Lebkuchen production and candle making are handicrafts
that date back over 1,300 years. For centuries, honey-based dough
has been the source material for a unique creativity within the specialized
handicraft known as lebkuchen production. In Slovenia, alongside
the term medičarstvo.
the term lectarstvo is also used, especially to refer
to the traditional decorative gingerbread cookies made of honey dough known as lect or lecet.
These are semi-durable cookies in the form of discs or
other ornamental figures. Honey dough is usually made of rye flour, to
which various spices are often added. Honey cookies baked
in wooden molds are known as loški mali kruhek ‘little Škofja
Loka
bread’ and those decorated by hand are called dražgoški
kruhek ‘little Dražgoše bread.’
People baked these cookies primarily for religious
holidays (e.g., St. Nicholas’ Day, Christmas, New Year,
and Epiphany), as well as for
fairs, various benedictions, and name days.
They made appropriate wedding gifts, suitable presents given
at benedictions, or gifts for guests. At church holidays, women
used to sell them in their baskets in the Poljane Valley and
to the south to Polhov Gradec, in the Selca Valley as
far as Martinj Vrh and Davča,
and also in Kropa, Radovljica, and Bled. Today,
the decorative honey cookies with colored frosting are the
most common. The best-known is the lebkuchen heart with a little mirror and a special verse in the middle.
In addition to making lebkuchen, people also made candles because, after extracting the honey from the combs three times,
only the beeswax remained, which also had to be processed. These candles were used to illuminate castles, convents, and
churches. Candle makers also made wax figurines, which the rural population frequently bought because they believed they
would bring them health and luck. They generally bought them at important pilgrimage sites and brought them to their church.
Thus, for example, the motif of an arm or leg was supposed to ensure
healthy limbs, a wax baby figurine was supposed to ensure a
healthy newborn, an ox or a cow figurine was supposed to
ensure healthy cattle, a pair of eyes was to provide good eyesight, and
a frog with its legs spread represented the womb, which was an important motif during pregnancy.
Products made by lebkuchen and candle makers are attractive souvenirs.
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