About housewarming

Housewarming is considered to be one of the exciting events as the dream of many years comes true. It is a special occasion of shifting to the new house or newly renovated house. The excitement lays in house owners as they passed from many hurdles during the construction of their dream house. They want to celebrate it with their friends and close relatives. The ultimate event to show their happiness is considered to be the housewarming ceremony. Many sentiments are attached with this special event. Housewarming can be celebrated all around the world according to the cultures and traditions.

The Russians and housewarming

According to Russians, there is a story behind housewarming. The tradition of giving gifts and blessing to the new house owners is originated from Russia. According to the story, a couple in a village, Boris and his wife Yelena had gifted a piece of bread for good health and a pinch of salt for long life to the Russian dignitaries who were passing through their village. When the dignitary tasted the bread with salt, he said that such a wonderful welcome. This story gave birth to the new tradition of housewarming. According to the Russian modern tradition, bread denotes to be the cupboard of food will always be full, salt denotes flavor and honey denotes the life is full of sweetness. In Eastern countries, rice is given for fertility on housewarming ceremony as a tradition. For most of the people, housewarming means, giving coal to keep the new home warm.

Conclusion

The gift giving tradition on many occasions in Russia is very strong. It mainly focuses on communal values, where society, friends, family, and relatives together make a single unit which plays an important role in the emotions and feelings. Here individual interests are not taken into consideration. In Russia, family is considered to be a network of relatives. So, during housewarming ceremony, all family members and relatives and friends share their happiness. According to Russian tradition, gift should include a broom to sweep away the evil, a piece of bread to keep friend never hungry, honey to denote sweetness in their life, coin to bring good fortune and a pinch of salt for good luck, plants to bring prosperity, candles to denote light in life, etc.