Easter is the most important religious holiday for Ukrainians. It always brings the whole family together at the festive table. Even if some family members are in foreign countries, they will make some parcels with traditional food to send them, so that everyone could enjoy the Resurrection Day.
Ukrainian people have a lot of traditions before and during this spring holiday. The preparing for this holy day begins with the Big Lent. It is a seven-week fast meant to help people cleanse their bodies and souls for the celebration of Resurrection of Christ. During the Big Lent people don`t eat meat, fish, dairy products or eggs. Also, they have to behave humbly, refusing entertainments, weddings, dancing, blame and jealousy. The people visit the church more often and prays a lot.
An important holiday that starts the celebration of Easter is the Palm Sunday. It is on the Sunday before Pascha. On this day, people go to church with prepared bunches of willow. They bring willow because palm trees do not grow in Ukraine and in the Bible, people welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem with palm branches. At the end of the service, the priest sprinkles holy water on them. The congregation take the consecrated willow home and put or plant it in their garden to protect the crop from hail, pests and evil spirits.
Another old tradition is bringing lighted candles from church. On Maundy Thursday, churches hold a special service with readings of the 12 Gospels about the Passion of Christ, during which believers stand with lighted candles. This fire, brought home, is considered a talisman against illnesses and evil. Also, on Maundy Thursday people finish to clean their houses and paint the eggs. My favourite ones are painted in natural ingredients like beetroot, onion, parsley and red cabbage.
On Good Friday, people only go to church and don`t do any housework because it is a holy day, commemorating the crucifixion and the death of Jesus Christ on a cross. It is a very quiet and solemn day. Some people keep a strict fast on it.
On Holy Saturday, people finish cooking the food for Easter. In our family we have a great tradition of baking the Easter bread called “paska” in the morning. My mother bakes the best paskas I`ve ever tried. She puts in the dough raisins, many egg yolks and cottage cheese. On the top, every paska has to have a cross, made from dough. We have a special wood oven to bake this bread. I can`t describe that amazing smell in the whole house.
In the evening, all the people fill their baskets with food. Nowadays, people have started decorating their baskets with flowers. So, we put in the basket paska, painted eggs, sausage, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, salt, sugar, horseradish with beetroot and some small chocolate eggs.
The Easter service begins at 11.00 p.m. The most festive moment of service is at midnight when the priest says loudly to the prayers “Christ is risen!” and the people are answering “Indeed He is risen!”.
Actually, not all the people come for night service, many of them come to church with their baskets in the early morning at 5 a.m. The church service ends then with the blessing of Easter baskets. The priest walks around the church and sprinkles the baskets with holy water.
After the blessing, families go home and celebrate together. They gather together at the table and share the food from the basket. There is also a tradition of tapping Easter eggs against each other. When people do this, they say “Christ is risen!” and the other person answers “Indeed He is risen!”. The person whose egg does not crack is considered the winner.
The last tradition related to Easter for Ukrainians is visiting the cemeteries a week after the Easter. This day is called Provody. People prepare in advance small memorial foods, called pomana. These are small portions of food including paska, sweets, eggs and juices. They are given to other people at the cemetery in memory of the deceased. This tradition is a way of showing respect and keeping the memory of those who have passed away.
These are only some traditions that I know about. Obviously, there are a lot and they can be different in every region. So, we can see that Ukrainians have a rich treasury of Easter traditions. All of them are important parts of fully experiencing the joy of this grand holiday. I hope every Ukrainian family can keep these traditions and pass them to their children and grandchildren, as they also should know the real origin and meaning of Easter.
by Yuliana Savchuk
The Rose Collective 
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