Week 7: Everyday Things

Bread

Imagine Baking Bread. You mix the ground up seeds of a grass plant with a pinch of fungus then add water. After rolling this mixture around in your hands for a while then adding heat, you've made the favorite food of much of the world.

I read once that in some ancient cultures, baking and the icon of the mother/goddess were closely linked. Pregnant looking goddess statues were often found near or on ancient oven sites. A baker, a mother, and the divine were all aligned as creators.

Many creation myths begin with God creating humankind out of dirt (or dust or clay). And what is bread making really but creating--perhaps not life but a life-giving substance out of material that very much resembles dust. Whole wheat flour looks and feels just like fine gritty sand. If you make what we now call "artisan" bread, or sourdough bread sometimes you don 't even add the yeast. The substance that gives the bread "life" simply falls into the flour--like God breathing life into the dust.