Lex Anteinternet: The Staff of Life: Bread

Lex Anteinternet: The Staff of Life: Bread:      

The Staff of Life: Bread

 The preparation of loaves of bread.

Bread is the staff of life; in which is contained, inclusive, the quintessence of beef, mutton, veal, venison, partridge, plum-pudding and custard: and to render all complete, there is intermingled a due quantity of water, whose crudities are also corrected by yeast or barm, through which it means it becomes a wholesome fermented liquor, diffused through the mass of bread.

Jonathan Swift, to whom I'd related on my mother's side.

Recently I heard a homily delivered referencing the Lord's Prayer and bread.

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

The Lord's Prayer in contemporary English.

The Priest, an African native, noted that for a time he'd served as a Priest in Rome, and during that time he was thrown into a bit of crisis due to the massive  variety of Italian breads (twenty kinds, he related) and that so much of it was thrown away in a location that was just across from him.  At home, in Zambia, bread was consumed still just once a month, when his father was paid.  How, he wondered, could he relate the scarcity of bread in his native land, with the over abundance of it in his new location, and the scarcity of it referenced in the Lord's Prayer (my summation, not quite the way he put it)?  He figured that very few Americans or westerners thought of it in terms of scarcity.

Pater Noster, qui es in caelis:

sanctificétur nomen tuum;

advéniat regnum tuum;

fiat volúntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra.

Panem nostrum cotidiánum da nobis hódie;

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris;

et ne nos indúcas in temptatiónem,

sed líbera nos a malo.

The Lord's Prayer in Latin.

Well, it might be just me, or perhaps more the family I come from, but that thought, the scarcity of bread and what it means in the context of the prayer, is something that I have thought of before.  Perhaps because I can recall my father mentioning, in reference itself to the prayer, that in the ancient world "bread was truly the staff of life."

Padre nostro che sei nei cieli,

sia santificato il tuo Nome,

venga il tuo Regno,

sia fatta la tua Volontà

come in cielo così in terra.

Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,

e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti

come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori,

e non ci indurre in tentazione,

ma liberaci dal Male.

The Lord's Prayer in contemporary Italian.

And indeed it was.

Bread was the basic foodstuff that fed great masses of humanity all around the world for centuries.  The diet we have today, with lots of variety, didn't exist in many localities, particularly after civilization, i.e., the construction of towns and cities, started in ancient times.  Not that any ancient society really had the variety of foods we have today, but hunter gatherer societies can have a more varied one than we suppose, with a fairly balanced diet.  In many ancient societies, however, once towns were built and crop agriculture set in, and indeed many societies right up until relatively modern times, bread was one of the basic if not the basic stable food item.  A person might have meat often, but they could hope to get by on bread.

Notre Père qui es aux cieux,

que ton Nom soit sanctifié,

que ton règne vienne,

que ta volonté soit faite

sur la terre comme au ciel.

Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.

Pardonne-nous nos offenses,

comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.

Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,

mais délivre-nous du mal. 

The Lord's Prayer in French.

That's quite a change, indeed, from what we experience now.  I suppose there may be exceptions, but by and large I don't know of any society that depends upon bread the same way that all peoples once did.

Πατερ ημων ο εν τοις ουρανοις·
     Pater hēmon ho en tois uranois;
αγιασθητω το ονομα σου·
     hagiasthēto to onoma su;
ελθετω η βασιλεια σου·
     elteto hē basileia su;
γενηθητω το θελημα σου, ως εν ουρανω και επι γης·
     genēthēto to thelēma su, hos en urano kai epi gēs;
τον αρτον ημων τον επιουσιον δος ημιν σημερον·
     ton arton hēmon to etiusion dos hēmin sēmeron;
και αφες ημιν τα οφειληματα ημον,
     kai aphes hemin ta opheilēmata hēmon,
ως και ημεις αφηκαμεν τοις οφειλεταις ημων·
     hos kai hēmeis aphēkamen tois opheiletais hēmon;
και μη εισενεγκης ημας εις πειρασμον,
     kai mē eisenegkēs hēmas eis peirasmon,
αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου.
     alla rhusai hēmas apo tu ponēru.

The Lord's Prayer in Greek.

Which is, I suppose, why ever culture around the world seems to have its own variety of it, with some societies in the wheat growing regions of the globe having multiple vareities of it.  Indeed, Italy and France seem to have a profusion of bread types, and good ones too, which we've only recently caught up with after basically importing their types.

Unser Vater in dem Himmel!
Dein Name werde geheiliget.
Dein Reich komme.
Dein Wille geschehe auf Erden wie im Himmel.
Unser täglich Brot gib uns heute.
Und vergib uns unsere Schulden,
wie wir unsern Schuldigern vergeben.
Und führe uns nicht in Versuchung,
sondern erlöse uns von dem Übel.

The Lord's Prayer in German.

And thank goodness for that, I'd note.  American breads of my youth were lousy, in my opinion. So packed with sugar that they are basically a really bland cake, the left a lot to be desired.  Those industrial breads are still around I'd note, but I don't have to buy them and I don't.

Отче наш, Иже еси на небесех!

Да святится имя Твое,

да приидет Царствие Твое,

да будет воля Твоя,

яко на небеси и на земли.

Хлеб наш насущный даждь нам днесь;

и остави нам долги наша,

якоже и мы оставляем должником нашим;

и не введи нас во искушение,

но избави нас от лукаваго. 

The Lord's Prayer in Russian.

Ironically, some of the really fancy breads of today started off, oddly enough, as poverty foods.  Italian walnut based breads and pastas (basically a species of bread, really) were the food of the really poor, who gleaned walnets.  Irish soda bread, which I really like and which I used to make on occasion, is a "short" bread with no or little sugar and no yeast.  Easy to make with only flour, just as the Irish poor were likely to not have.

Ranch cook making what is probably soda, or sheepherder's, bread in a cast iron pan, the way it is made at camps, and the way I even make it 

 

Оч͠е нашь ижє ѥси на н͠бсєхъ . да с͠титьсѧ имѧ

твоѥ да придєть ц͠рствиѥ твоѥ · да бѫдєть воля

твоя · яка на н͠бси и на земли хлѣбъ нашь насѫщьиыи ·

даждь намъ дьньсь · и остави намъ · длъгы

нашѧ · яко и мы оставляємъ длъжникомъ нашимъ

и нє въвєди насъ въ напасть · иъ избави ны отъ

нєприязни

The Lord's Prayer in Old Church Slavonic.

But I can see how many would have never considered this.

أبانا الذي في السّماوات

ليتقدَّسِ اسمُك

ليأتِ ملكوتُك

لتكُنْ مشيئتُكَ

كما في السَّماءِ كذلكَ على الأرض

خبزَنَا الجوهريَّ أعطِنا اليوم

واترُكْ لنا ما علينا

كما نتركُ نحنُ لِمَنْ لنا عليه

ولا تُدخِلْنا في تجربة

لكن نجِّنا مِن الشرير

آمين

The Lord's Prayer in Arabic.

Although I suspect that quite a few still do, even in spite of a modern condition in which foods supplies are so vast in the Western World that bread is sometimes regarded by some as a dietary enemy.

我們在天上的父，

願人都尊祢的名為聖，

願祢的國降臨，

願祢的旨意行在地上，

如同行在天上。

我們日用的飲食，

今日賜給我們，

免我們的債，

如同我們免了人的債，

不叫我們遇見試探，

救我們脫離兇惡，

因為國度、權柄、榮耀，全是祢的，

直到永遠。阿們！

The Lord's Prayer in Chinese.

And, in the context of the Lord's Prayer, if a person does, the deeper meaning of the prayer on that line is quite evident.

E ko mākou Makua i loko o ka lani,

e ho‘āno ‘ia Kou inoa.

E hiki mai Kou aupuni.

E mālama ‘ia Kou makemake ma ka honua nei,

e like me ia i mālama ‘ia ma ka lani lā.

E hā‘awi mai iā mākou i kēia lā i ‘ai na mākou no nēia lā;

a e kala mai ho‘i iā mākou i kā mākou lawehala ‘ana,

me mākou e kala nei i ka po‘e i lawehala i kā mākou;

a mai ho‘oku‘u ‘Oe iā mākou i ka ho‘owalewale ‘ia mai,

akā e ho‘opakele nō na‘e iā mākou i ka ino. 

Hawaiian.

Vår Far i himmelen!
La navnet ditt helliges.
La riket ditt komme.
La viljen din skje på jorden
slik som i himmelen.
Gi oss i dag vårt daglige brød,
og tilgi oss vår skyld,
slik også vi tilgir våre skyldnere.
Og la oss ikke komme i fristelse, men frels oss fra det onde.
For riket er ditt,
og makten og æren i evighet.

Norwegian

Faþer vár es ert í himenríki, verði nafn þitt hæilagt.

Til kome ríke þitt, værði vili þin

sva a iarðu sem í himnum.

Gef oss í dag brauð vort dagligt,

Ok fyr gefþu oss synþer órar,

sem vér fyr gefom þeim er viþ oss hafa misgert

Leiðd oss eigi í freistni, heldr leys þv oss frá öllu illu.

Old Norse

Faðir vor, þú sem ert á himnum.

Helgist þitt nafn,

til komi þitt ríki,

verði þinn vilji, svo á jörðu sem á himni.

Gef oss í dag vort daglegt brauð.

Fyrirgef oss vorar skuldir,

svo sem vér og fyrirgefum vorum skuldunautum.

Eigi leið þú oss í freistni, heldur frelsa oss frá illu.

[Því að þitt er ríkið, mátturinn og dýrðin að eilífu, amen.]

Icelandic

Ár nAthair, atá ar neamh: go naofar d'ainm.

Go dtaga do ríocht.

Go ndéantar do thoil ar talamh

mar a dhéantar ar neamh.

Ár n-arán laethúil tabhair dúinn inniu,

agus maith dúinn ár bhfiacha,

mar a mhaithimid dár bhféichiúnaithe féin.

Agus ná lig sinn i gcathú,

ach saor sinn ó olc.

[Óir is leatsa an Ríocht agus an Chumhacht

agus an Ghlóir, trí shaol na saol.]

Áiméan.

Irish

Isä meidän, joka olet taivaissa,

Pyhitetty olkoon sinun nimesi.

Tulkoon sinun valtakuntasi.

Tapahtukoon sinun tahtosi,

myös maan päällä niin kuin taivaassa.

Anna meille tänä päivänä

meidän jokapäiväinen leipämme.

Ja anna meille meidän syntimme anteeksi,

niin kuin mekin anteeksi annamme niille,

jotka ovat meitä vastaan rikkoneet.

Äläkä saata meitä kiusaukseen,

vaan päästä meidät pahasta.

[Sillä sinun on valtakunta

ja voima ja kunnia iankaikkisesti.]

Aamen.\

Finnish