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Are you familiar with the ancient tradition associated with the newlyweds’ bread?
We’ll tell you about the one linked to the village of Uri, a small but charming village in Northern Sardinia, rich in history, culture and food and wine traditions handed down through the years.
In Uri, as in almost all of Sardegna, bread was made using sourdough – Sa Madrighe – and was the staple food at ceremonies: this delicious, fragrant bread was served at weddings, at Easter, during religious ceremonies and on important festive occasions.
The bread was prepared with great care and skill and served as a vehicle for important messages, which were incorporated into the marvellous decorations and the ‘stamps’ used by families to mark the bread they offered.
For weddings, the ‘Newlyweds’ Bread’ was prepared on the preceding Wednesday, both to be served at the wedding banquet and to be given to the guests when the gifts were presented.
The Newlyweds’ Bread was artfully and meticulously crafted, reflecting the skill and imagination of the women who shaped it with scissors, knives and tweezers to create decorations that symbolised good fortune.
Flowers, hearts, doves with wedding rings, bunches of grapes and ears of wheat were used to wish the couple eternal love, peace, serenity and prosperity.
Once the small white loaves had come out of the oven and were still warm, they were skewered onto a large fork – an item that formed part of the bride’s trousseau – and passed over a cauldron in which water and wheat were boiling.
In this way, the steam made the bread shiny and durable over time, and therefore particularly well-suited to bringing happiness to the newlyweds.
If you’d like to learn about this and other wonderful stories from Northern Sardinia, we recommend a visit to Uri.
You can take advantage of one of the ‘Salute & Trigu’ events, such as the summer Artichoke Festival.
Explore the culture and nature of Northern Sardinia: places to discover, local dishes, traditions and stories from the region.
‘Domus de Janas’ is a Sardinian expression meaning ‘house of the fairies’. Legends tell of beings that are not particularly spiritual – demons, somewhere between human and divine.
Sardegna has a wine-making tradition stretching back thousands of years; the earliest evidence of wine-making dates as far back as 1400 BC.
There is a story linked to the island of Tavolara which tells that King Carlo Alberto of Savoy appointed his only son as king of the island.
The Ludurru necropolis is situated in Buddusò, and the domus de janas date back to 3200–2800 BC, famous examples of the Sardegna Neolithic period
The Neptune Caves are spectacular caves dating back to prehistoric times. They are located at Alghero, in Northern Sardinia
The Church of St Francis in Alghero is one of the finest examples of Catalan Gothic architecture in Sardegna
