Don’t forget it’s Easter this Sunday for both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. You can read up on our Easter Sunday primer to refresh your memory, and get some varenyky recipes and some odd tips for making Paska from the Canadian Press (doesn’t everyone bake them in old cans?). There are also loads of authentic recipes on this Ukrainian cooking forum.
While I wasn’t able to promote all the local Easter festivals that had happened this weekend, there’s still time to get some of your favourite foods from popular stores (in Toronto there’s Future Bakery, Natalie’s Kitchen and Vatra to name a few).
If you’re going to dabble in some pysanky making, you can still get supplies from local vendors (in Toronto Koota Ooma comes to mind), as well online from Ukrainian Bookstore. Get inspired by some news stories from great pysanky makers and some in training too! For a good laugh there’s always my documented attempt from a few years ago.
And in all the food eating and pysanky making this long weekend, don’t forget to remember the religious aspect of the holiday. For the past two years both Easters have been on the same day, but next year the Gregorian calendar will have Easter fall on April 8, 2012 and Julian on April 15, 2012.
With the break of dawn on Easter Sunday a special Ressurection Service is held with a procession around the church. The most beautiful aspect of th service is the joyful heralding of a risen Christ in the singing of the traditional Ukrainian hymn “Christ is Risen” (Khrystos Voskres). The whole congregation sings in unison with a heightened feeling. At the conclusion of the service, rows and rows of food-laden baskets with a lighted candle in each are blessed by the priest. In favourable weather this impressive ceremony is performed outside on the green church lawn. Food baskets covered with richly embroidered napkins contain Easter bread called “paska” and a selection of various Easter foods along with the multi-coloured pysanky. This custom is treasured in Canada. People greet one another with the traditional Easter greeting “Voistyno Voskres!” (He is risen indeed!). It is the custom to exchange or give Easter eggs with this Easter greeting.
One of the most beautiful of all Ukrainian easter traditions is decorating eggs with artistic designs of a symbolic nature. In Ukrainian the decorated eggs are called “pysanky” from the word “pysaty” which mean to write. The design is actually written on the egg with a fine-pointed stylus dipped in wax, after which follows a series of dye baths. Pysanky are not eaten. The origin of this art is both ancient and obscure. Archeological excavations in Ukraine show that it was practiced several thousand years before the Christian era. Originally pysanky symbolized the release of the earth from the shackles of winter and the coming of spring with its promise of new hope, new life, health and prosperity. They were associated with mythical beliefs and talismanic powers. Folklore has it that a decorated egg can avert any evil, bring good crops, and help a young maiden to win the man of her desire. After the advent of Christianity, the decorated eggs took the new symbols of the Resurrection with its promise of a better world.
In the evening before the Malanka night, young men put on all kinds of costumes, some of them weird and bizarre — Devils, Warriors, Police, Witches, Old Women and Men, Death, Blacksmith, Jews, Gypsies, Turks, Hutsuls and representatives of other nationalities. All of these people in their disguise move from house to house performing their little plays and improvisations for those who would care to see their performance. They make very much noise, and in addition to music, they play practical jokes on people — but no one ever gets harmed in any way. Well, the celebrants can attempt to kiss a beautiful girl, or do some mischief, but it’s all in jest.