Easter in Ukraine

Ukraine follows the Orthodox calendar and as such, Easter falls on April 19th.

There are a few traditions that differ from those in America. I would say, overall- it is much less commericalized and much more focused on church and family.

The first Ukrainian tradition is the baking of pashka. It is a soft pound cake of sorts- moderately sweet and has white frosting on top. There are numerous variations- some put raisins inside, others put nuts; some make it more of a cheesecake and use ricotta. But it is almost always created in a mold that makes it tower-shaped. Very yum! Baking pashka has great symbolic significance in Ukraine. The baker of the bread must keep their thoughts pure and the household must remain quiet for the bread to retain its fluffy texture while in the oven. It is customary to keep the baking of the paska a strictly family affair; and guests are generally kept from the house while the paska is being prepared. Care and effort is put into pashka because it represents the family's prosperity; and therefore one must guard it from the 'evil eye.' [photo credit: Dayrain on Flickr]

Secondly- the tradition of pysanky! Our familiar tradition of decorating eggs started right here in Ukraine! Our friends Andrea and Bob gave us the most amazing egg and I learned that the process is quite intricate. You make a small hole on the top and bottom and gently blow out the yolk and albumin (or alternatively, make one hole and eat the raw egg- yuck). Then you create a design on wax and depending on how elaborate the design- you have to do the process over and over again using different colors and layers of wax. Andrea has an quite the eye for detail as you can see her design of sunflowers on the egg she presented us. Beautiful!

Thirdly- unlike the tradition of eating an Easter Ham, it's tradition to eat eggs here! Afterall, if you decorate and purchase all those eggs, you can't waste them! Ukrainian tradition dictates that you decorate your boiled eggs and then play a game that involves picking a rival and smashing your egg against your rival's until one of the shells break- that's the loser! After each battle- you enjoy your egg!

Fourthly- there's no easter egg hunts here. And definitely no giving of live animals like bunnies and chicks!

Many pagan rituals have been incorporated into Easter traditions- pysanky, the blessing of willow branches, and other Spring time traditions; and even though many have lost their original meaning, they still remain as part of the symbolic diaspora.