DescriptionPerfect for offerings on your ritual space or altar.In Slavic mythology swans were treated as sacred birds and it was forbidden to kill or eat them. The beauty and graciousness of these birds gave rise to legends about swan maidens. These maidens were said to be elegant, mystical creatures that rule the roost of nature. They also appeared as one of Baba Yaga‘s helpers in tales like The Magic Swan Geese. The Khokhloma style is named after the village of Khokhloma in Koverninsky District, where It first appeared in the second half of the 17th century. The production of painted dishes is first mentioned in 1659 in the letter of a boyar called Morozov to his bailiff, containing an order for the following: “One hundred painted dishes polished with powdered tin, both large and medium, of the very same kind possessed by us earlier, not forgetting twenty large painted wine bowls, twenty medium, and twenty somewhat smaller”.The handicraft owes its origin to the Old Believers, who, fleeing from persecutions of officials, took refuge in local woods. Even earlier, however, local villagers had experience in making tableware from soft woods. Among the schismatics there were Orthodox Icon painters, who taught local craftsmen the special technique of painting wood in a golden colour without the use of genuine real gold.
