Easter in Slavic (Slavonic) Culture
By Oleg Lavrentyev
Easter is the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Eastern (Orthodox) tradition, Easter is the most
important holiday, more important than Christmas. Orthodox Easter is usually celebrated no earlier than April 4th and no later than May 8th - on the first Sunday following the first full moon after vernal equinox. This year it will be the 8th of April, which happens to be the same as in the Western Christian churches (Catholic and Protestant).
The rules for setting the date of the Easter celebration are actually the same for the Eastern and the Western Churches. But the civil date for Easter depends on which calendar - Gregorian or pre-Gregorian - is used. The Orthodox Church uses the older Julian calendar, and Western churches use the Gregorian calendar. That is why the date of our celebrations is usually different; this year is exceptional.
In the Russian language Easter is called “Paskha” (?????). This word came to Russian through Greek from old Hebrew where “Pesach” means Passover, an important Jewish holiday to which Easter is linked not only symbolically but also for its position in the calendar. The names, derived from Pesach are used in the majority of Christian languages; for example, it is Pascua in Spanish, Paques in French, and Pasqua in Italian. Easter in English and Ostern in German are notable exceptions.
In the Ukrainian language the word Paskha is used as well. However, more often people say “Velykden,” which means “The Great Day” in Ukrainian.
There are many peculiar traditions and customs in Ukraine connected with the Easter celebration. The week before Easter is called “Strastnaya Nedelya” (the Holy Week). And here interesting peculiarities in terminology begin. The Russian or Ukrainian word “strastnaya” is not exactly the same as the word “holy” in English. The adjective “strastnaya” comes from the noun “strast” (passion), and the word “nedelya” means “week.” Thus, by calling this week Strastnaya Nedelya people intended the meaning, Passion Week. This underlines the importance of this week: it is the last and the severest week of Lent, which is dedicated to the Passion of Christ.
Every day in the Holy Week is called “Great” and has its own purpose. On Great Monday, Orthodox Christians remember the fruitless fig-tree, dried to the root as an image of a man dieing in impenitence. On Great Tuesday, people remember the parables of Jesus Christ about the ten virgins, talents, Last Judgment, etc. Great Wednesday is about the woman who has anointed the Savior with myrrh.
On Great Thursday, the church service is devoted to the Last Supper. This day is also called “the Pure Thursday” (Chystiy Chetver). It is believed that if you get up early in the morning to bathe before the dawn, you will clean not only your body but also your soul from the sins you have made during the year. And a lot of people really believe in that. During this day it is allowed to make Easter bread (kulich or paska).
On Great Friday, which is also called “Strastnaya Pyatnitza” (Passion Friday), people remember about the Passion of Christ: the judgment and the verdict, the crucifixion, His suffering and death on the cross. On Great Saturday (or the Calm Saturday) people prepare to celebrate the Resurrection i.e. Easter. By the way, the Russian name for Sunday is Voskresenye (???????????), which literary means resurrection.
There are some interesting national traditions and ceremonies connected with the Holy Week and Easter. For example, from the earliest times Great Thursday was called the Pure Thursday. The masters usually cleaned and washed everything in the house on this day. Even today, people try to finish all the cleaning in this day; you can easily see lots of them washing windows, for example. It may look funny, but in our country many people regard Easter also as a kind of a point at which all the cleaning in the house must be done, and the Great Thursday is the last chance to do it.
As mentioned earlier, is also believed that if you bathe before dawn on this day, you will clean not only your body but also your soul. In the past, in Russian and Ukrainian villages, there was a tradition to go to the river at night (right after midnight, at the beginning of Great Thursday), “till the raven did not dip his wing into the water,” and bathe. People believed that at midnight of this day spring comes and brings beauty and health.
On this day (as well as on Friday and Saturday) many Orthodox Christians make Easter bread (paska or kulich). It is a special kind of bread made of short pastry especially for the Easter celebration. Cooking paska is a very long and difficult process, which is why more and more people now, especially in cities, prefer to buy them in the store.
On Great Thursday another traditional Easter meal is made: pisanky or crashenky are decorated or colored boiled eggs. Being a symbol of life, the egg is very important in Easter celebration. People use it to exchange with each other or just to give as a gift. They also take it to the cemetery to commemorate the dead. The dead are remembered on Great Thursday and also during the whole week after Easter. For the commemoration of the dead (provody) people gather in the cemetery by the church, bringing with them a dish containing some food and liquor or wine, which they consume, leaving the rest at the graves.
According to the national beliefs, if you throw an Easter egg that has been blessed in the church into a fire, the fire will go out. If you put such an egg into water and wash your face with the water, it will be healthy and young for a long time.
Blessing Easter meals is another Orthodox tradition. Easter begins with the Easter matins and high mass, during which the paska, pysanky and krashanky are blessed in the church. Butter, lard, cheese, roasted suckling pigs, sausage, smoked meat, and little napkins containing poppy seeds, millet, salt, pepper, and horseradish are also blessed. After the matins all the people in the congregation exchange Easter greetings, give each other krashanky, and then hurry home with their baskets of blessed food.
The week after Easter is called Svetlaya Nedelya (the Light or Blessed Week). During that week, instead of usual greetings, people say each other, “Hristos voskres!” (Christ has arisen) and “Voistinu voskres!” (In truth, has arisen). It is believed that these days the Heavenly Gates are open and everyone who dies this week gets into Heaven.
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