Following Ukrainian traditions on Easter, people gather with the whole family or circle of friends to celebrate this day. Since ancient times, Easter has been the main religious holiday of the year for the Ukrainian people.🙏🏻☺️
Preparations for Easter begin a week in advance, which is called Passion or White. Everyone is in a hurry and worried about this day. After all, everything should be perfect and clean. On Clean Thursday, it was customary to clean the house, decorate the icons with festive towels, and it was also necessary to bathe the whole family before sunrise in running water, supposedly washing away all sins and illnesses from a person.🌸😊
On Thursday, the housewives began to prepare the main dishes of the Easter table: ritual bread, colored eggs, an Easter basket for consecration in the church.
This was followed by White Friday - this is the strictest day of fasting in the annual cycle of worship. On this day, you also need to attend worship. Saturday is considered the day of rest, the transition from the Passion of Christ to the Bright Resurrection of Christ. It is on Saturday evening that the night service begins, at which Easter baskets are taken for consecration.🙏🏻
By tradition, pasca is baked on Thursday, because doing it on Friday is considered a great sin. They say that if you bake paska on Friday, it will not rise, and this will have a negative impact on the future of the whole family: during the year, the family will be haunted by failures and even one of the relatives will probably die.🤌🏻
Paska is made from the best flour, adding raisins, vanilla and cinnamon to it, two dozen eggs are driven in so that the dough becomes yellow. During the preparation of pasta dough and during baking, it is strictly forbidden to walk past the oven, knock, slam the door, talk, because the slightest draft can prevent the dough from rising well. My mother always told me to be very quiet, she should not be interfered with in this matter. After all, if her mood deteriorates or someone screams, then the Easter cake will not work. They also believed that a woman should stay alone in the house and pronounce various verbal formulas, such as: “Go, Satan, out of the house, because I will plant Easter cake” and be sure to cross the Easter cake.
It is considered a very good omen if the cake turns out high and bakes well. It symbolizes the happiness and well-being of the whole family.👩‍❤️‍👨💐🍞🥣
When the paska was ready, they began to decorate it. From above, Easter cake was decorated with flowers made of dough, figurines of birds and spirals - a symbol of the sun. It is customary to make five to ten paskas in order to subsequently treat all relatives and friends, congratulating them on Easter.🌹
Another special tradition was the coloring of eggs. Since ancient times, painted eggs have been considered a symbol of the rebirth of life, nature and the sun. Previously, eggs were painted using natural materials. They used homemade paints from the bark and fruits of trees, herbs and flowers. Each type of egg decoration got its own name.🪺
The church was sure to collect an Easter basket. Mom woke me up very early in the morning and we went to church together. Easter cake or even several Easter cakes, as well as water, sometimes wine, are necessarily put in the basket. They also lay colored eggs.💒
The basket includes sausage, bacon, bread, butter, and cheese, as well as items such as crosses, medallions, icons, and a variety of amulets. The top of the basket is covered with a towel.🧺🤎
Ukrainians believe that everything consecrated for Easter is endowed with sacred power.✝️
Easter Sunday is traditionally celebrated with the whole family at a large table with Easter dishes. Family members usually have to share one Easter bread and an Easter egg among themselves. It is believed that this custom endows with a “good fate” - happiness, fortune, talent for each member of the family.🍽🥪👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
Even after the church, those who did not go to the consecration were washed by family members with holy water, especially the face.💦✝️🥰