In early December 1914, Emperor Nicholas II visited Vladikavkaz [located in the southeast region of the Caucasus Mountains]. Upon his arrival at the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, he was greeted with the *traditional bread and salt, by representatives of the Karanogai peoples.
* When important, respected, or admired guests arrive, they are presented with a loaf of bread (usually a korovai) placed on a rushnyk (embroidered ritual cloth). A salt holder or a salt cellar is placed on top of the bread loaf or secured in a hole on the top of the loaf.
