What is Koliva?
Koliva is a cooked wheat bowl that is known for its use in religious ceremonies in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The food is sometimes consumed in the region outside the religious context. Eastern Orthodox churches often use them as part of a memorial service for the dead.
Specific food coats are common at a funeral in areas where the Greek Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox religion is practiced. Congregations also use this food at certain times during the Lent season. Sometimes it is also used for Christmas as part of the holiday religious traditions.
To make the colliva, those who prepare it will cook wheat seed and add other ingredients to provide different textures and taste. Nuts such as Jordan almonds can be added to the mixture. Some add raisins or other similar dried fruit elements.
In addition to these ingredients, many will use sweeteners like cinnamon or sugar with this bowl. In some religious presentations the powder is sugar urgent over the hills toOlives to symbolize the grave place. In some cultures, they create preparation on the surface of the bowl of the display with powder sugar, chocolate or other components. They usually include the cross -shaped and initials of the deceased.
other elements for this food include parsley or other green, usually ground well. Sesame seeds are often added. When the colliva is consumed outside the religious context, those who consume it often place a cream on top, where this increment could contradict the above preparations for commemorative events.
Sometimes those who prepare colliva use rice instead of wheat. This custom evolved from historical periods of famine. Wheat is still the most common element for this meal.
In many ways, this food is not unlike other foods that are used around the world. Experts quote a Lebanese variety that browse various names. In other parts of the mediumThe east uses cold salad called tabouleh also wheat, in this case cracked wheat, served along with other ground elements. In the west, oatmeal is perhaps closest to approximation; Oatmeal and Koliva share the same "adhesive" texture. The distinction factor of Koliva is its liturgical use, which makes it part of a relatively unusual category of food: food used in religious ceremonies.