In our life, there are enough family and popular holidays, when many guests come to the house. And not only deliciously cooked refreshments, but also the right table setting give the festival its own unique atmosphere.
On which side to put the knife and fork, everyone knows, but how to roll napkins on the festive table is a completely different question! Now more about him!
Ways to fold napkins
There are a lot of options for how to beautifully fold napkins. Consider the most common.
Can be issued as a standard, in the form of a fan. To do this, put the napkin āfaceā down and fold in half. On the right side you need to fold the "accordion" by Ā¾ length, then turn it over and bend it from top to bottom. We fold the left part, which is not folded, from top to bottom diagonally so that it fits between the resulting folds, and now we unfold the entire structure in the form of a fan and place it in front of a plate.
Napkins for the New Year's table
For a New Year or Christmas table, you need to learn how to fold a Christmas tree napkin. She will need multilayer napkins. It must be folded four times and put open corners to yourself. Next, bend the corners in the center in layers so that the distance between them is about 1.5 cm.
After that, the napkin is turned over, wrapped on both sides, and the fold is smoothed out. Turn over again and bend all corners up. When you have finished the last corner, we turn the rest of it back. And it turns out a beautiful Christmas tree, which can be decorated with several beads.
For romantics
How beautifully to fold napkins to impress your future soulmate? Naturally, in the form of a heart! So we take a square napkin, preferably red, and fold it in half to make a triangle.
We bend the right corner up to the center of the triangle, do the same with the left. We turn and bend the upper corner to the bottom, to the center. We bend both upper corners to the sides, sharp upper corners also bend and turn over the napkin. On such a heart, a golden ring will look very nice, well, or just a beautiful piece of jewelry that you give to your beloved girl.
Palm branch napkins
And how to roll up napkins for the New Year if you celebrate it in the tropics? We have already examined the Christmas tree, now we are learning to fold the palm branch. To do this, fold the napkin in half and bend the corners of the upper layer down to the middle. Then turn over and bend the rest to the middle. Fold the bottom two corners of the top layer obliquely up from the middle, and then fold the accordion to the left and right. After that, you just have to tie the bottom with a lace and deploy the product in the form of a palm branch.
Dress up cutlery
You can, of course, without further ado, just wrap a spoon with a fork in a napkin, cloth or newspaper, but your guests will probably be a little disappointed with this reception. Therefore, we must learn how to fold the napkin for devices correctly. Again, there are a lot of ways, we will analyze the most common.
Put the napkin upside down, then bend the upper left corner to the center. Fold it vertically to the right, then horizontally in half, so that the part with the corner is at the top. We bend the free corner to the center and fill it into the āpocketā, which turned out before that, and hide the sidewalls back. The result was such an āenvelopeā in the form of a rhombus. Itās prettier than just wrapping appliances, donāt you?
Another way to roll a serving napkin is as follows. Fold the napkin four times. We bend the upper corner by 4 cm, bend again, and as a result we get a āpocketā with a piping on the wrong side. We also bend the second corner, tucking it into the resulting āpocketā so that it protrudes over the first by a couple of centimeters. We bend the upper and lower edges back, folding the napkin three times, and place it vertically, so that the pockets for spoons, forks and knives are located diagonally.
Congratulations, now youāve learned how to fold a tissue napkin, since fabric is preferable for devices, and even starched, it holds its shape better.
Table setting: a bit of history
The culture of eating itself goes back centuries. Of course, the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons who subsequently displaced them were not up to decency at the table; they already had enough worries. So they didnāt really think about how the tearing of meat with their hands looks like from the side, and later cutting it with a stone or bone knife. But over time, when a person began to become more aware of himself as a dominant species, he wanted to stop being like his own prey.
Animals, as you know, do not know how to behave at the table (exception: Orwellās Animal Farm, but this is just a fairy tale), and the person already wanted more. With the advent of luxury goods, dinnerware began to appear, often made of gold or silver, which emphasized the importance of their owner.
Today we know about serving cutlery, about how to roll napkins on a festive table. But it turns out, even in Ancient Egypt, strict rules already existed in this regard, as deciphered hieroglyphs told the world.
An even greater contribution to the culture of food and drink was made by the ancient Greeks. The rather modest, ascetic furnishings of the Hellenic dwellings did not extend, however, to their refectory.
Features of Greek Table Etiquette
The Greeks had breakfast and lunch quite modestly, but here at dinner they paid tribute to all available dishes. The men were lying on the refectory bed, eating mainly fish, vegetables and bread. Women were sitting on chairs, for they were not allowed that volatility, which was used by the male sex. At dinner, the Greeks drank exclusively diluted wine, not water, which, however, did not make them bitter drinkers. The peculiarities of the Greek climate made it possible to quickly remove weak alcohol from the body, and red wine saves from increased solar radiation by removing strontium.
After dinner, the Greeks began a symposium. This was the name of the closed men's party, where the wine cup was allowed in a circle. The word has survived to this day, however, in a completely different meaning.
At that time only high-ranking rich Greek residents could afford spoons, so they usually ate with their hands. In soups, they dipped a piece of bread and ate, unlike the Japanese, who simply drink liquid from a plate.
By the way, according to Herodotus, one of the signs of a barbarian is drinking undiluted wine, which is why the Greeks considered our ancestors, Scythians, Sarmatians and Roxolans barbarians, which has migrated to all of Russia today.
Roman feasts
The Romans also reclined on a bed while eating. Sitting ate exclusively ordinary people, not burdened with any posts and ranks. Having united in groups of 9 people, they were located on three couches, standing nearby, which was quite convenient.
In the center there was a special serving table, which was wiped before serving a new meal. The Romans did not take the cutlery from Hellas, therefore, how to roll napkins on the festive table, they were not familiar with, and they ate with their hands, why the guests were served water for rinsing.
Due to colder climatic conditions compared to Greece, the Romans ate meat. In rich houses there was even a special servant whose duties included cutting the roast and serving it on the table.
For ordinary people, the dishes were made of clay, since they could not afford silver or gold plates. However, glassware was in almost every home.
Under Emperor Nero, feasts turned into unbridled orgies. The Romans, although they were a highly cultured civilization, but over time, the desire for luxury and gluttony, which was especially evident just at the time of the meal, ruined the empire.
Age of the Middle Ages
Oddly enough, but cultural Europe, even in the VIII century. I still did not suspect the existence of either plates or tablecloths. The food was laid out in the hollowed-out recesses in the tables, and even more so, they did not know how to fold a paper napkin, and there were none at that time.
The general drunkenness and gluttony of European rulers was included in most chronicles of that time. And drunken fights with murders during a feast were generally commonplace. Only Charlemagne, the emperor of the West, was able to revive the ancient customs of the Romans and Greeks. Due to the lack of spoons, they ate with small knives, and served dishes on gilt dishes. It was with him that during the meal, dancers, musicians and readers reappeared.
By the XIII century. the culture of behavior at the table began to play a large role in reputation. The heyday of chivalry did not allow those liberties that were available 500 years ago. The correct seating of guests according to their rank was observed. Well, talking with your mouth full meant to be known as a savage who would no longer be invited to any decent house.
From the XVI century. a fork came into use with a creak. Spoons and knives were already commonplace. Napkins and tablecloths also appeared, and, apparently, it was then that they figured out how to roll napkins on the festive table, so that not only the wealth of the treats, but also the beauty of the serving impressed. Various types of utensils have also come into use , separately for each dish. All kinds of tureens, salad bowls, ducklings were usually made of tin with an admixture of silver, but there were also products from Chinese porcelain.
So, when serving your table, do not forget that all the rules that we follow today are many, many centuries.
In this article we discussed the basic ways of table setting, touched on the story and, of course, learned how to fold a Christmas tree napkin. Good luck