apples. Cover the pot and let the apples soak for a few minutes.
5. Take out the apples when you notice they have become soft and flexible (they shouldn't be mushy). Leave them out to dry on some paper towels.
6. Flour your working surface and place your puff pastry dough on it (if you didn't buy it in the form of thin sheets, then roll our the dough yourself). Cut the dough crosswise into strips about 4 cm wide.
7. Whisk the egg slightly and, in a separate bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar.
8. Daub each strip of dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
9. Place the apple slices on the strips so that the upper halves of the slices (the ones with the skin still on) stick out from the dough and so that the apple slices slightly overlap.
10. Make the roses in these three simple steps:
1. Fold the lower halves of the dough strips over the apples (about a half of the apple slices should still be sticking out from the dough).
2. Roll the pastry dough into a...well...roll.
3. Pinch the ending of the pastry dough with any other part of the dough to connect them.
11.  Place the roses on a baking pan (which your previously covered with baking paper) or in a muffin tin (which you previously greased up and floured slightly).
12. Sprinkle the roses with cinnamon and sugar.
13. Leave them in the refrigerator to settle about 15 minutes.
14. Bake at 200°C approximately 15-20 minutes.

Škartoci od jabuka

Ovi maleni zalogaji (koje sam od milja nazvala "škartoci" tj. papirnate vrećice kako se kaže u Dalmaciji) od jabuka su kombinacija mnoštva simbola plodnosti i tradicionalnih Beltaneskih namirnica - jabuka, svježeg sira, badema, brusnica i meda. Pomalo ih je zeznuto raditi, ali je konačni proizvod estetski jako dojmljiv i za lizati prste!

Potrebno je:

• 1 pakiranje integralnih kora za savijače (najbolje su po mome iz Lidla)
• 3 slatko-kisele jabuke
• 500 g svježeg sira
• 2 žlice meda
• 1 pak vanilinog šećera
• cimet (po želji)
• ca. 50 g maslaca (za mazanje kora)
• šaka sušenih brusnica
• 2 šake badema
• konopac za vezivanje kora

Priprema:

1. Zagrijte pećnicu na 200°C.
2. Ogulite i naribajte jabuke.
3. Iscijedite tekućinu iz jabuka tako da ih stavite u cjediljku i žlicom pritišćete dok većina tekućine ne izađe.
4. Bademe stavite na lim za pečenje i zapecite 5 minuta. Sitno ih isjeckajte/istucite maljem za meso na krupnije komade (ako ih tučete maljem, predlažem da ih prvo zamotate u prozirnu foliju). Dodajte komadiće badema u jabuke.
5. Izmiješajte jabuke, bademe, svježi sir, vanilin šećer, med, cimet i brusnice.
6. Svaki list kore izrežite na 6 približno jednakih pravokutnika. Od pakiranja od 9 listova (koliko ih obično bude) biste dakle trebali dobiti 54 pravokutnika (odnosno, u konačnici biste trebali od ovoliko kora dobiti 27 škartoca od jabuka).
7. Otopite maslac.
8. Od kora pravite vrećice tj. škartoce na sljedeći način:
1. Jedan pravokutnik postavite na radnu površinu i premažite otopljenim maslacem.
2. Drugi pravokutnik dijagonalno položite preko prvog (trebali biste dobiti 2 prekrižena pravokutnika).
3. I drugi pravokutnik samo po sredini namažite s malo otopljenog masla.
9. U sredinu kore stavite jednu čajnu žličicu punjenja.
10. Skupite rubove kora u vrhu i zavežite konopcem.
11. Ponovite korake 8-10 dok vam ne nestane kora.
12. Prekrijte lim za pečenje papirom za pečenje i posložite škartoce/vrećice od jabuka na njega.
13. Pecite na 200°C cca. 10-15 minuta.

Napomene: Kad skupljate kore oko punjenja, pokušajte skupiti iz jednog puta. Što više dirate kore, to će više pucati. Ukratko, kore su vrlo osjetljive pa imajte ovo na umu tijekom cijele pripreme i pečenja. Zbog ovog recept i je tako zeznut.

Apple Pouches

These bite-sized treats (which I decided to call pouches) are made of a combination of fertility symbols and traditional Beltane foods - apples, cottage cheese, almonds, dried cranberries and honey. It is slightly tricky to make them, but the final product is aesthetically impressive and finger-lickingly good!

You Will Need:

• 1 pack of integral strudel dough (400 g, you get it in the form of thin sheets, I had 9 sheets in the package)
• 3 tart apples (e.g. Idared)
• 500 g cottage cheese
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• cinnamon (to taste)
• ca. 50 g butter (for daubing the dough)
• handful dried cranberries
• 2 handfuls almonds
• thin rope for tying the pouches

How To Prepare:

1. Heat up the oven to 200°C.
2. Peal and grate the apples.
3. Press out the excess liquid from the apples by putting them in a strainer/colander and pressing on them with a spoon until most of the liquid is gone.
4. Put the almonds in a baking pan and bake for 5 minutes. Chop them up into smaller pieces/beat them with a meat cleaver (if you decide to do the latter, then wrap them up in cling film beforehand). Add the almonds to the apples.
5. Mix the apples, almonds, cottage cheese, vanilla sugar, honey, cinnamon and cranberries.
6. Cut up each piece of the strudel dough into 6 approximately same-sized rectangles. So a package containing 9 strudel sheets (which is the usual amount) should yield about 54 rectangles (that is to say, you should finally be left with 27 pouches from this number of rectangles).
7. Melt the butter.
8. Make the pouches from the strudel sheets as follows:
1. Place one rectangle on your working area and daub with butter.
2. Place a second rectangle diagonally over the first one (you should now have 2 crossed rectangles).
3. Daub the the middle of the second rectangle with butter.
9. Place one teaspoon of the apple-cheese filling in the middle of the rectangles.
10. Gather the edges of the pastry sheets above the filling and tie off with a piece of rope.
11. Repeat steps 8-10 until you run out of strudel sheets.
12. Place baking paper on your baking pan and transfer the apple pouches onto it.
13. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes at 200°C.

Notes: When gathering the sheets above the filling, try to do this in one go. The more you fiddle with the strudel sheets, the likelier it is that they will break. Basically, they are very fragile so keep this in mind when handling them throughout the entire baking process. This is what makes this recipe tricky.

Scottish Bannock (Mediterranean Version)

The Beltane Bannock is a traditional Scottish recipe. It can be described as a flat, round break made entirely of oats which can be baked (on embers, typically on top of a hot stone), or fried (if you're making several smaller loaves). It is usually made with animal fat (pig fat) and not butter which is typically used nowadays. However, you will find many modifications to the recipes such as the bread being baked in your normal oven and using butter instead of fat. The bannock is usually eaten with a blend of eggs and milk, although I can personally attest that it goes nicely with cheese and light salami. According to folklore, eating a piece of bannock on Beltane morning guarantees abundance for crops and livestock...so what are you waiting for?! :D Get baking!

You Will Need:

• 3 cups oats
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour (+ extra to flour your working surface)
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp pig fat
• 1 cup hot water
• dried chives (to taste)
• sesame seeds for sprinkling

Notes: the traditional bannock is, of course, not made with chives and is not covered in sesame seeds. But this is why I noted in the recipe that it is adapted to suite Mediterranean cuisine. So, if you don't want to use chives or sesame seeds, you don't have to. Although I recommend you leave the other ingredients and ratios as is. You can substitute butter with pig fat entirely if you wish, and you can substitute the oat flour with any other kind of flour but then the whole point of the bannock kind of gets lost since it's supposed to be made entirely of oats.

How To Prepare:

1. Mix oats, oat flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Melt the butter and drizzle over the dry mixture. Add water gradually and mix until you get a compact dough. If it's still too wet, feel free to add more oat flour/oats.
3. Flour your working surface, knead the dough and form it into a ball. You can make one larger loaf, or you can separate the dough into several parts and make several smaller loaves.
4. Heat your oven to 200°C and cover your baking pan with baking paper.
5. Roll out the dough into a circle. Make sure that it isn't thicker than 1 cm.
6. Bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 175°C and bake for another 10 minutes.

Notes: I recommend that you don't check on your bread before the first 20 minutes are up because it is brittle until it cools down. You will know that it's done when it generally takes on a golden-brown color (at least a slightly darker tone compared to the originally pale color of the dough) and when the bottom edges start to turn slightly more brown.

Škotski bannock (prilagođen Mediteranu)

Beltanski bannock je tradicionalni škotski recept. Riječ je zapravo o plitkom, okruglom zobenom kruhu koji se može peći (uglavnom na žaru položenog na vrući kamen), ali i pržiti (ako se rade manji kruščići). Obično ga se radi sa životinjskom mašću (svinjskom), a ne maslom iako danas postoje mnoge varijacije na temu pa se kruh najčešće peče u pećnici, a masnoću daje maslo. Često ga se jede s mlijekom i jajima, ali sam se osobno uvjerila da jako lijepo ide i uz sirne namaze i lagane salame. Predaje kažu da komad ovog kruha pojeden na jutro Beltanea garantira blagostanje stoke i bogati urod...stoga navalite! :D

Potrebno je:

• 3 čaše zobenih pahuljica
• 1 1/2 čaša zobenog brašna (+ viška za pobrašniti radnu površinu)
• 2 čajne žličice soli
• 2 čajne žličice sode bikarbone
• 1 jušna žlica masla
• 2 jušne žlice svinjske masti
• 1 čaša vruće vode
• sušenog vlasca (po želji)
• sjemenke sezama za posipanje

Napomene: tradicionalni bannock se, naravno, ne radi s vlascem i ne posipa sezamom. Ali zato sam istaknula da je recept prilagođen Mediteranskoj kuhinji. Dakle, ali ne želite stavljati vlasca i sezam, ne morate. Ostale sastojke i omjere predlažem da zadržite. Maslo možete u potpunosti zamijeniti svinjskom mašću i zobeno brašno možete zamijeniti nekim drugim, ali se tada gubi poanta bannocka koji bi trebao biti u potpunosti od zobi.

Priprema:

1. Izmiješajte zobene pahuljice, zobeno brašno, sol i sodu bikarbonu. 
2. Otopite maslo i prelijte suhu smjesu njime. Dodajite pomalo vodu i miješajte dok ne dobijete kompaktno tijesto. Ako je smjesa i dalje previše vlažna, slobodno dodajte još brašna/zobenih pahuljica. 
3. Pobrašntie podlogu i oblikujte tijesto u kompaktnu kuglu. Možete napraviti jedan kruh, ili tijesto odvojiti na više manjih dijelova pa napraviti više manjih štruca.
4. Zagrijte pećnicu na 200°C i prekrijte lim za pečenje papirom za pečenje.
5. Kruh izvaljajte tako da dobijete krug debljine maksimalno 1 cm. 
6. Pecite na 200°C oko 20 minuta. Smanjite temperaturu na 175°C i ostavite peći još 10 minuta.

Napomene: predlažem da ne provjeravate kruh tijekom pečenje prije nego što je 20 minuta isteklo jer je lako lomljiv dok se ne ohladi. Znat ćete da je gotov kad je općenito porumenio u odnosu na originalnu blijedu boju smjese i kad na rubovima s donje strane vidite da počinje nešto više rumeniti.

Vilinski muffini

Beltane je slavlje plodnosti i vjenčanja Boga i Božice. Stoga i hrana u ritualu treba svojom naravi i simbolikom biti prikladna. Banane i lješnjaci kao simboli muške plodnosti i jagode kao afrodizijak su iznimno prikladni sastojci, a zobene pahuljice također neizostavan sastojak velikog broja Beltanskih recepata. 

Potrebno je:

• 200 g pšenične krupice
• 80-100 g zobenih pahuljica
• 3 žlice narančinog soka (niti 1 cijela naranča)
• 1 žlica naribane narančine gore
• 90 g omekšalog maslaca
• 1 banana
• 150 g nasjeckanih jagoda
• 100 g šećera
• 120 g mljevenih lješnjaka
• 1-1 1/2 prašak za pecivo
• 6 jaja
• 1 vanilin šećer

Priprema:

1. Odvojite u 2 zdjele žumanjak i bjelanjak. Napravite snijeg od bjelanjaka.
2. Izmiješajte žumanjke, šećer, vanilin šećer, narančinu koru i sok od naranče.
3. Samlijte lješnjake (preporučam u nekakav multipraktik).
4. U smjesu žumanjaka dodajte krupicu, prašak za pecivo, samljevene lješnjake i omekšali maslac.
5. Bananu i jagode nasjeckajte na manje komade (naravno, operite jagode i skinite s njih peteljke) te ručnim blenderom ih ispasirajte tako da ostane još nešto krupnih komada.
6. U smjesu žutanjaka dodajte bananu i jagode te pomalo dodajite snijeg od bjelanjaka.
7. Pripremite kalupe za muffine (ili ih malo namastite ili, ako imate košarice, samo njih posložite u košarice).
8. Ugrijte pećnicu na 175°C i pecite 20 minuta.

Napomena: ja sam radila "mini muffine" i obične muffine. Mini muffine sam pekla 15-20 minuta na 150°C, a obične kako sam navela u uputama. Od navedene smjese sam dobila 30 mini muffina i 12 običnih muffina. Po svemu sudeći biste od ove smjese trebali dobiti oko 20 običnih muffina.

I sada uživajte u slatkišima! :D

Faery Muffins

Beltane is the celebration of fertility and the marriage of the God and Goddess. So any food included in the ritual should be appropriate in its nature and its symbolism. Bananas and hazelnuts as symbols of male fertility and strawberries as an aphrodisiac are extremely appropriate ingredients, while oatmeal are an essential ingredient of many Beltane recipes.

You Will Need:

• 200g semolina
• 80-100g oats/oat flakes
• 3 tbsp orange juice (freshly squeezed, you won't need even one whole orange)
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 90g softened butter
• 1 banana
• 150g chopped strawberries
• 100g sugar
• 120g ground hazelnuts
• 1-1.5 packs baking powder
• 6 eggs
• 1 vanilla sugar

How To Prepare:

1. Separate the yolks and egg whites in two bowls. Whisk the egg whites into a firm snow.
2. Mix together the yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar, orange zest and orange juice.
3. Grind the hazelnuts (I recommend using a blender of some sort for this).
4. In the egg yolk mixture, add semolina, baking powder, ground hazelnuts and softened butter.
5. Chop the banana and strawberries into smaller pieces (don't forget to wash the strawberries and cut off the stems) and using a blender, blend them into a paste but leave in some chunks.
6. Add the banana and strawberry mixture into the egg yolk mixture and start adding the egg whites little by little and mixing it in.
7. Prepare your muffin tin (you can either grease it a bit or, if you have paper muffin cups just put them in the tin and put the mixture in them).
8. Heat up the oven to 175°C and bake for 20 minutes.

Note: I made mini muffins and normal-size muffins. I baked the mini muffins for 15-20 minutes at 150°C and the normal muffins as explained in the directions above. The quantity above yielded 30 mini muffins and 12 normal-size ones. But if you decide to just make normal muffins, I think you should get about 20 of them from this amount of ingredients.

And now go enjoy your sweets! :D

Praznik rada, Valpurgina noć i Beltane nemaju veze sa sotonizmom!

Slavenski rodnovjerci u Rusiji podižu kumir za Jurjevo

Prvi maja se u paganizmu zaista slavi kao dan plodnosti i vrhunca proljeća. Većina meni dragih ljudi zna da i ja ovaj blagdan slavim pod nazivom Beltane pa sam tako dobila na Facebooku poveznicu za članak na portalu dnevno.hr. Napisala ga je Zrinka K. i nosi naziv "PRAVA ISTINA O PRAZNIKU RADA: Ne nasjedajte, na taj dan cijeli svijet se klanja Luciferu slaveći Valpurgijsku noć, najdemonskiji praznik u godini". Nimalo praktičan naslov zbog duljine, ali sigurno privuče brojne poglede. Nisam mogla odoljeti nego pročitati članak i kad sam došla do kraja sam bila van sebe. Nisam znala trebam li se smijati ili plakati. Svakako, rekla sam prijateljima koji su mi poslali ovu poveznicu da mi je jasno da su mi poslali ovo iz šale, ali sam isto tako bila svjesna da će mnogo ljudi ovaj članak shvatiti ozbiljno. 

Moram priznati da sam tužna jer sam bila u pravu. Samo dva dana nakon ovoga sam razgovarala s nekolicinom kolegica i došle smo na temu praznika rada. Sve su katoličke vjeroispovijesti (to mogu reći sa sigurnošću jer ih privatno poznajem jako dobro). Jedna od njih je rekla da su prvi maja i "Valpurgijska" noć zapravo slavlje Sotone. Bilo je jasno da ozbiljno misli to što govori pa sam ju prekinula da joj objasnim odakle "Valpurgijskoj" noći naziv, no u detalje nisam ulazila. 

Potaknuta tim razgovorom sam odlučila napisati ovaj post u nadi da će svi oni koji su naslijepo povjerovali ovakvim člancima i koji nisu uspjeli čuti drugu stranu priče je konačno čuti.

Članci slični onome kojeg je napisala Zrinka K. se mogu lako naći putem Googlea pa ću daljnje istraživanje prepustiti vama, ali u suštini svaki od njih govori isto:

1. Da je praznik rada prikriveno slavlje "poganskih" i/ili "sotonističkih" praznika Beltanea i/ili "Valpurgijske" noći (pojasniti ću gomilu navodnih znakova kroz post).
2. Da je Anton LaVey, osnivač sotonističke crkve, direktno povezan s ovim "sotonističkim" slavljima.
3. Da su Iluminati (citiram Zrinku K.): "organizirali demonstracije radnika u Chicagu i sukob radnika sa policijom 1. svibnja 1886. godine" (tipična teorija zavjere, a autorica je mogla provjeriti ispravni datum ovog prosvjeda koji je bio 4. svibnja prije nego što je proširila dezinformacije).

Nedosljednost autora u člancima mi je posebno zasmetala jer čas govore da je Beltane "poganski" praznik, a potom da je sotonistički. Čas govore da su "Valpurgijska" noć i Beltane ista stvar, a u drugom kontekstu ih razlikuju. Stoga bih kroz ovaj post htjela objasniti da ni Beltane ni "Valpurgijska" noć nisu sotonistički praznici, da nemaju veze sa sotonizmom te da nisu uopće isti praznik.

Portal dnevno.hr me je dodatno razočarao jer očito dopušta slijepo kopiranje cijelih paragrafa teksta. Sjetila sam se da sam prošle godine pročitala sličan članak ali sam ga tada naprosto bila zanemarila. Radi se o članku Mladena Prenca iz 2013. godine koji nosi naziv "Praznik rada: Znate li da je to rođendan Iluminata i sotonistički praznik 'Valpurgijska noć'?". Odmah se primijeti da je gospođa Zrinka išla linijom manjeg otpora i naprosto kopirala nekoliko cijelih paragrafa iz ovog članka i zalijepila ih u svoj. Ovo pokazuje krajnju neprofesionalnost i samo na temelju toga se članak ne bi trebao shvatiti ozbiljno. Očito nisam upućena u način na koji mediji funkcioniraju jer se u akademskom svijetu plagiranje strogo kažnjava.

Također ne cijenim kada ovakvi portali ne provjeravaju svoj pravopis. Za očekivati je da će se o gramatičkoj i pravopisnoj ispravnosti voditi računa na portalima koji žele da ih se shvati ozbiljno, ali dnevno.hr očigledno za to nije briga jer sam u oba članka našla brojne greške. No istaknula bih samo jednu pogrešku - "Valpurgijska noć". Što ovu grešku čini još gorom jest to što se nalazi u naslovima obaju članaka. Da su autori bili dovoljno informirani, znali bi da ova svetkovina slavi osobu - svetu Walburgu. Po pravilima hrvatskog pravopisa (odnosno po pravilu pisanja posvojnih pridjeva izvedenih od osobnih imena) bi se ova svetkovina trebala nazivati, odnosno naziva se Valpurgina noć.

Povijest i značenje Valpurgine noći

Valpurgina noć je dobila naziv po svetoj Walburgi (ili Walpurgi), časnoj sestri iz Wimbournea u Engleskoj koja je živjela u 8. stoljeću. Svoj život je posvetila misionarskom radu u Njemačkoj gdje je, između ostalog, osnovala samostan i postala poznata po svojim dobrim djelima. S obzirom na njezin život, originalni naziv ovog blagdana je na njemačkom - Walpurgisnacht. Kao što je i za očekivati od svetice, ona je bila čista, produhovljena i nježne naravi. Po rimokatoličkom kalendaru, 1. svibnja je bio posvećen njoj jer je upravo na taj dan i kanonizirana, a Valpurgina noć je slavlje uoči 1. svibnja (dakle s noći 30. travnja na 1. svibnja). No, 1955. godine je papa Pio XII. ovaj datum posvetio svetom Josipu Radniku time dajući podršku svim radnicima, ali i stvarajući protutežu komunističkom blagdanu koji se slavio na isti datum (pošto je i sam bio izraziti protivnik komunizma).

Glavno pitanje koje se sada treba postaviti je kako je sveta Walpurga dovedena u vezu s vješticama, paganskim slavljima, pa čak i sotonističkim praksama? I mene ova veza fascinira pa ću je nastojati rastumačiti.

Srednjovjekovne zablude

Kao što je slučaj s većinom zabluda o vješticama, i ova ima korijene u srednjem vijeku i progonima vještica.

Tijekom brojnih mučenja koja su se odvila tijekom srednjeg vijeka, inkvizitori su uspjeli izvući "istine" iz ispitanika. Ove "istine" su bile predrasude i razmišljanja Crkve o heretičkim slavljima (jer je tada svatko bio heretik tko nije slijedio kršćanstvo) koje su inkvizitori tjerali mučenike da priznaju tijekom samog mučenja. Naravno, ispitanik je bio prisiljen priznati sve za što ga inkvizitor optuži naprosto jer je bio mučen tijekom cijelog ispitivanja. Ovakva mučenja su uključivala lomljenje kostiju, rezanje tkiva, brojne sprave koje su uzrokovale nehumanu bol i psihičke traume tijekom kojih nijedna osoba ne bi mogla ostati pribrana. Ukratko, inkvizitori su izvlačili potvrde svojih sumnji i teorija tako da su ljude postavljati u situacije u kojima nisu imali drugog izbora nego ih potvrditi. Tek kada bi sve priznali su bili "pušteni" (odnosno, prestalo bi ih se mučiti, ali bi ih se potom vješalo, ili zapalilo na lomači).

Bezbroj svjedočanstava postoji o ovakvim mučenjima, a da ne spominjem i tehničke nacrte sprava za mučenje, opise tehnika i sudskih procesa mučenja itd. Zasigurno najpoznatije djelo koje se tiče ovih tema je Malleus Maleficarum o kojemu možete više saznati u ovom postu. Svakako, ti iskazi se ne mogu uzeti kao istiniti jer su dobiveni kroz mučenje tj. prisilom. Ljudi su priznavali sve samo kako bi prestala bol. Uz to, teorije koje je Crkva tada zastupala su bile apsurdne, barem iz naše perspektive. Teorije poput onih da vještice jašu na metlama, da imaju spolne odnose sa samim vragom, da jedu malu djecu itd. su bile općeprihvaćene, a danas su samo dokaz neshvaćanja starih običaja koja su bila krivovjerna u očima Crkve. 

U ovoj zaluđenosti vješticama su se razvile brojne predrasude i kriva vjerovanja o kojima bi se moglo pisati danima. No, istaknula bih predrasude vezane uz sabate. Vještičji sabati su u srednjem vijeku bili sinonim za orgije, štovanje Sotone i brojne druge, u najmanju ruku, nekonvencionalne stvari, neke od kojih su zaista bila gnjusne. Na pojam sabbat (ili sabbath) se po prvi put u dokumentima inkvizicije nailazi 1335. godine u Toulouseu. Ipak, ova riječ vuče korijene iz hebrejske riječi shabbat što znači odmarati (ili preciznije "prestati raditi") i koja se odnosi na židovski dan odmora (subotu). Ovaj je izraz prihvaćen za bilo kakvo heretičko slavlje jer su i židovi u srednjem vijeku također bili heretici po rimokatoličkoj Crkvi. Tek je u 15. stoljeću izraz postao u potpunosti prihvaćen i korišten diljem Europe u kontekstu vještičjih slavlja i svih stereotipa i  zabluda koji idu uz njih. 

Vjerovalo se da se ovi vještičji sabati odvijaju u zaklonjenim mjestima - na šumskih čistina, planinama, ili u špiljama i to obavezno tijekom noći. S vremenom su na kartama osvanule oznake za "poznata" mjesta vještičjih sastanaka. Na tom popisu se našao i vrh Brocken (poznat i kao Blocksberg) na planini Harz u Njemačkoj. Očito je došlo do sinkroniciteta vjerovanja jer se njemački običaj slavlja Walpurgisnachta spojio s vjerovanjem da se na Brockenu okupljaju vještice. Osnova za ovo spajanje je bio datum i jedan dokument iz 1591. godine. 

Njemačke narodne priče (naglašavam priče!) govore da je Brocken izrazito misteriozno mjesto na kojemu su se od davnina skupljale vještice (Hexen). Ove su se priče ispreplele s narodnim slavljima proljeća koja su se također odvijala početkom svibnja. Jedan od najpoznatijih je svakako Majski dan (eng. May Day) kojeg se slavilo diljem svijeta, pa tako i u Njemačkoj.

Vrijedi naglasiti da progoni vještica nisu stigli u Njemačku do šesnaestog stoljeća, što je jako kasno u odnosu na ostatak Europe. No, ovo kašnjenje se nadoknadilo kroz jako brutalna mučenja i paljenja mnoštva optuženika. Jedan istaknuti autor na temu njemačkog vještičarstva (i izraziti protivnik istog), Johann Georg Godelmann, je 1591. godine napisao djelo De Magis, Veneficis Et Lamiis, Recte Cognoscendis & Puniendis u kojemu je rekao sljedeće (prijevod s latinskog na engleski):

"It is widely believed that all German witches are carried, on the night of the first of May, in the shortest time imaginable, to the mountain called Blocksberg and Heinberg, in the Brusteri region, having first anointed themselves . . . . They spend the whole night in feasting and jollity, dancing with their lovers."

Slobodno prevedeno: Široko je rasprostranjeno vjerovanje da na noći prvoga svibnja vještice bivaju nošene, u najkraćem mogućem roku, na planinu po imenu Blocksberg i Heinberg u regiji Brusteri nakon što su se prvo pomazale uljem (...) Cijelu noć provedu u gozbama i veselju plešući sa svojim ljubavnicima.

Godelmann je u najmanju ruku potvrdio, ako ne i potaknuo vjerovanja vezana uz Brocken. Ona su se samo nastavila razvijati dok nisu doživjela svoju poznatu kulminaciju u Goetheovom djelu Faust. Prenc u svom članku napominje da Goethe opisuje "sotonistička" okupljanja na Brockenu, ali trebamo uzeti u obzir namjeru s kojom je Faust napisan. Osnovna bit ovog djela je kršćanska i govori da se bilo koja ljudska duša može vratiti Bogu jer će Bog oprostiti ljudske grijehe, ali da joj nema spasa ako se u potpunosti preda Sotoni (što Faust na kraju i napravi). Demon Mefistofel u ovom Goetheovom djelu vodi glavnog lika, Fausta po raznim mjestima pokazujući mu manifestacije Sotone na zemlji, ili ga potičući da radi raznorazne nemoralne stvari. Ovi prizori su namijenjeni da prestraše čitatelja i na taj način ga odvrate od Sotone i vrate ka kršćanskom Bogu. Ova tragedija ima lijepu moralnu pouku, ali ipak prihvaća određene stereotipe i zablude kako bi valorizirala svoju osnovnu misao.

Zaključci ovog dijela posta su sljedeći: Brocken nije mjesto sotonističkih sastanaka niti je Valpurgina noć sotonističko slavlje. Sotonizam i Valpurgina noć nemaju veze jedno s drugim jer je Valpurgina noć u suštini kršćanski blagdan, a slavlja koja se zbivaju na Brockenu su moderna i posljedica su svih navedenih narodnih legendi i vjerovanja. Ovakva moderna slavlja se uglavnom sastoje od toga da se pojedinci oblače u kostime vještica, vražićaka i sličnih bića dok su dublja slavlja u vjerskom smislu rijetka. No, okupljanja grupa u prošlosti na Brockenu nisu isključena jer je ovo mjesto s vremenom postalo prikladno mjesto prvomajskog slavlja proljeća. Ako su se određeni ljudi povremeno okupljali tamo kako bi proslavili dolazak proljeća, to ne znači da su oni štovali Sotonu. To također ne podrazumijeva da su bili pagani, ili sljedbenici ikoje vjere. Moguće je da se naprosto radilo o ljudima koji su tu došli s obiteljima napraviti roštilj i uživati u prirodi. Ne može se sa sigurnošću reći koliko je bilo okupljanja na Brockenu i s kojim ciljem, kao što se ne može reći ni za jednu lokaciju na Zemlji, ali je sigurno da sva ta okupljanja nisu bila okupljanja vještica, niti sotonista. Takve generalizacije su jednostavno nerealne. 

Vjerojatno ste primijetili da razlikujem pojam "pogansko" (odnosno pagansko) od "sotonističko". Autori poviše navedenih članaka ne vrše tu distinkciju, što im jako zamjeram. Uz to, oni povezuju Antona LaVeya, osnivača sotonističke crkve, s Valpurginom noći. No većina ljudi ne zna razliku između ovih pojmova pa bih ju voljela pojasniti. 

Zašto Valpurgina noć i Beltane nisu sotonistička slavlja

Kao što sam istaknula, Valpurgina noć je u suštini posvećena kršćanskoj svetici, sv. Walpurgi. Čestitam osobi koja uspije povezati ovu kršćansku sveticu sa sotonizmom koji zapravo nije ni postojao (barem ne u onom obliku u kojem ga danas poznajemo) do 1966. godine kada je Anton LaVey osnovao sotonističku crkvu. 

Također, Beltane i Valpurgina noć nisu jedno te isto slavlje, što je do sada moglo biti evidentno, iako se slave otprilike u isto vrijeme. Beltane se slavi 1. svibnja, a Valpurgina noć 30. travnja (na 1. svibnja). Uz to je Beltane paganski blagdan, a Valpurgina noć originalno kršćanski blagdan koji je kasnije izvrnut.

Preostaje mi sada objasniti zašto Beltane nije povezan sa sotonizmom. Ovo je stara rasprava na koju uvijek dođem zbog zabluda. Naime, Beltane ja paganski blagdan koji slavi prirodu, proljeće, plodnost zemlje, ali i plodnost uopće (za više informacija vas molim da pročitate ovaj post). Ali izgleda da Mladen Prenc ima vlastito mišljenje o ovom blagdanu koje jasno ističe u članku:

"Tom prilikom [za Beltane] su palili vatre, igrali i plesali oko stupa oko kojeg su vezivali trake raznih boja, a koji je simbolizirao muški spolni organ. U tim ritualnim igrama spominjali su i drevna demonska božanstva Vaala, Zelenog čovjeka, Pana, Zelenog Juraja itd… 

Kada bi pali u trans obuzeti demonima, orgijali su do zore. U produžetku Beltana pogani su nastavljali slaviti Valpurgijsku noć. (...) Valpurgijska noć je jedan od najvažnijih sotonističkih praznika i redovno podrazumijeva ritual prinošenja ljudskih žrtava Luciferu!"

On je dobro primijetio da Beltaneski običaji uključuju paljenje krijesa, ples, majski stup (koji zaista jest simbol falusa, a time i plodnosti koja je fokus ovog proljetnog blagdana), ali drugi dio paragrafa je u potpunosti zanemariv. Kao prvo, izraz "demonska božanstva" je čista glupost. Mitologije svijeta razlikuju demone i bogove, a to što su neka božanstva paganska po naravni (dakle potječu iz starijeg doba kada su se slavila u kontekstu štovanja prirode) ne znači da su zla, "demonska", ili sotonistička. Već prvo božanstvo koje Prenc navodi je krivo. Bog "Vaal" je zapravo keltsko božanstvo svjetla, vatre, topline, a time i Sunca čije je pravo ime Baal. Zeleni čovjek je više naziv za arhetip koji poznaje mnoga imena diljem svijeta. Zeleni čovjek je manifestacija prirode u proljeće koje zaista jest zelena, cvjetna i osunčana. Stoga ga se prikazuje kao muškarca sa zelenom bradom, ili koji nosi masku načinjenu od lišća i cvijeća. Pan je sigurno najpoznatije božanstvo s popisa. On je grčko božanstvo divljine, prirode, lova itd. Bio je prikazivan s kozjim rogovima i nogama upravo zbog njegove povezanosti s divljinom, a posebno s pastirima i krdima. Naprosto je zbog svojih rogova bio poistovjećen s figurom Sotone s kojom na kraju krajeva uopće nema veze ni po ikonologiji, ni po karakteristikama, ni po mitologiji. Zeleni Juraj je zapravo slavenski bog Jarilo, bog plodnosti, proljeća i biljaka. Njega se slavi na Jurjevo tj. 23. travnja (jako blizu Beltanea i Valpurgine noći, zar ne?). 

Dokazi obuzetosti demonima i postojanje orgija nisu navedeni u nijednom članku. Beltaneska slavlja su bila klasična slavlja. Ljudi bi se najeli, popili nekoliko čaša vina, plesali i zabavljali se. Kao i na svakom tulumu, sigurno je postojala mogućnost da netko ode kući s nekim, ali to ne znači da su se zbivale orgije. A ako su ovi ljudi bili obuzeti demonima onda svaku osobu na bilo kojem rođendanskom tulumu, piru, ili koncertu treba odvesti na egzorcizam.

Najdrastičnija optužba u cijelom tekstu je zasigurno ona da se na Valpurginu noć prinose ljudske žrtve Luciferu. Ja bih lijepo zamolila gospodina Prenca da mi pokaže dokaze ovih žrtvovanja. Osobno nisam sudjelovala u slavljima Valpurgine noći, ali jesam u slavljima Beltanea. Iz iskustva govorim da se nikakve ljudske žrtve ne prinose jer ih ja nisam prinosila niti sam ja bila žrtva.

No, da ne bih ispala neobjektivna, trebam napomenuti da je antropolog James Frazer u svom djelu Zlatna grana ostavio mogućnost postojanja ljudskih žrtava u davno pretkršćansko doba u Škotskoj otvorenu. I da su se ove žrtve prinosile, ta je praksa zastarjela i okrutna. Reminiscencije ovakvih žrtvovanja su danas ostale u drugim, metaforičkim oblicima prinošenja žrtvi. Tako se u Škotskoj nalazi običaj da "žrtvovana osoba" skače kroz Beltanesku vatru (ili preko nje) tri puta. Ostali sudionici potom glume kao da je ta osoba preminula, ali se uskoro sve vraća normali. U drugim kulturama se prinosi simbolična žrtva vatri - pale se papirići s određenim natpisima, pale se ispletene figure od različitog sušenog bilja itd.

Svakako, bilo koje žrtve koje se prinosi za vrijeme Beltane nisu posvećene Luciferu, ili Sotoni. Te su žrtve metaforičke (kao što sam rekla - papirići, sušeno bilje, negdje se sjemenke zakopavaju u zemlju isto kao "žrtva" prirodi itd.) i njima se nikome ne čini zlo. One se prinose, ili su se prinosile, kao zahvala proljeću što se vratilo i kako bi se nahranilo Beltaneski krijes koji simbolizira jačanje Sunca u ovo doba godine. 

Ipak bih htjela napraviti još neke distinkcije između paganizma i sotonizma kako bismo utvrdili ovo gradivo.

Paganizam je termin koji obuhvaća sve vjere i duhovne pravce prošlosti koji se temelje na štovanju zemlje i prirodnih ciklusa. Sama etimologija riječi "paganizam" upućuje na izvore ove duhovnosti na selima i ruralnim područjima gdje je primarna djelatnost stanovnika bila poljoprivreda. U ovom smislu se i vjere antičkih Grka, Rimljana i brojnih drugih antičkih kultura mogu nazvati paganskima. Neopaganske vjere također postoje. One su samo obnova (ili adaptacija) starih običaja, ili općeg mentaliteta slavlja zemlje i prirode. 

Paganizam je postojao mnogo prije sotonizma. Uz to, sotonizam je nusproizvod Crkve tj. reakcija nezadovoljnih pojedinaca na strogoću rimokatoličke Crkve. Naime, u srednjem vijeku je Crkva zabranjivala ljudima spolno zadovoljstvo i smatrala da je seks potreban samo za prokreaciju. Ikakvo uživanje u njemu je bilo strogo zabranjeno. Kako bi se ovo primijenilo, uvodile su se zabrane za spolne odnose. Tako je seks bio zabranjen nedjeljom, srijedom i petkom, četrdeset dana prije Božića i Uskrsa, tri dana prije ispovijedi i primanja ikakvih sakramenata (a ovo je sve bilo obvezno obavljati na regularnoj bazi), za vrijeme trudnoće žene, ali i 40 dana nakon porođaja itd. Ukratko, srednjovjekovnim je ljudima bilo dozvoljeno imati spolne odnose samo 2 mjeseca u godini. Ovo je sve rezultiralo u nezadovoljstvu i ljudi su se počeli okretati Božjem suparniku - Sotoni. Zbog ovoga kažem da je sotonizam nusproizvod Crkve i kršćanstva.

Također, Sotona je kršćanski koncept u kojeg pagani ne vjeruju. Paganima su također strani i koncepti ultimatnog dobra i ultimatnog zla kao što su Bog i Sotona u kršćanstvu. U ovom je duhovnom pravcu šire rasprostranjeno vjerovanje da sve i svatko ima neke dobre i loše aspekte te da omjeri istih mogu/ne moraju varirati. Ni priroda nije samo dobra ni samo zla, ni čovjek nije samo dobar ili samo zao. Čak i božanstva koja se štuju nisu manifestacija dobra ili zla već su jako antropomorfna pa također imaju dobre i loše osobine. 

Ovo okretanje srednjovjekovnih ljudi Sotoni nije sotonizam u pravom smislu riječi, ili barem ne u modernom smislu riječi. Tada sotonizam nije bio organiziran i češće se radilo o buntu nego o istinskom štovanju Sotone.

Kada se danas kaže "sotonizam", obično se misli na službeno organizirani sotonizam koji je nastao s Antonom LaVeyem kada je osnovao Prvu Sotoninu crkvu (eng. First Church of Satan). Ovo se dogodilo 30. travnja (tj. na Valpurginu noć) 1966. godine u San Franciscu. Zrinka K. i Mladen Prenc ovo ispravno zamjećuju, ali izjavljuju kao tvrdnju, a ne kao konkretan, smisleni zaključak. Oni zapravo samo navode ovaj suhoparni podatak i tjeraju čitatelje da sami povežu Valpurgijsku noć i sotonizam bez podataka koji bi potkrijepili ovakav zaključak.

Paganizam ne može biti isto što i sotonizam jer nije centriran oko Sotone (koji je ionako kršćanski koncept) i nije "osnovan" ni približno u isto vrijeme (iako paganizam nije nikada službeno osnovan jer se ne radi o ustanovi kao što je slučaj s LaVeyevom crkvom već o duhovnom pravcu, o fenomenu, o načinu života i nizu prastarih vjerovanja). To što je pojam "pogansko" postao pejoriziran tijekom vremena i počeo označavati heretičke, krivovjerne, ili bezbožne prakse je također jako relativna stvar. Ove prakse su ionako krivovjerne samo u očima kršćanstva i ne ubrajaju samo paganska vjerovanja već i stanovišta bilo koje druge religije svijeta. Riječ "pogansko" se stoga može uzeti kao sinonim za "nekršćansko", što ne podrazumijeva štovanje Sotone.

Nekršćanske vjere i duhovni pravci su i budizam, islam, judaizam, hinduizam, šintoizam, sikizam pa i neopaganizam i brojne druge. Jesu li one isto što i sotonizam samo zato što ne spadaju u kršćanstvo? 

Dakle, Valpurgina noć i Beltane nisu jedno te isto slavlje. Paganizam i sotonizam također nisu jedno te isto; dapače, oni nemaju nikakve veze jedno s drugim.

Prvi maja kao praznik rada

Praznik rada je u suštini spomen na pobunu koja se zbila 4. svibnja 1886.g. na trgu Haymarket u Chicagu (a ne 1. svibnja kako tvrde oba članka). Radnici su zahtijevali osmosatne radne dane, no policija je reagirala pucanjem na prosvjednike. Afera je, naravno, uzrokovala mnogo smrti i patnje, ali isto tako i druge proteste koji su konačno ostvarili svoje ciljeve. 

Prvi svibnja je određen kao datum slavlja međunarodnog praznika rada u Parizu 1889. godine na Prvom kongresu komunističke Druge internacionale. Tada se zapravo pozvalo sve radnike na demonstracije 1890. godine na dan godišnjice pobune u Chicagu. Tek je 1904. Međunarodna socijalistička konferencija pozvala organizacije i sindikate svih socijaldemokratskih stranaka da prestanu raditi 1. svibnja kako bi se zakonski uspostavio osmosatni radni dan. U svojoj su namjeri očito uspjeli, a 1. svibnja je proglašen državnim praznikom u većini država Europe i svijeta.

Autori obaju članaka tvrde da su "Iluminati (...), koristeći svoj veliki utjecaj u Americi, organizirali demonstracije radnika u Chicagu i sukob radnika sa policijom 1. svibnja 1886. godine" (usput, ovaj sukob se nije zbio 1. svibnja, već 4. svibnja). Ovo je obična teorija zavjere. Naravno, neću braniti nekome da vjeruje u nju, ali napominjem da autori ne navode konkretne dokaze koji bi potvrdili ovakvu teoriju.

Mladen Prenc piše sljedeće:

"Korijeni ove teorije nalaze se u životu Adama Weishaupta, rimokatoličkog svećenika, jezuita i profesora kanonskog prava na Sveučilištu u Inglostadtu koji se rodio 1. svibnja 1748. godine..."

Adama Weishaupta se uzima za osnivača Iluminata. Kao prvo, on se nije rodio 1. svibnja, ali jest osnovao ovo udruženje 1. svibnja 1776. godine. Uz to, on NIJE bio rimokatolički svećenik, iako je bio odgojen među isusovcima i završio isusovačku školu. Vjerujem da su autori čitali izvore na nekom stranom jeziku kojeg nisu dobro razumjeli i naprosto pobrkali podatke. Kako god da bilo, šire dezinformacije, ili ih namjerno stvaraju u nastojanju da potvrde svoje teorije.

Prenc također kaže da je Weishaupt "skrenuo s crkvenog puta i počeo se baviti vještičarenjem i sotonizmom". On nije skrenuo s crkvenog puta jer nije bio svećenik i također se nije bavio vještičarstvom ni sotonizmom. Weishaupt zaista jest bio žestoki protivnik rimokatoličke Crkve prvenstveno jer ju je smatrao netolerantnom i fanatičnom. Ovo je uzrokovalo konflikte između njega i pripadnika Crkve, ali to ne znači da je on prakticirao vještičarstvo, ili bio sotonist. Uz ovo je tvrdnja ovih autora da je društvo Iluminata sotonističko također apsurdna.

Iluminati su bili protivnici rimokatoličke Crkve, ali nisu slavili sotonu. Oni nisu bili vjerska skupina već prije društveno-politička. Glavni cilj im je bio prosvijetliti ljude (odakle im i ime - Illuminati = prosvijetljeni) u smislu da im pokažu da mogu i trebaju misliti vlastitim umom. Protivili su se Crkvi jer su smatrali da zloupotrebljava svoju moć i da kontrolira ljude. Uz to su se protivili zlouporabi državne moći, a zalagali su se, između ostalog, i za jednakost ljudi i spolova.

Ova teorija o Iluminatima je slična brojnim teorijama zavjere koje postoje vezane uz Iluminate i ne nalazim nikakve dokaze za njezinu istinitost. No smatram da moj zadatak ionako nije tražiti ove dokaze jer su njih trebali tražiti Mladen Prenc, Zrinka K. i drugi autori koji ju zastupaju. 

Predlažem svim čitateljima ovih i sličnih članaka da ih u potpunosti zanemare jer njihovi autori samo šire dezinformacije i koriste (tj. izokreću) ono malo točnih podataka koje imaju u svoju korist. Ne pružaju potpunu sliku čitateljima i navode ih na krive zaključke običnom manipulacijom riječi. Ja se zaista nadam da sam kroz ovaj post dala dovoljno podataka koji obrazlažu moja razmišljanja i razloge mog protivljenja ovim autorima. U slučaju da ih po vašem mišljenju nema dovoljno, slobodno mi se obratite putem obrasca za kontakt ili putem komentara ispod ovog posta.

Do sljedećeg puta,

vaša Witch's Cat

International Workers' Day, Walpurgis Night and Beltane Have Nothing to Do with Satanism!

Slavic Rodnovers in Russia raising an idol
(i.e. a "kumir") for George's Day (Jurjevo)

May Day (May 1) has always been celebrated in Paganism as the day of fertility and the culmination of spring. All of my loved ones know that I celebrate this date under the name of Beltane. And so I received a link on Facebook from a local newspaper (or rather a national one) which was written by a Zrinka K. and is entitled (in translation) "THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' DAY: Do not be deceived, on this day everyone bows down to Lucifer by celebrating Walpurgis Night, the most demonic holiday of the year" (you can read the full article here, but it is in Croatian). I have tried to find similar articles in English but didn't manage to, so I hope you will take my word for what is said in the articles I will mention in this post. Anyway, the title isn't the least bit practical because of its length, but it will catch a lot of looks. I couldn't resist reading the article and by the time I came to the end, I was beside myself with anger. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. Of course, I knew that my friends had sent me the link as a joke, but I was also aware that many people would take it seriously.

I have to admit that I was very sad to find out that I was right. Only two days after reading the article, I was talking to a few colleagues of mine and we came upon the topic of International Workers' Day. They are all Catholic (I know this because we are also friends). One of them said that May Day and Walpurgis Night are Satanistic celebrations. It was clear that she really meant what she was saying so I interrupted her to explain where Walpurgis Night even got its name, although I didn't go into too many details.

Inspired by the aforementioned discussion, I decided to write this post in the hopes that everyone that read this and similar articles will stop blindly believing everything they read in them and so that those that have not heard the other side of the story yet will finally get a chance to hear it. 

I found similar articles to the one by Zrinka K. all over the Internet simply by Google searching the key words, so you can feel free to search for yourself. In any case, all of the articles I came across (most of them in Croatian, admittedly) say the same things:

1. That International Workers' Day is a cover-up for the Pagan and/or Satanistic holidays of Beltane and/or Walpurgis Night
2. That Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, is directly connected to these celebrations
3. That the Illuminati (and I will directly translate what Zrinka K. said in her article) "organized the protest in Chicago and the conflict between the workers and the police on May 1, 1886" (this is a typical conspiracy theory if you ask me, and the author could have at least written the correct date of this protest which was on May 4).

The inconsistency of these authors throughout their articles particularly bothered me because they say that Beltane is a Pagan celebration, and then they call it Satanistic. They also claim that Beltane and Walpurgis Night are the same thing and later on differentiate them. Thus, I would like to explain that neither Beltane nor Walpurgis Night are Satanistic celebrations and that they aren't even the same holiday.

This specific new website additionally disappointed me because they obviously allow copy-pasting entire paragraphs of text from one article to another. I remember that I read a similar article last year, but I simply decided to ignore it at the time. The article I am referring to was written by Mladen Prenc in 2013 and is entitled (in translation) "International Workers' Day: Did you know that it is the birthday of the Illuminati and also a Satanistic celebration?" (original link here). It is evident that Ms Zrinka took the easiest route and simply copied a few whole paragraphs from this article and used them in her own text. This is extremely unprofessional behavior which is reason alone why this article should not be taken seriously. I am obviously not well-informed about how the media functions because, in the academic world, plagiarism is harshly punished.

I also find it disturbing when these sorts of "professional" websites neglect to check their spelling. It is expected that any respectable website will check grammar and spelling of all articles before publishing them, but this site obviously does not wish to be taken seriously and does not care for itself as I found large amounts of mistakes in both articles. In the Croatian version, even Walpurgis Night is misspelled (throughout the articles and even in the titles!). 

The History and Meaning of Walpurgis Night

Walpurgis Night was named after Saint Walburga (or Walpurga), a nun from Wimbourne in England who lived in the 8th century. She devoted her life to missionary work in Germany where she established a monastery and was well-known for her good deeds. Given her background, the original name of this holiday is in German - Walpurgisnacht. As is expected of a saint, she was pure, enlightened and mild-mannered. According to the Roman Catholic calendar, May 1 is dedicated to her because she was canonized on this date. Walpurgis Night is simply the eve of this day (i.e. the night of April 30 to May 1). But in 1955, Pope Pius XII dedicated this day to Saint Joseph the Worker thus supporting all workmen and creating a counterpoise for a communist holiday which was celebrated on the same date (as he was strongly opposed to communism). 

The main question that has to be asked now is how Saint Walpurga was connected to witches, Pagan celebrations and even Satanistic practices? This connection fascinates me so I will try to explain it.

Medieval Misapprehensions

As is the case with most delusions regarding witches, this one too has roots in the Middle Ages and the witch persecutions.

During the numerous tortures that happened during this period in time, Inquisitors were able to get the "truth" out of the many poor souls they tortured. These "truths" were actually the prejudices and speculations the Church had of heretic celebrations (keep in mind that anyone who wasn't a Christian back them was a heretic). Those being tortured were forced to confirm all of these beliefs and confess to all sorts of ridiculous claims simply because they endured horrible pain throughout the whole "questioning" process. The tortures included breaking bones, cutting meat all kinds of torture devices that caused inhumane pain and psychological traumas that no normal person could endure. Simply put, the Inquisitors got the affirmation they needed by putting people in situations they could not get out of alive; they just had to confess to everything they were told. They were "let go" only after they confessed to everything, but this just meant that the torture was put to an end. They were still sentenced to death either by hanging or by burning at the stake.

Countless testimonies exist for these tortures and not to mention the numerous technical drawings for torture devices, the descriptions of the trials and tortures themselves and so on. Surely, the most famous work related to these topics is the Malleus Maleficarum which you can read about in this post. Of course, these testimonies cannot be taken as certifications of verity because they were gained through torture, that is by force. People will admit to anything when they are in such pain. In addition to this, the theories that the Church represented were absurd, at least from our perspective. Theories such as those that witches ride brooms, have intercourse with the Devil himself, eat newborn children etc. were widely accepted. Today, they are only proof of the misunderstanding of older beliefs and practices that were heretic in the eyes of the Church.

In this witch craze, many prejudices and misconceptions were formed...enough to fill an entire book. But I would like to mention only one at the moment; the preconception regarding sabbats. In the Middle Ages, witches' sabbats were synonyms for orgies, Satan worship and many other unconventional things to say the least, some of which can truly be called disgusting. The first time the term sabbat (or sabbath) was found in an inquisition document was in 1335 in Toulouse (France). Despite this, the word itself goes back to the Hebrew word shabbat which means "to rest" (or rather "to cease form work") and which refers to the Jewish day of rest (Saturday). This term was accepted as the name for any heretic celebration or holiday since, back then, Jews were also seen as heretics in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn't until the 15th century that the phrase was more widely accepted and used only in the context of witches as well as all of the stereotypes and misconceptions that go with it.

It was believed that these witches' sabbats were held in hidden places - in forest openings, mountains or caves and only during the night. In time, maps were dotted with "notorious" locations of witches' celebrations and among them was Brocken (a.k.a. Blocksberg) in the Harz mountain in Germany. Some sort of synchronicity occurred because the German tradition of celebrating Walpurgisnacht was connected to the belief that Brocken is a traditional place for witch gatherings. The basis for this synchronicity was a certain date and a document from 1591.

German folk tales (I cannot emphasize folk tales enough) say that Brocken is a very mysterious place where witches (Hexen) used to gather from very ancient times. These stories were fused with popular celebrations of spring which were also held at the beginning of May. The most famous of these vernal celebrations is May Day which was celebrated throughout the world, and thus also in Germany.

It is worth noting that the witch hunts didn't get to Germany until the 16th century, which is quite late in comparison to the rest of Europe. But this delay was more than compensated for with the sheer brutality of the tortures that were conducted and by the number of accused that were burnt at the stake. One notable author on the subject of German witchcraft (and a strict opponent of the same), Johann Georg Godelmann, wrote an important work in 1951 entitled De Magis, Veneficis Et Lamiis, Recte Cognoscendis & Puniendis in which he said the following:

"It is widely believed that all German witches are carried, on the night of the first of May, in the shortest time imaginable, to the mountain called Blocksberg and Heinberg, in the Brusteri region, having first anointed themselves . . . . They spend the whole night in feasting and jollity, dancing with their lovers."

If nothing else, Godelmann affirmed and possible even prompted the beliefs about Brocken. They just continued to develop until they reached their famous culmination in Goethe's Doctor Faustus. In his article, Prenc mentions that Goethe describes "Satanistic" gatherings on Brocken, but we have to take into consideration the intention with which this work was written. The main point of this play is Christian; any soul can return to God because God will forgive all of our sins, but it cannot expect salvation if it completely gives in to Satan (which is what Faustus does in the end). The demon Mephistopheles leads Faustus throughout the play and shows him the many manifestations of Satan on Earth and urges him to do all sorts of immoral things. These scenes were intended to frighten the reader and thus turn him/her away from Satan and back on the right path to God. This tragedy has a nice moral message, but it still accepts certain stereotypes and misconceptions in order to prove the verity of its main point.

The conclusion of this part of the post is as follows: Brocken is not a gathering place for Satanists nor is Walpurgis Night a Satanistic celebration. Satanism and Walpurgis Night have nothing to do with one another because Walpurgis Night is essentially a Christian holiday. The celebrations that occur on Brocken are very modern and are the product of the aforementioned legends and beliefs. Such modern celebrations are only marked by people dressing up as witches, devils and similar things while any deeper religious meaning is found lacking. Still, this does not mean that gatherings on Brocken did not occur because this soon became an almost traditional place for vernal celebrations. If people sometimes went there to celebrate the coming of spring, this does not mean that they worshiped Satan. This also does not imply that they were Pagans, or followers of any faith at that. Maybe they were just non-religious people who went there with their families to have a nice picnic and enjoy nature. Not firm estimate can be made of how many gatherings have been held on Brocken. In fact ,this cannot be said for any place on Earth. One thing that can be claimed is that not all of these gatherings were either witch meetings or Satanistic ones. Such generalizations would be insubstantial.

You have probably notices that I differentiate the terms "Pagan" and "Satanistic". The authors of the above mentioned articles do not and I strongly object to this. In addition to this, they connect Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, to Walpurgis Night. But since many people do not know the background and the proper meanings of these terms, I feel obliged to elaborate.

Why Walpurgis Night and Beltane Are Not Satanistic Celebrations

As I have already emphasized, Walpurgis Night is dedicated to Saint Walpurga. I take my hat off to anyone that manages to connect this Christian saint with Satanism which didn't even exist (at least not in the form that we know it to have today) until 1966 when Anton LaVey established his Church of Satan.

Also, Walpurgis Night and Beltane are not the same celebration, as you might have concluded up to now, although they are celebrated at almost the same time. Beltane is marked on May 1, while Walpurgis Night occurs on the night of April 30 to May 1. In addition to this, Beltane is a Pagan celebration and Walpurgis Night is originally a Christian holiday which was later distorted.

What I am left with now is the task of explaining why Beltane is not connected to Paganism. This is a very old discussion which we one always stumbles onto because of misconceptions. Namely, Beltane is a Pagan holiday which celebrates nature, the spring, the fertility of the earth and also fertility in general (for more information, please read this post). But it seems as though Mladen Prenc has his own opinions on the subject which he clearly states in his article. He says the following (translated from Croatian):

"On this occasion [for Beltane], fires were lit and games and dances were held at the base of a pole around which colorful ribbons were tied. This pole represented the male reproductive organ. In these ritualistic games, there is mention of ancient demonic gods such as Vaal, the Green Man, Pan, Green George etc.

When they had fallen in a trance overtaken by demons, they held orgies until sunrise. As an extension of Beltane, Pagans also continued to celebrate Walpurgis Night . . . Walpurgis Night is one of the most important Satanistic holidays and often implies ritual human sacrifices to Lucifer!"

In Croatian: "Tom prilikom [za Beltane] su palili vatre, igrali i plesali oko stupa oko kojeg su vezivali trake raznih boja, a koji je simbolizirao muški spolni organ. U tim ritualnim igrama spominjali su i drevna demonska božanstva Vaala, Zelenog čovjeka, Pana, Zelenog Juraja itd…

Kada bi pali u trans obuzeti demonima, orgijali su do zore. U produžetku Beltana pogani su nastavljali slaviti Valpurgijsku noć. (...) Valpurgijska noć je jedan od najvažnijih sotonističkih praznika i redovno podrazumijeva ritual prinošenja ljudskih žrtava Luciferu!"

He correctly noticed that Beltane traditions do include lighting a fire (also known as a balefire), dancing and making the Maypole (which really is a phallic symbol and thus fertility which is the focus of this holiday), but the second part of the quote is completely negligible. First of all, the phrase "demonic gods" is pure nonsense. All mythologies of the world differentiate demons and gods and the fact that some of these gods are Pagan by nature (i.e. they have ancient roots and were celebrated in the context of fertility worship) does not make them evil, "demonic" or Satanistic. Even the first deity that Prenc mentions is misnamed. The god "Vaal" is actually the Celtic god of light, fire, warmth and the Sun whose real name is Baal. The Green Man is more of an archetype than a god as he has many other names around the world. The Green Man is the very embodiment of nature in spring which truly is green as green can be, in bloom and lit by the Sun's warm rays. This is why the Green Man is depicted as a man with a green beard, or wearing a mask of foliage and flowers. Pan is surely the most famous of the gods on the list. He is the Greek god of the wild, nature, hunting etc. He was depicted with goat's legs and horns precisely because of his connection to the wild but also to shepherds and their flocks. Just because he had horns, he was equated with Satan with whom he doesn't have any connection whatsoever; neither in their iconography, characteristics or mythology. Green George is another name for the Slavic god Jarilo; the god of fertility, spring and vegetation. He is celebrated on Jurjevo (April 23...rather close to both Walpurgis Night and Beltane, don't you think?).

No proof of demon possession or the existence of orgies is stated in either article. Beltane celebrations were your usual festivity. People would eat, drink a few glasses of wine, dance and have fun. As with every party, there is definitely a chance of someone going home with someone else, but this does not mean that any orgies were held. And if these people were possessed by demons then every person on any birthday party, wedding feast or concert should be exorcised.

The most drastic claim in the whole text is surely that human sacrifices are offered to Lucifer on Walpurgis Night. I would kindly ask Mr. Prenc to show me proof of this. Personally, I have not taken part in a Walpurgis Night celebration, but I have taken part in Beltane celebrations. Speaking from experience, I can firmly say that no human sacrifices are performed as I didn't witness any nor was I the sacrifice.

But just so that I don't come off as nonobjective, I have to mention that the anthropologist James Frazer talks about this subject in his work entitled The Golden Bough. He leaves the possibility of human sacrifices open but clearly states that if they ever were performed, that this was in pre-Christian times in Scotland. Nevertheless, this practice is obsolete and brutal. Reminiscences of such sacrifices have been preserved in other, metaphorical versions of the sacrificial rite. So in Scotland, there is a tradition that includes the "person being sacrificed" jumping over/through the balefire three times. The other participants then act as if the person is deceased, but things soon return back to normal. In other cultures, a symbolic sacrifice is offered to the fire - small pieces of paper with things written on them, woven figurines (often human in form) made from various dried herbs and so on.

Undoubtedly, all sacrifices that are performed at Beltane are not given to Lucifer or Satan. They are not blood sacrifices; they are metaphorical sacrifices (like I said - papers, dried herbs, some plant seeds in the earth as a gift/sacrifice to nature etc.) and nobody is harmed in the process. They were/are performed as a token of gratitude to the spring for returning once again but also to feed the Beltane fire. The Beltane fire needed to be kept lit as it symbolized the growing strength of the Sun during this time of year.

Still, I would like to make a few more distinctions between Paganism and Satanism just to elaborate more on the topic.

Paganism is an umbrella term that covers all the faiths and spiritual paths of the past which are based on celebrating the fertility of the land and the cycles of nature. The very etymology of the word "Pagan" gives indications to the roots of this spirituality which can be found in the countryside and in rural areas where the people were primarily concerned with agriculture. In this sense, the religions of ancient Greece, Rome and many other ancient civilizations can be called Pagan. Neo-Pagan faiths also exist. They are simply the reconstruction or perhaps adaptation of these old customs and the general mentality of celebrating the earth and nature.

Paganism existed long before Satanism. In addition to this, Satanism is a by-product of the Church, or rather a reaction of the many dissatisfied individuals with the austerity of the Roman Catholic Church. To elaborate, the Church forbade many things during the Middle Ages, including sexual intercourse, or more precisely, sexual satisfaction. It believed that sex was to be performed only for procreation. Taking satisfaction in it was strictly forbidden. In order for this idea to be enforced, the Church introduced prohibitions for sexual intercourse. And so it came to be that sex was forbidden on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 40 days before Christmas and Easter, three days before confessions or receiving any sacrament (and it was mandatory to do both on a regular basis), during pregnancy, 40 days after giving birth and so on. In short, medieval people were allowed to have sex only two months in the year. This resulted with general discontent and people starting turning to God's rival - Satan. This is why I say that Satanism is a by-product of the Church and Christianity.

Also, Satan is a Christian concept which Pagans do not believe in. Another idea that is alien to Pagans is the notion of ultimate evil and ultimate good such as Satan and God in Christianity. In this spiritual path, it s very widely accepted that everyone and everything has good and bad aspects and that the ratio of these aspects can vary. Nature itself is neither completely good nor completely bad, the same can be said of people. Even Pagan gods aren't seen as manifestations of pure good or pure evil because they are very anthropomorphic. This results in them also having good and bad characteristics.

Although, this turning of medieval people to Satan isn't Satanism in the real sense of the word, or at least not in the modern sense. Back then, Satanism was not organized and it was more often than not simply an expression of resistance rather than actual Satan worship.

When one says "Satanism" today, they are usually referring to the officially organized Satanism which arose when Anton LaVey established the First Church of Satan. This happened on April 30 (that is Walpurgis Night) in 1966 in San Francisco. Zrinka K. and Mladen Prenc notice this correctly, but they say it as a strong claim and not as a concrete, profound conclusion. They basically manipulate the reader into coming to the conclusion that Walpurgis Night is Satanistic simply by stating a fact or two in such a context, yet they do not give any proof to confirm this conclusion.

Paganism cannot be the same thing as Satanism because it is not centered around Satan (who is a Christian concept anyway) and it was not "established" even remotely at the same time (although Paganism was never formally established because it is not an institution such as LaVey's church; it is a spiritual path, a phenomenon, a way of life and a series of ancient beliefs). The fact that the word "Paganism" has been pejorized over time and came to be connected to heretics or ungodly practices is a very relative thing. Pagan practices are heretical only in the eyes of the Christian Church anyway. Then again, any other religion of the world is deemed as heretical from their standpoint. The word "Pagan" can be taken as a synonym for the word "non-Christian", but this does not imply Satan worship.

Non-Christian faiths and religions include Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Sikhism, but also Neopaganism and many others. Should all these faiths be equated with Satanism just because they are not Christina?

Therefore, Walpurgis Night and Beltane are not the same holiday. Paganism and Satanism are not the same faiths; in fact, they have nothing to do with one another.

May Day as International Workers' Day

International Workers' Day is essentially a commemoration of the revolt that occurred on May 4, 1886 on Haymarket Square in Chicago (NOT May 1 as both of the articles claim). Workers demanded eight-hour workdays, but the police reacted with gunfire. The affair, of course, caused many deaths and suffering, but it also inspired other protests which managed to achieve their goals in the end.

May 1 was set as the date for the International Workers' Day celebration in Paris, 1889 on the first congress of the communist Second International. This congress actually invited all workers to demonstrate in 1890 on the anniversary of the Haymarket Affair. It wasn't until 1904 that the International Socialist Conference invited all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions to cease work on May 1 in order to legally establish the eight-hour workday. They were obviously successful and May 1 was pronounced a national holiday in most countries of Europe and on other continents.

The authors of both of the articles claim that the "Illuminati . . . using their great influence in America, organized the workers' demonstration and their confrontation with the police in Chicago, on May 1 1886" (as I have mentioned, this did not happen on May 1, but on May 4 of the same year). This is just another conspiracy theory. Of course, I cannot forbid anyone to believe in it, but I have to emphasize that the authors to not give any proof of this theory.

Mladen Prenc says the following (freely translated from Croatian):

"The roots of this theory can be found in the life of Adam Weishaupt, a Roman Catholic priest, Jesuit and professor of Canon law at the University of Ingolstadt, who was born on May 1, 1748..."

Adam Weishaupt is known to be the founder of the Illuminati. First of all, he was not born on May 1, but he did found this organization on May 1, 1776. In addition to this, he WAS NOT a Roman Catholic priest, although he was educated and raised in a Jesuit school. I believe that the authors got this information from sources in a foreign language that they did not understand all that well and simply misunderstood what was said. All in all, they are propagating disinformation or are intentionally making things up in an attempt to prove their theories.

Prenc also says that Weishaupt "strayed from the ecclesiastical path and started engaging with witchcraft and Satanism". He did not stray from the ecclesiastical path because he was not a priest and he was not occupied with either witchcraft or Satanism. Weishaupt really was a firm opponent of the Roman Catholic Church mainly because he though to be intolerant and bigoted. This caused conflicts him and Church members, but this does not imply that he practiced witchcraft or was a Satanist. In addition to this, the authors' claims that the Illuminati are a Satanistic organization is absurd.

The Illuminati were opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, but they did not worship Satan. They were not a religious group but rather a socially-political one. Their main goal was to enlighten people (hence their name; Illuminati = the enlightened) in the sense that they wished to show them that they can and should think for themselves. They were opposed to the Church because they believed it abused its power and controlled people. In addition to this, they were also against the government's abuse of its power and, among other things, they advocated equality of all people and equality of the sexes.

This theory about the Illuminati is similar to the numerous conspiracy theories which exist in connection to them and I have to admit that I did not find any proof of it whatsoever. But I believe that my task is not to find proof. This is the task of the proponents of this theory such as Zrinka K. and Mladen Prenc.


I suggest all of the readers of these and similar articles to completely disregard them because their authors just spread misinformation and use (or rather contort) those correct facts that they have to their own advantage. And just to be clear, there aren't that many correct facts in these articles. Thus, the authors do not provide the reader with a full picture and lead them to make the wrong conclusions simply by manipulating words. I sincerely hope that I have given sufficient information in this post to back my opinions as well as enough arguments to explain why I am so opposed to these articles. In case you feel that I have not given enough arguments/proof, feel free to contact me via the contact form or by leaving a comment on this post.

Until next time. Yours,
Witch's Cat

Majska zmija

Recept za ovogodišnju proslavu Beltanea sam pronašla na blogu Confessions of a Kitchen Witch kojeg već duže vremena pratim.

Sama autorica bloga objašnjava simboliku ovog kolača (iako bih ga ja prije nazvala aromatičnim, slatkim kruhom) pa bih ponovila njezine riječi i dodala još nekoliko informacija. Zmija je simbol ovoga sabata jer je simbol plodnosti, a Beltane kao takav slavi proljeće, plodnost prirode, a u mitološkom smislu sjedinjenje Boga i Božice (tj. njihovo vjenčanje i seksualno sjedinjenje). Ona je također simbol obnove zbog njezine sposobnost presvlačenja tj. mijenjanja kože. Pošto je većina zmija direktno povezana sa zemljom (jer gmižu po njoj), prikladno je da ju se slavi u paganskim vjerama koje su djelomično baziranje na štovanju zemlje. Uz sve to je ona i falusni simbol (mislim da je jasno zašto). Napomenula sam već da je Beltane blagdan za vrijeme kojeg se slavi plodnost pa je ovo jako prikladno.

U nekim običajima ovog blagdana se može naći simbolika zmije. S tim u vezi moram spomenuti ples oko majskog stupa. Ples započinje tako da svaki sudionik drži vrpcu u ruci koja je zavezana za vrh stupa. Tijekom plesa se ove vrpce isprepletu jedna oko druge i oko stupa što podsjeća na poznati simbol isprepletenih zmija koje predstavljaju medicinu i liječenje uopće. Također, kao simboli plodnosti, ove dvije zmije mogu predstavljati i sjedinjenje muškog i ženskog pola, a time i stvaranje novog života.

Ovaj kolač stoga poprima svu simboliku zmije ako ga se napravi u tom obliku. Slobodno se igrajte s oblicima i pustite mašti na volju. :D Ja sam od preporučene količine sastojaka dobila dvije "štruce" tj. dvije zmije; jednu sam savila u spiralu, a drugu sam naprosto savila u vijugu kao da upravo gmiže po tlu. Zanimljiv mi je detalj bio i punjenje marmeladom od trešnje jer je na nekim mjestima zmija "pukla" u pečenju pa je malo marmelade iscurilo. Zaista izgleda kao da zmija (tj. kolač) krvari i da je bila na neki način žrtvovana bogovima. Ovo samo pridonosi blagdanu jer je uobičajeno da se nekakva žrtva prinese za svaki blagdan (ovo naravno nije krvna žrtva već simbolična; pokapa se hrana, malo pića se prolije po tlu, zakopaju se sjemenke, presade se biljke, zakopaju se kristali ili drugi dragi nam predmeti itd.). Za ovaj Beltane je moj kolač-zmija bila dar bogovima. :) Samo da ju prihvate...

Potrebno je:

• 3/4 čaše brašna
• 1/2 čajne žličice mljevenih klinčića (ja sam ih zamotala u celofan i istukla batom za meso)
• 1 1/2 čajne žličice muškatnog oraščića
• izribana kora jedne naranče
• 1 čajna žličica sode bikarbone
• prstohvat soli
• 4 1/2 čaše brašna (imajte spremno još brašna za pobrašnjivanje površine i samog kolača tijekom oblikovanja)
• 1/2 čaše omekšalog maslaca
• 3/4 čaše rastopljenog meda (vrućeg)
• 1/2 čaše turske kave
• 1 jaje
• _{1/3 čaše amaretta (ili ruma)}
• džema/marmelade od trešnje (za zamjenu možete koristiti malinu, ili neki drugi džem od šumskog voća)
• zrna kave, ili bademovih listića za ukras (za zmijine oči)

Priprema:

1. Ugrijte pećnicu za 175-180°C.
2. Izmiješajte šećer, klinčiće, narančinu koru, muškatni oraščić, sodu bikarbonu, sol i brašno u jednoj zdjeli.
3. U smjesu dodajte omekšali maslac, tursku kavu, rastopljeni med, amaretto (ili rum ako nemate amaretta) i jaje.
4. Mijesite rukama tijesto dok ne postane kompaktno i dodajte po potrebi još dvije žlice brašna (tijesto treba biti blago ljepljivo na kraju).
5. Odvojite tijesto na pola.
6. Izvaljajte jednu polovicu na pobrašnjenoj podlozi u kobasicu (duljina ovisi o vama, a ne preporučujem tanje od 4cm).
7. Nožem napravite "žlijeb" u tijestu cijelom duljinom (nemojte prerezati tijesto na pola!).
8. Prstima malo rastvorite žlijeb i ispunite ga marmeladom (nemojte stavljati puno jer se tijesto neće moći zaklopiti, a marmelada će previše curiti vanka).
9. Spojite tijesto prstima preklapajući tijesto preko marmelade.

Savjet: Ja sam izdvojila malo tijesta sa strane. Deveti korak sam napravila reda radi, ali sam radila flastere od izdvojenog tijesta tako da bih uzela prstohvat tijesta, spljoštila ga i zalijepila preko reza u tijestu. Zaista mi je pojednostavnilo život.

10. Pobrašnite gornji dio tijesta i okrenite ga tako da je rez put dolje.
11. Tepsiju obložite papirom za pečenje.
12. Oblikujte tijesto tako da podsjeća na zmiju (ovo prepuštam vama, ali pokušajte oblikovati i glavu i rep), dodajte zrna kave/bademove listiće za oči i prebacite tijesto na tepsiju.
13. Ponovite korake 6-12 za drugu polovicu tijesta.
14. Pecite cca. 20 minuta na 175°C.

I eto ga :D ja sam i te kako zadovoljna rezultatom. Marmelada se lijepo, suptilno osjeća, a kolač miriše na kilometre! :D Nadam se da će vama jednako lijepo uspjeti. 

Želim vam svima sretan i blagoslovljen Beltane! :D

Vaša Witch's Cat