<P> Bread, salt and heart (Albanian: bukë, kripë e zemër) is a traditional Albanian way of honoring guests, it dates back from the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini Chapter 18 - para. 608: "The Guest shall be welcomed with Bread, salt and heart". Heart in the context is related with hospitality, the concept is based on giving the most expensive thing of that time which was salt to the awaited guest . Nowadays it is not commonly practiced during daily life . </P> <P> When important, respected, or admired guests arrive, they are presented with a loaf of bread (usually a korovai) placed on a rushnyk (embroidered ritual cloth). A salt holder or a salt cellar is placed on top of the bread loaf or secured in a hole on the top of the loaf . On official occasions, the "bread and salt" is usually presented by young women dressed in national costumes (e.g., sarafan and kokoshnik). </P> <P> The tradition gave rise to the Russian word that expresses a person's hospitality: "khlebosolny" (literally: "bready - salty"). In general, the word "bread" is associated in Russian culture with hospitality, bread being the most respected food, whereas salt is associated with long friendship, as expressed in a Russian saying "to eat a pood of salt (together with someone)". Also historically the Russian Empire had a high salt tax that made salt a very expensive and prized commodity (see also the Moscow uprising of 1648). </P> <P> There also is a traditional Russian greeting "Khleb da sol!" (Хлеб да соль! "Bread and salt!"). The phrase is to be uttered by an arriving guest as an expression of good wish towards the host's household . It was often used by beggars as an implicit hint to be fed, therefore a mocking rhymed response is known: "Khleb da sol!"--"Yem da svoy!" (Хлеб да соль--ем да свой! "Bread and salt!"--"I am eating and it is my own!"). </P>

Bringing salt and bread to a new home