EASTER

In Russia the Easter Holiday is the most important holy festival of the year, with the tradition of exchanging  eggs and three kisses as symbols of Resurrection. Easter commemorates the Resurrection of  Jesus Christ. Eggs that are given at this time symbolize new life.

Easter Observance

Maslenitsa

In old Russia, two months of every year were dedicated to the preparation and celebration of Easter. Like Catholics, Russians started the season with a festive celebration. Maslenitsa, or “Butter Week,” was eight fun days of stuffing, feasting, and carnival. Huge quantities of blini(small pancakes smothered in butter) were eaten at every meal. Shortly before Maslenitsa small cakes in the shape of larks were sold, representing the warmth, the sky, and merrymaking that were soon to follow. Maslenitsa began eight weeks before Easter. Ice slides, booths, merry-go-rounds, jugglers, buffoons and mimes, ventriloquists, and swings made this week a carnival. There were sleigh processions, also. Businesses, schools, and public offices closed in the last days of Maslenitsa. The wealthy, decked in their finest jewels, went to dancing lunches and evening balls. Others started drinking in the morning, and were in high spirits all day. It was a festive week, similar to Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday.

The Great Fast

After the carnival was the turn of the Great Fast, or Lent. It was observed by everyone. No animal or fowl meat, milk, eggs, butter, or sugar was allowed. Some alternatives were mushrooms, cabbage, oil, fish and potatoes, and coffee with milk of almonds. In the eighteenth century caviar was used extensively as a replacement for butter. At the start of Lent some people bought birds and set them free as a sign of hope that God would liberate them from their sins. Public amusement, dancing, and theatrical performances were forbiden, being replaced by singing and concerts. 

Palm Sunday, or Verbnoe Voskresene, was a happy break in the Great Fast. Great quantities of pussy willows were cut and brought in bundles to the cities. The Thursday before Palm Sunday saw cheerful and animated exhibitions of toys and flowers. In the Palm Market in St. Petersburg, every variety of branches, bare or decorated with paper flowers or leaves, were seen. Many booths were dedicated to wax angels. Eastern sherbets, Constantinople confections, icons, and even crosses made of gingerbread were also sold. This was a festival for the children. Toy and confections of sugar were given. Wealthy uncles and godfathers gave richly decorated palm branches, with gold angels, silver leaves, and small present-filled fruits on them, to nieces, nephews and godchildren. There were hugh markets of flowers and minature toy dealers.

A great procession was held on the eve of Palm Sunday to commemorate Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. People carried branches and sang hymns. The priests blessed the branches. The next morning it was the universal custom for children to beat those who had not risen from their beds with the branches.
Eggs played an important role in the great festival, both at the Palm Market and at Easter. A number of eggs were dyed red, which were then given to the priest and carried around for days after Easter. The egg symbolized life, hope, and the Resurrection. It was customary to give an egg to every acquaintance met. Games were played with eggs, and then hugh quantities were eaten and used in the traditional Easter bread and dessert. Many eggs were decorated, some with short remembrances of the Resurrection and others exquisitely decorated, such as the Ukrainian pisanky.

Easter

The Orthodox Easter usually falls later than the Catholic Easter, depending on when Passover is. The Russian Easter falls one week after Passover. In old Russia, this was the holiday, the occasion of importance. Houses were scrubbed and furniture was repaired. Elaborate preparations were made in anticipation of the Easter feast.

On Good Friday, the churches were dark, but their doors were kept continually open for those devout followers to enter and kiss the wounds of the Savior. Everyone fasted this last week, and the devout took no food at all on Wednesday and from Friday until Easter eve.

Toward Saturday midnight the churches filled more and more; the court gathered in full dress while governors wore their gold embroidered uniforms. The vigil Mass was read slowly until midnight, when all the candles were lit and a joyous procession burst out of the church, singing and praising Khristos Voskrese. The church was brightly illuminated, bells rang, and choirs sang.

After church, everyone went out to feast. There were lambs carved of butter, sugar flags and crosses, wide arrays of cold salads, hams, veal, roasted birds, and assorted cakes on tables in every household. The Easter bread, kulich was a traditional round and cylindrical bread decorated with frosting and the letters XB, representing “Christ is risen.” Another traditional dish, paskha, always accompanied the kulich and was a thick sweet creamy white spread made in a special triangular mold that also had the XB letters on it. The traditional Easter breakfast consisted of spreading paskha on the kulich, eating it with a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt, and washed that down with a tumbler of cold vodka. This breakfast was usually blessed by the priests during the Easter service, where the priests would walk between a double row of plates.

Easter is still very popular in Russia.