Our friends gave us a traditional Austrian/German New Year’s Eve activity: Bleigießen.
The kit includes a long-handled spoon and several lead figures. One lights a candle, melts each lead figure in the spoon, then drops the molten lead into a bucket of cold water. The resultant shapes are said to be symbolic of your fortune in the coming your (Ihr Blick in die Zukunft—a glimpse into your future, promises the packaging).
Our results:
Gondola— ‘an adventure is approaching’
A Nail (Nagel)—‘better times coming’
An eagle (Adler)—‘profit in your job’
Angel (Engel)—‘good will come to you’
Rabbit (Hase)—‘hold onto your luck’
Croissant—still open to interpretation. Thoughts?
3 responses so far ↓
1 Lisa // Dec 31, 2006 at 8:22 pm
lets see. wikipedia sez: Fanciful stories of how the pastry was created are modern culinary legends. These include tales that it was invented in Poland to celebrate the defeat of a Muslim invasion at the decisive Battle of Tours by the Franks in 732, with the shape representing the Islamic crescent; that it was invented in Vienna in 1683 to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags, when bakers staying up all night heard the tunneling operation and gave the alarm; a version that is supported by the fact that croissants in French Language are referred to as Viennoiserie (a Romanian version called “cornulet” (meaning “little crescent”) is partially referenced in the movie The Terminal); tales linking croissants with the kifli and the siege of Buda in 1686; and those detailing Marie Antoinette’s hankering after a Viennese specialty. Alan Davidson, editor of the Oxford Companion to Food states that no printed recipe for the present-day croissant appears in any French recipe book before the early 20th century; the earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the “fantasy or luxury breads” in Payen’s Des substances alimentaires, 1853.
The “Siege of Vienna” story seems to owe its wide diffusion to Alfred Gottschalk, who wrote about the croissant for the first edition of the Larousse Gastronomique (1938). Gottschalk first cited the legend about the Turkish attack on Budapest in 1686, in the “history of food” section in the same work, he opted for the “siege of Vienna in 1683” version; compare the cappuccino legend.
never heard of it being connected to Vienna. but what does it mean??
2 GrandCasey // Jan 1, 2007 at 1:50 am
Sounds like lots of good luck – hope this means you sell your house!
3 Michael // Jan 1, 2007 at 4:32 am
the croissant stands for: you will find good coffee here! all the best to you and yours!
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