Gingerbread has been popular for years in Russia, yet no reliable sources can be found to determine when gingerbread was invented. Researchers believe that gingerbread was baked dozens if not hundreds of millennia ago. The ancient ritual described in the dictionary compiled by Vladimir Dahl confirms this myth. “On the second day of their marriage the newlyweds visit the bride’s parents with gingerbread as a present”, Dahl wrote. This reference to gingerbread shows the deeply archaic roots of the gingerbread tradition during weddings, going back to the times of the matriarchate, when women played a leading role in society.
The best gingerbread was baked in the 17th – 19th centuries in Archangelsk, Vologda, Moscow, Tver, and Tula.