Easter

Today is Easter Sunday in Ukraine. This may seem out of the ordinary to Westerners that celebrated this holiday last week but this is a result of the difference between calendars. The West uses the Julian and the east uses the Gregorian. (Next year the days will be celebrated over a month apart but then in 2014 they will occur on the exact date.)

There are some similarities in the celebrations between the two cultures but there are also some major differences. In the Roman Catholic Church, (and also with some Protestant religions), Easter week really starts with Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday before Easter when the churches in the west will distribute palm leaves. The Friday after this is called Good Friday. The more religious may attend a performance of the “Stations of the Cross.” These are religious holidays in the US and not usually secular ones. However, strangely enough the US stock markets are closed on Good Friday and it is a holiday in twelve states. In the United States on Easter morning children will awake and try to locate their Easter baskets. The previous night they were left out empty but by this time they should be filled with jelly beans, chocolate eggs and marshmallow bunnies or chicks by the nocturnal and legendary Easter Bunny. Adults may also exchange Easter candy and the test of true love is not to bite the ears off of your sweetheart’s chocolate, (hopefully solid!), Easter rabbit.  Many people will attend church on Sunday and later have a big dinner at home (usually a ham or some lamb) or at a restaurant. Easter morning sunrise services are very popular. Other events planned for the day/week may include the New York City parade, Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs, or just showing off your newest spring clothing. Even the President of the United States gets into the act by hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.

In Ukraine things are a little different. First of all Palm Sunday is Pussy Willow Sunday probably because palm leaves were hard to obtain in the east. Good Friday has a different name as well. It is known as Great Friday or Passion Friday. In the Russian Orthodox Church Easter mass is celebrated on Saturday night and it lasts ALL night. As far as I know there isn’t much of a candy exchange or egg rolls but egg decorating is very important. My understanding is that the traditional way to dye the eggs is by using the skin of an onion. The chief color for egg dyeing is red, (this symbolizes the blood of Christ); so perhaps they use red onions?

One thing that definitely is different is that the Russian people will make Easter Cakes (AKA as Easter Bread), which are called “kulich”. This cake is baked in tall tins almost like coffee cans. They usually have raisins inside and have a white icing with the letters XB on them. XB is represents the Cyrillic letters for “Christos Voskres”, Christ has risen. These are brought to church with other food such as eggs, to be blessed by the priest. Many people will bake their own but it is simple enough to buy them in the supermarket or on the street. Also there may be a competition of banging eggs (egg tapping) together to see who has the strongest. People also drink a wine called “Kagor” that they obtain from their church. The Monday after Easter is usually a non-working day. The following Sunday people will visit cemeteries for the Commemoration of the dead.

I’m not sure about a custom in Ukraine of showing off new spring clothing but as the weather got warmer I started to spot the return of the T-Shirts that girls wear that have the English message, “Say Me Yes”. When I first saw these during the summer, I thought maybe it was the name of a local band when in fact it is just bad grammar.