{{Short description|Mandaean sacramental bread}} thumb|right|Kneading dough for pihta during the 1930s in southern Iraq {{Mandaeism}} {{Distinguish|pita}} In Mandaeism, the '''pihta''' ({{langx|myz|ࡐࡉࡄࡕࡀ|lit=opened; something broken apart or into pieces}}<ref name="Secret Adam">{{cite book|last=Drower|first=E. S.|author-link=E. S. Drower|date=1960|title=The secret Adam: a study of Nasoraean gnosis|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press}}</ref>{{rp|3}}) is a type of sacramental bread used with rituals performed by Mandaean priests. It is a small, round, biscuit-sized flatbread that can either be salted or saltless, depending on whether the ritual use of the pihta is for living or dead people.<ref name="Buckley 2002"/>
The pihta is not to be confused with the ''faṭira'', a small, round, saltless, half-baked biscuit also used in Mandaean rituals.<ref name="Buckley 2002"/>
==Description== The pihta, as used in rituals for living people such as the masbuta, is a small, round, salted, biscuit-sized flatbread made by mixing flour and salt with water, followed by baking. It can only be made by Mandaean priests, and the flour is also ground by priests.<ref name="Drower 1937">Drower, Ethel Stefana. 1937. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press.</ref> Unlike the ''faṭira'', which is saltless sacramental bread used for the masiqta, the pihta (as used in masbuta rituals) is salted (with salt mixed into the dough before baking), since salt (''mihla'') represents symbolizes the soul according to the ''Alma Rišaia Rba''. However, pihta is also used during masiqta rituals. In this case, the pihta is not salted, since the lack of salt symbolizes the departure of the soul from the body.<ref name="Buckley 2002"/> (''See also'': blessed salt)
==Ritual usage== Every Sunday, Mandaeans participate in a baptismal mass (''maṣbuta'') involving immersion in flowing water (''yardna'') by ordained priests. The baptized then consume pieces of salted pihta blessed by a priest in order to restore their connections (''laufa'') with the World of Light (see Mandaean cosmology).<ref name="Buckley 2002">{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|publisher=Oxford University Press|publication-place=New York|year=2002|isbn=0-19-515385-5|oclc=65198443}}</ref>
Saltless pihta is also used in masiqta rituals.<ref name="DC27">{{cite book|last=Burtea|first=Bogdan|title=Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis|publisher=Harrassowitz|publication-place=Wiesbaden|year=2008|isbn=978-3-447-05644-1|oclc=221130512|language=de|url=https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/%26Zihrun_das_verborgene_Geheimnis%26/titel_115.ahtml}}</ref>
==Associated ritual objects== The ''brihi'' is a ritual clay fire saucer. Its narrow end faces north. The ''brihi'' is used for the pihta and riha.<ref name="SymbolicArt">{{cite book |last=van Rompaey |first=Sandra |title=Mandaean Symbolic Art |publisher=Brepols |publication-place=Turnhout |date=2024 |isbn=978-2-503-59365-4 |url=https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503593654-1}}</ref>
The ''gišar'' is a stone flour mill that can only be used by priests for grinding sacramental flour.<ref name="SymbolicArt">{{cite book |last=van Rompaey |first=Sandra |title=Mandaean Symbolic Art |publisher=Brepols |publication-place=Turnhout |date=2024 |isbn=978-2-503-59365-4 |url=https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503593654-1}}</ref>
==Prayers== Various prayers in the ''Qulasta'', including prayers 36–45 and 59, are recited during the sacrament of the pihta.<ref name="Drower 1959">{{Cite book|title=The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans|last=Drower|first=E. S.|publisher=E. J. Brill|year=1959|location=Leiden}}</ref>
==See also== *Sacramental bread *Fatira *Sa (Mandaeism)
==References== {{Commons category|Pihta}} {{reflist}}
{{Mandaeism footer}} {{Flatbreads}} Category:Flatbreads Category:Mandaean ceremonial food and drink Category:Mandaic words and phrases Category:Unleavened breads