“Khrystos
Voskhres!” – “Voistynoo Voskhres!” (“Christ is risen!” - “Indeed risen!”).
This is a common
greeting for Easter in Ukraine, one of the most important religious holidays. After
seven long weeks of lent, Ukrainians celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Many
people regard lent to be some limitation in food, but in reality the main
lesson is “not to eat each other” which means: “Don’t hurt each other either by
word or deed. Make your soul clean, not just your stomach”.
The most important week
preceding Easter Sunday, Holy Week, begins with Palm Sunday (or Willow Sunday). On this day traditionally people go
to church to bless branches of pussywillow instead of palm trees and later put
them in the corners of their house.
Starting Monday
people clean and wash everything in their houses as Pure Thursday (or Clean Thursday) is the last day when cleaning should
be finished. In old times people went to Russian sauna and washed themselves as
well.
On Passion Friday it was forbidden to have
fun, laugh, sing and even work. People had to pray and not to eat anything
except bread and drink water till the evening. Nowadays most of Ukrainians go
to work and then have a peaceful evening at home.
On Saturday Ukrainians traditionally prepare
two essential items for Easter celebrations. The centerpiece of Easter table is
Paskha. It is a kind of sweet bread that Ukrainian women usually bake
themselves. It usually has a form of round high column and comes in different
sizes. They usually use basic sweet yeast dough and sometimes it takes hours for
the dough to rise properly. There is a belief that loud noises are not allowed
as dough won’t rise and the Paskha will be solid. That is why some families are
really quiet on this day. Everyone chooses what to add to make it tastier. This
can be raisins, dried apricots, nuts, etc. Nowadays, many people don’t bother
to cook Paskha as it takes rather long, so they buy it in bakeries and markets.
Another common dish
is painted eggs. In olden times the mother of the family put different ornaments
on the eggs thinking just about good things. Nowadays, this is a type of
entertainment that can be shared by everyone, old and young. People paint eggs
with brushes and add stickers. It is common to make different pictures,
starting from crosses, figures of Christ and other symbols and ending with
anything that seems bright and brings joy to ones heart. There are no
limitations on what you draw on the egg.
On late Saturday or
early Sunday morning religious
people go to church and bring Paskha, eggs and other food stuffs to be blessed.
After returning from church the whole family sits by the table. Instead of
toasting and drinking, every member of the family takes an egg. When the choice
is made people strike each other’s eggs together, to break the shells. The one
whose egg remains solid is the winner. This egg fight repeats several times
during the meal and no egg is safe from the children who enjoy this game very
much. During the day people visit their relatives and friends, exchange
blessed Paskhas, eggs and other delicious food from their Easter baskets in Ukraine. This
is regarded as a day of mutual congratulations.
May your Easter be
filled with peace, joy, and happiness!
