News: 2007-03-13

Russian Easter 

Easter (Paskha) is by far the most celebrated date on the Russian Orthodox calendar. Remember that it was not so long ago that religious celebration was totally forbidden in Russia. This year Orthodox Easter falls on the 8th of April. The Sunday before Easter is called "Willow Sunday" (the 1st of April ). This the day people take branches of the Pussy Willow tree to the church, get them blessed and bring them home. These branches are meant to protect you from disease. The week before Easter is special because each day is connected with the life of Jesus and celebrated with passion by Orthodox Russians. However, even those not of the church celebrate "Tidy Thursday"- a day of spring cleaning when the mops and dusters are brought out with fervor!!

"Passion Friday", the day of the crucifixion of Christ, is also recognized by the general public. People bake on this day and legend has it that the bread baked will never grow old! Russians cook a round sweet cheesecake called "Paskha" too, with raisins or poppy seeds, covering the top in vanilla cream and decorating it with the letters "XB" (for "Kristos voskres"" which translates as "Christ has risen").

On the Saturday, people color hard boiled eggs using food dye or onion skins (boiled onion skin gives you a natural brown dye). You can also get a special Easter stickers to put on your eggs. Many Orthodox people go to the church on Saturday with "Paskha" cakes to get them blessed and made holy. At night Saturday turns into Sunday and many people staying in church on a vigil until Mass.

At midnight, candles flood the church with light, bells ring out into the night and the priest walks around the outside of the church swinging incense, followed by his faithful congregation. Then on his return the priest declares  "Kristos voskres" and all people answer with the same words. Finally, the doors in the centerpiece of the iconostasis open. This symbolizes the opening of the grave of Christ and his resurrection. This moment is very poignant as normally the altar is hidden behind the iconostasis, for eyes of priests' only. These doors remain open for a week and the gates of the church also remain open, symbolizing the opening of Heaven to all through Christ's resurrection.

On Easter Sunday morning people run into their colored eggs in the kitchen and eat them. There is a ritual where people hit their eggs together to see whose breaks first. People visit their friends and relatives.When entering a house or meeting folks on the street (whether Orthodox or not) people always say "Kristos Voskres" to each other.