03/27/2008
Easter, also called Pascha, is the most important religious feast in the Christian world. For Eastern European people, it’s one of the most favourite religious holidays and it is celebrated according to the rituals laid down by the Eastern Orthodox Church. In Orthodox Church Easter services last all Saturday night. Eastern European people gather in the church or cathedral on Saturday evening and participate in an Easter vigil commemorating the buried Christ. They go to church with Easter cakes and Easter eggs. These are two essential symbols of Easter. Eastern European wives bake Easter cakes on the eve of Easter Sunday. There are two kinds of Easter cakes in Russia – paskha- an Easter dessert of pot cheese mixed with sugar, butter, and raisins, and Kulich – sweet Easter cakes. Modern Eastern European ladies add different ingredients to Kulich to make their Easter cake the most delicious and different. They put raisins, candied fruits, nuts, citrons and rind of lemons or oranges into pastry.
Some ladies from Eastern Europe keep the recipe for their Easter cakes in secret to fascinate their guests. Another important tradition of Easter is egg painting. On Easter Sunday Eastern European people exchange their Easter cakes and Easter eggs with each other to greet with this holly Sunday.
