How to fold napkins on a festive table? Table setting

In our life there are enough family and national holidays, when many visitors come to the house. And not only deliciously cooked food, but also proper serving make the festival its unique atmosphere.

On which side to put a knife and fork, know everything, but how to roll napkins on a festive table - this is a completely different matter! Now about him more!

Ways of folding napkins

There are a lot of options for how beautifully to fold napkins. Consider the most common.

Can be issued as a standard, in the form of a fan. To do this, put the napkin "face" down and fold it in half. On the right side, you need to fold the "accordion" by ¾ of the length, then turn and bend it from top to bottom. The left part, which is not folded, is folded from top to bottom diagonally, so that it enters between the resulting folds, and now the entire structure is unfolded in the form of a fan and set before the plate.

Napkins for the New Year's table

For a New Year's or Christmas table you need to learn how to fold a napkin with a Christmas tree. It will need multi-layer wipes. It is necessary to fold it in four and put open corners to yourself. Next, layer by layer we bend the corners in the center, 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. We turn again and fold all the corners up. When finished the last corner, the rest is wrapped back. And it turns out a beautiful Christmas tree, which can be decorated with several beads.

For romantics

How beautifully fold napkins to impress the future soul mate? Naturally, in the form of a heart! So take a square napkin, preferably red, and fold it in half to make a triangle.

The right angle is bent upwards towards the center of the triangle, the same we do with the left. We turn and bend the upper corner to the bottom, to the center. Both of the upper corners bend in the sides, the sharp upper corners, too, bend and turn the napkin. On such a heart, it will be very beautiful to look a golden ring, well, or just a beautiful decoration that you give to your beloved girl.

Napkins in the form of a palm branch

And how to fold napkins for the New Year, if you celebrate it in the tropics? We have already examined the fir tree, now we are learning to fold the palm branch. To do this, fold the napkin in half and bend the corners of the top layer downwards, towards the middle. Then turn and bend to the middle of the rest. The two lower corners of the top layer bend obliquely upwards from the middle, and then add the "accordion" on the left and right. After that, you only need to tie the bottom of the string and deploy the product in the form of a palm branch.

Dressing up cutlery

You can, of course, without philosophizing slyly, just wrap a spoon with a fork with a napkin, cloth or newspaper, but your guests will surely be a little disappointed with such a technique. Therefore, you need to learn how to fold the napkin for the instruments correctly. There are a lot of ways, again, the most common ones.

Put the napkin on the wrong side up, 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 was at the top. Free angle bend to the center and fill in the "pocket", which turned out before, and the sidewalls will hide back. It turned out such an "envelope" in the form of a diamond. It's more beautiful than just wrapping appliances, do not you think?

Another way to minimize the serviette for servings is as follows. We fold the napkin four times. The upper corner bend by 4 cm, bend again, and as a result we get a "pocket" with a lip on the underside. The second corner, too, bend, tucking it into the resulting "pocket" so that it protrudes above the first by a couple of centimeters. The upper and lower edges bend back, folding a three-fold napkin, and put it vertically, so that the pockets under the spoons, forks and knives are located diagonally.

Congratulations, now you have learned how to fold a tissue napkin, because for instruments it is preferable to fabric, and even starched, it keeps the shape better.

Serving the table: a bit of history

The very culture of eating takes us back to the depths of the ages. Of course, the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons who drove them out afterwards were not up to decorum at the table, they already had enough worries. So they did not particularly think about what the tearing of the meat looks like by hands, and later cutting 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: Orwell's "Animal Farm", but it's just a fairy tale), and the man already wanted more. With the advent of luxury goods began to appear and dinnerware, often of gold or silver, which emphasized the importance of their owner.

About the serving of cutlery, about how to roll napkins on a festive table, we know today. But it turns out, even in ancient Egypt there already existed strict rules on this matter, as the decoded 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 situation of the Hellenic dwellings did not extend, however, to their refectory.

Features of Greek table etiquette

The Greeks ate lunch and dinner rather modestly, but at dinner they paid tribute to all the available dishes. The men lay on the refectory bed, eating mainly fish, vegetables and bread. Women were sitting on chairs, because they were not allowed the freedom that the male sex enjoyed. The Greeks drank at dinner exclusively diluted wine, and not water, which, however, did not make them bitter drunkards. The peculiarities of the Greek climate made it possible to quickly remove weak alcohol from the body, and even from increased sun radiation red wine rescues, removing strontium.

After dinner, the Greeks started a symposium. This was the name of the closed men's party, where the wine cup was let in a circle. The word has reached and to our days, the truth, already in absolutely other meaning.

Spoons at that time could afford only high-ranking rich Greek residents, so they usually ate with their hands. In soups they dipped a piece of bread and ate, unlike the Japanese, who simply drink liquids from a plate.

By the way, according to Herodotus, one of the signs of the barbarian is the drink of undiluted wine, which is why the Greeks considered our ancestors, Scythians, Sarmatians and Roksolans barbarians, which has moved to the whole of Russia today.

Roman feasts

The Romans also reclined on the couch while eating. Sitting ate exclusively ordinary people, not burdened with any posts and titles. Having united in groups of 9 people, they were located on three couches standing side by side, which was quite convenient.

In the center was a special serving table, which was wiped before serving a new change of dishes. The Romans did not take the tablewares from Hellas, so they had no idea how to roll the napkins on the festive table, and ate them with their hands, why the guests were given water for rinsing.

In view of the colder climatic conditions, compared to Greece, the Romans ate. In the rich houses there was even a special servant whose duty it was to cut the roast and serve it on the table.

The simple people had dishes made of clay, since they could not afford silver or gold plates. However, glassware was made in almost every home.

Under Emperor Nero, feasts became unbridled orgies. The Romans, though they were a highly cultured civilization, but over time the desire for luxury and gluttony, which was especially evident during the meals, destroyed the empire.

The Age of the Middle Ages

Strangely enough, but cultural Europe, even in the VIII century. Had not yet suspected the existence of plates or tablecloths. Food was laid out in hollowed out grooves in the tables, and how to roll a paper napkin, did not know and even more so, and then they were not.

General drunkenness and gluttony of the European rulers were included in most chronicles of that time. And drunk fights with murders during the feast in general were common. Only Charlemagne, the emperor of the West, was able to revive the ancient customs of the Romans and Greeks. In view of the lack of spoons, they ate with small knives, and served dishes on gilded dishes. It was with him during the meal that dancers, musicians and readers reappeared.

By the XIII century. The culture of behavior at the table began to play a big role in reputation. The era of the heyday of chivalry did not allow those liberties that were available 500 years ago. Respect for the seating of guests according to their rank was observed. Well, talking with a mouth full was like passing through a savage who would not be invited to a decent house any more.

Since the XVI century. A fork came into use with a creak. Spoons and knives were already common. Also there were napkins and tablecloths, and, apparently, it was then invented how to roll napkins on the festive table, so that not only the richness of the meal, but the beauty of serving would make an impression. There were also various types of dishes, separately for each dish. All sorts of tureens, salad bowls, udjatnitsy 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, many, many centuries.

In this article, we discussed the basic ways of serving the table, touched upon the story and, of course, learned how to fold the napkin with herringbone. Good luck!