Icon on glass

There is one iconographic theme we have not found in the imagery of any other Orthodox culture, namely the theme of the Meal in the Heavenly Kingdom. The background is a rhombic pattern separated with vines and flowers, against which Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and child, Saint Basil and Saint Parascheva guard the corners of a table with a star / flower in the middle. Alongside the Last Supper, a visual representation of the Eucharist, the most shattering moment of Christian culture, this image underpins the compelling importance of food rituals. According to rural mentality, meals are fortunate moments that promote sanity of mind and health of body. Present at the heavenly meal, Saint Basil and Parascheva are the guardians of sanity and health. The star in the middle of the decorated table recalls the Nativity of Jesus. It visually recalls the real traditional Christmas meal, served on a table protected both by magical objects placed at the corners and by an icon of Our Saviour next to a ritual cake placed in the middle. Eating together has always supported community links in the rural world and people?s relations with the divinity. Blessing the food and giving thanks for it were consecrations of the power of food as a tool of creating man. That is why the Romanians well-known hospitality has always involved sharing food with a stranger. In Romanian, this is called a omeni, a word rooted in om, meaning man. To invite a stranger to eat something is therefore to create a man, to make him one of us. The exhibits pinpoint the importance of what and how things are eaten and, even more meaningful, the importance of the places and moments of sacredness that may turn lunch into a beneficial or a maleficent act.