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Showing posts from February, 2020

Failing at Koblihy and Bozi Milosti for Masupost

Happy Fat Tuesday!   In the Czech Catholic tradition, the period of days leading up to Ash Wednesday is called Masupost and is similar to what American Southerners know as Mardi Gras, and Carnival that Brazilians celebrate. It’s a time of food, music, costumes, and revelry before the self denial of Lent, the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter.  An article on the Czech Expats website declares five “sinful” foods to have during Masupost , presumably dishes to gorge on before giving up things like sugar or fried foods during Lent. The list includes koblihy (according to the article’s author, “ Masopust wouldn’t be Masopust without a batch of Czech carnival donuts”), and bozi milosti . These are fried squares or triangles of unleavened dough sprinkled with powdered sugar. My mother made neither of these things, and my aunts don’t remember their mother, my grandmother, making them either. However, in an oral interview done with my grandmother in the 1990s, she remember