On 24 September 2020, the head of museum and education department of Bolgar Museum-Reserve R. Z. Vagapov held an online tour “Tea traditions of the Volga region”.
Many peoples of Russia have strong and honored traditions of tea party, which began to develop many centuries ago. The audience became acquainted with some tea traditions of Tatars in the museum “Bolgar tea party”. Tatar phrase “cheige chakyru” – “to invite for tea” – came into use of Kazan Tatars since the middle of XVIII century. Coming of a guest was necessarily accompanied by a tea party without dependence from time of day. Some women loved so much going visit to have tea that a saying appeared “She learned to have tea and forgot her yarn”. During the tour, the guests saw a collection of samovars of Bolgar Museum-Reserve. At the event, a master class “Bolgar tea” was demonstrated where the audience learned a recipe for this tea and one of the oldest dishes of Tatar cuisine “Bal-mai”, which is an essential part of Tatar tea party.
The audience became acquainted with the history of appearance of bal-mai having its origin in the time of Volga Bulgaria and learned its recipe and technology of preparation. Internet cannot sufficiently express a taste of bal-mai and a flavor of Bolgar tea that is why visit Bolgar Museum-Reserve and taste them.

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