Easter...Христос Воскресе!

Sunday, April 4th and in many places all over the world, Christians are celebrating Easter. Here in magnificent Russia, Easter is a very important holiday (along with New Year, Christmas and Women’s Day) to many of the religious (and nonreligious) people. Baskets of beautifully colored eggs and Easter bread are taken to the church to be blessed and пост (Lent) comes to a final close. In my class on Friday, we talked about Easter; its origins, religious services and traditional food and of course we expanded our lexicon of these customs. I have also had the opportunity to go on excursions to Владимирский Собор (The Church of Vladimir) and Александро-Невская лавра (Alexander Nevsky Monastery) to experience Orthodox services and walk around to admire the ancient golden icons hanging on the walls. The churches are also typically decked out for the Easter holiday.

My teacher had also mentioned that it is always sunny on Easter, which I thought was quite remarkable, but honestly I too cannot remember an Easter where there was no sun! The weather here has been exceptionally nice with sun nearly every day and the temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which is warm compared to the cold temperatures we experienced not too long ago. The next day, I learned how to make borsht and куличи (Easter bread) with a bunch of my friends. We also boiled and dyed eggs. We played the game with each other where two people would hold one egg and strike them against each other to see whose egg triumphs and does not crack. My American friends and I introduced the tradition of the Easter egg hunt to our Russian friends and everyone had a great time. The funniest part of it was that we did our Easter egg hunt in a small apartment, not outside (do to the snow-melting/muddy conditions).

Last night, around midnight at churches all over the city, Крестный Ход (Carrying of the Cross) took place. The priest carried a cross and all parishioners followed with candles; the mass of people circumvented the church three times. I watched this on TV with my host mom and her daughter, however, after a little while I had to go to sleep, I was so tired!

Easter morning, I enjoyed a huge breakfast only enjoyed during this holiday. I greeted my host mom with the phrase “Христос воскресе!” (Christ is risen!) and she responded with “Воистину воскресе!” (Indeed he is risen!).We had пасха, a very typical Russian Easter dessert made from творог (quark), sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla and raisons. The closest thing it resembles in my opinion is very sweet, creamy cheesecake. And this was served with куличи (bread). (They are very tasty together). We had different kinds of колбаса (sausage), dark bread and red caviar. We also had hardboiled eggs, which had been dyed deep purple using a natural coloring. Talk about eating WAY too much, but it was all delicious. To say the least, my Easter in experience in Russia was something that was very interesting and differed greatly from the Catholic traditions I am used to celebrating back home in the USA.