Croissants & August 5th

August 5, 2016 is the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Petrovaradin or Peterwardein, a decisive victory for Austrian forces in the war between Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Ottoman Empire of August 5, 1716, at Petrovaradin (then part of Military Frontier, Habsburg Monarchy; today part of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia). This was the beginning of the end of the Ottomans. After the war, a church commemorating this event was built on Tekije, on the hill over battlefield, and is dedicated to Our Lady of Tekije, also known as Our Lady of the Snows. The church is special, because it has both Catholic and Orthodox altars and both Christian denominations use it. The site is a place of pilgrimage on every August 5.

After the battles that defeated the Ottomans, they had lost most of their European domains 300 years ago. "Viennese bakers celebrated their deliverance with what came to be called the croissant, a pastry in the shape of the Muslim crescent. Take a bite out of Islam?" notes one anti-jihadist site. 

The other date linked to this story is - September 11, 1638.

The earliest story dates to 1683, during the Ottoman Turks siege of Vienna. Legend has it that a baker working late at night heard the Turks tunneling under the walls of the city and alerted the military.
The military collapsed the tunnel in on the Turks and eliminated the threat, saving the city. The baker baked a crescent shaped pastry in the shape of the Turk’s Islamic emblem, the crescent moon, so that when his fellow Austrians bit into the croissant, they would be symbolically devouring the Turks. Source.

Many people have heard that the croissant was created in 1686 in Budapest, Hungary by a courageous and watchful baker, at a time when the city was being attacked by the Turks. Working late one night, he heard odd rumbling noises and alerted the city's military leaders. They found that the Turks were trying to get into the city by tunnelling under the city's walls. The tunnel was destroyed and the baker was a hero, but a humble hero — all he wanted in reward was the sole right to bake a special pastry commemorating the fight. The pastry was shaped like a crescent, the symbol of Islam, and presumably meant that the Hungarians had eaten the Turks for lunch.

This merely demonstrates the many-sourced legendary nature of the croissant origins story.

The connection between the croissant as an anti-Islamist symbol is clear, nevertheless.

The 100th anniversary of the August 5, 1916, World War I, Battle of Romani, in which the Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.

Two major defeats for the Ottomans and Islam, on August 5th. The invention of the croissant tied to August 5th. In the midst of war, history must not be forgotten, overlooked, or ignored. Radical terrorists are attuned to twilight language.

Awareness is key. Keep your guard up. Be safe.

August 5, 2016, is Friday.