Easter in the FSU

[Olga_Mouse]

Today is a "Sunday of forgiveness" ("прощёное воскресенье") in Russia.

http://www.calend.ru/holidays/0/0/941/

You're supposed to say "please forgive me" to all the people you might have possibly hurt during last year. Immediate indulgence guaranteed 

As cultural differences increase the risk of hurting somebody's feelings without being aware of it, it is recommended to write (or say) "please forgive me if I've done or said something wrong" 

[nunya]

As I just found out a few minutes ago when talking with a lady from Dnepropetrovsk, today is also "Sunday of forgiveness" in Ukraine.

[BelleZeBoob]

This is because the day belongs to the Orthodox Christian traditions.

[mendeleyev]

To all, and especially in view of a prior post, to Fireeater,

Today is forgiveness Sunday (прощёное воскресенье) in Orthodox churches all over the world.  I ask forgiveness for speaking too hastily (writing too hastily), being judgmental, and for not understanding the points you wish to make.  I'm sorry and will try to do better this year.  Please forgive me.

Sincerely,
Mendeleyev

[mendeleyev]

And for any offense I humbly ask each of your forgiveness.

[mendeleyev]

The giving up of meat, dairy products, and wine/alcohol & oil lasts for 40 days right up until Easter.  This fast is common for Orthodoxy all over the world and is done following the example of Christ who fasted in the wilderness for 40 days before his death-burial-resurrection.

The fasting from these things, including parties and celebrations, are designed to drive a Christian to prayer and help him achieve victory over the desires of the flesh. Being at peace with your fellow man is important and that is the purpose of "forgiveness Sunday."

If it seems like there are a lot of fasts, yes there are. Generally each week has at least one fasting day. But there are great feasts too!  Two of the largest feasts are at Easter and Christmas.

There is one branch of Orthodox Christianity, the Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox Church has 210 days every year which are observed with strict fasts.

These fasts are often observed by those who don't consider themselves are very religious, again calling to mind how culture and Orthodoxy are intertwined in that part of the world.

[mendeleyev]

Preceding Easter is the month-and-a-half-long Lenten fast.  In Russia, Lent starts on Monday instead of on Wednesday, and is traditionally preceded by a whole week of pancake dinners, called Maslenitsa.

Although not everyone observeing Lent do to church on a regular basis, people observe the Orthodox Lenten fast, which is entirely vegan (no meat or animal products), which is of sufficient popularity that most restaurants advertise “fasting” dishes during this time.

The week before Easter, Palm Sunday, is called “Pussywillow Sunday.”  Russia doesn’t have too many palm trees, and traditionally pussywillows, which begin to bloom right around Easter, symbolized triumph and victory, just like palm trees did in ancient Palestine.  Leading up to Palm Sunday, you can buy pussywillows all over town. 

Many Orthodox churches in Russia hold services twice a day, morning and evening.  During Holy Week there is a huge increase in church attendance.  Preparations for Easter include lots of cooking and cleaning and inviting company over for a large Easter dinner.  Eggs are decorated, and traditional dishes include kulich, a special Easter cake, and paskha, a creamy cheese dish that is kind of like to cheesecake without the crust.  Eggs and cakes are frequently decorated with the letters XB (in English, KH V, short for “Khristos Voskres,” Christ is Risen!) Orthodox believers take kulich and eggs to the church on Saturday to have them blessed. 





Sunrise services are not common on Easter morning, but Orthodox churches hold a midnight mass, with a procession around the church.  Generally the service starts at night somewhere around 10 or 11:00 pm, and there is a sermon right before the midnight procession, where brilliantly robed clergy and everyone else go outside and walk around the church, holding candles, singing and shouting that Christ is risen, while the bells peal out the glad tidings.  This represents the disciples running to tell others the Christ was risen. 

Then everyone goes back inside the church, and the services generally go until about 3 am, and then there is a celebratory feast with food being shared with everyone.

The past several years, so many people attend the Easter services, that they don’t fit in the church, and the service is piped through loudspeakers outside.  This is despite the fact that Orthodox churches have no pews and are standing room only.  Russians tend to be night people so the late service doesn't faze many.





For those who can’t get to or from a church that late at night, church services are broadcast live on all the major television networks, both from the major church in Moscow, where Putin and Medvedev are present, and from an Orthodox service in Jerusalem. The broadcast services are complete with a commentator who explains the words of the liturgy and the actions of the priests. 

[mendeleyev]

Edit: Young woman lights beeswax candle.



Edit: Waiting for priest to sprinkle baskets.



Pashka, Easter cake.






Orthodox Easter at Holy Sepulchre church Jersualem.

[mendeleyev]

The 40 day fast (no meat, no dairy, no oil, no alcohol, no eggs) ends at Midnight 12:01 Easter morning.  Orthodox churches do not have a Sunday morning Easter service like Roman Catholics and Protestants. Instead the "Pashka" (the Greek word for "resurrection") service begins on Saturday night.

It is one of the longest services of the Orthodox calendar, usually lasting 3-4 hours and sometimes longer. For example our church in Phoenix will begin the liturgy at 11pm and it will end around 2:30 or 3am. After the service is over the priest will sprinkle holy water over the baskets making them "blessed baskets."

After that we'll share things from our blessed baskets containing meat, cheese, wine and all the good stuff we've not been able to eat for the past 40 days. We'll make it back home around 4 or 5am. Many families wake up and then go to visit the cemetry of loved ones, a reminder that Christ's resurrection is the "first resurrection" and provides the guarantee of resurrection of all who follow Him.  For those with no family in a cemetry they may visit the elderly.

Later in the afternoon a large feast is prepared and shared with family and friends.

There are some differences in customs between the Orthodox in Russia and in the West. For instance it is common in the FSU for priests to bless Easter baskets during the daytime and not in the wee morning hours after the liturgy has concluded.


Links to recipes:

Easter and holiday Russian recipes.


Fasting and Easter recipes.

[mendeleyev]

The Orthodox Easter liturgy begins in the evening (Saturday) and runs about 3-3.5 hours typically. Here is a very short sample of part of what you'd experience.

During the ladder part of the liturgy the priest proclaims 'Christ is risen!’ and the people respond ‘Indeed, He is risen!' Also sung throughout the service is The Paschal Troparion, also known as the great hymn of the Resurrection of Christ. The words to this are: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, He granted (or Bestowing) life!” This great hymn of Pascha will be sung repeatedly in the weeks to come.

After services, the people typically gather for a meal, and the priest blesses food baskets. Meats and dairy products can now be eaten once again. Traditional Pascha/Easter delicacies served on this day include richly colored eggs, a sweet, high-domed (Russian) Easter bread and a sweet cheese spread called Pascha .

The Russian name for Easter is the Greek word Pascha (пасха).

[solzhenitsynfan]

I'm in touch with a Ukranian lady who was kind enough to describe a little Easter tradition that folks have in her area.  Apparently the thing to do on Easter is for everyone to head out to the cemetery armed with Vodka, painted eggs, and Pashka.  Pashka is a type of decorated cheesecake, I think.
I happen to be a huge cheesecake fan, so I'm guessing that I will probably enjoy this Pashka if I ever have the chance to try it.  Anyway, it is a tradition for the folks to exchange painted eggs and Pashka and to put some eggs and paskha on the gravesites along with a small glass of vodka.  Also, they use this time to tidy up the gravesites and the graveyards by pulling grass and painting fences.  My friend said that she usually hits the graveyard early in the day because by noon the vodka has been put to good use among the living, and she prefers to leave before the inebriation has reached an obnoxious level.  The whole thing sounds like fun to me.   

I was raised Protestant and one of our family traditions is to fill small plastic eggs with toys and candy.  We pick a field that has some trees and we hide these eggs throughout the field and in the nooks and crannies of the trees and their roots.  One egg is painted gold and is hidden in a very difficult and challenging location.  Then we round up all the children and send them into the field with baskets.  There is a special prize for the child who finds the most eggs and also for the one who finds the golden egg.  I remember the one year that I found the golden egg.  I think that I was four years of age.  I won an entire treasure chest full of toys and candy.  I remember feeling like a king while all the other kids were very envious. This is a pretty fun memory for me though I don't think I had the resurrection of our Lord in mind at the time.

I find it slightly ironic that in order to celebrate the resurrection, the Orthodox choose to spend some time with the dead.  I understand that we will all be resurrected in Christ later on so it makes sense in a way.  I also find our Easter traditions interesting in that there appears to be a syncretic blend of the pagan fertility symbols and the Christian concept of rebirth.  It is almost as if the celebration of Spring was infused with a whole new meaning.

I'd be interested to hear any more of your traditions, regardless of where you are from.  Our holidays, such as Easter, are so commercialized that they tend to be stripped of their meaning over time, but that is a whole other topic...

Pashka recipe: http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/recipes/Pashka.htm

[mendeleyev]

You'll hear this phrase a lot during the 3+ hour Easter liturgy: Христос Воскресе! Always 3 times to represent the Trinity.

Христос Воскресе! = Christ is risen!

The music of Easter is especially beautiful. Except for the ornate bells near a church entrance, there are no instruments in an Orthodox church so the human voice carries the music and even small church choirs can be very accomplished. The priests and deacons chant/sing about 90% of their parts also. Even Holy Scripture is sung instead of read.

As with other services, Orthodox services are done standing thru the entire liturgy. Usually women's heads are covered with a scarf and both men and women usually wear long sleeve shirts/blouses.

The procession where the body and blood of Christ (wine and bread) is brought before the people is reminiscent of Jesus' Entrance into Jerusalem and culminates with the Cross at Golgotha. As the thief on Jesus' right said,"Remember me O Lord when You come into Your Kingdom"; so the Priest in behalf of the faithful says, "Remember us, O Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom".


Here is another Orthodox Easter video.


Easter in San Francisco Cathedral.

[mendeleyev]

Because we're using different calendars, today (April 12, 2009) is not Easter yet for Eastern Christians. Today is our Palm Sunday in the Eastern half of the world.

Next Sunday, 19 April, will be Easter for Eastern (including Orthodox) Christians around the world. Most Orthodox churches in the West observe the holy holidays such as Easter on the Eastern calender.

[mendeleyev]

Pashka is a type of decorated cheesecake, I think.

Sol, in some parts of the world it is and other parts its more like a bread cake. There are several photos upthread. We have both style recipes in the RUA recipe section also. The cheesecake is not exactly like a Western style cheesecake but you'll like it! Different but very tasty.

Do you like to cook? The RUA recipe section is broken into catagories and a great resource!

[Chris]

We are in Ukraine now, a few days ago we all went to my wifes grandparents graves to decorate them, which is a tradition a week or so before Easter. Here are some pictures

Unfortunately this was taken before we finished as it started to rain heavily, but it may give you an idea of what they look like, these are unfinished:-


Notice this one has one member of the couple buried (the women) and the other is undated ready for him to be buried here in the future. This is a typical way they do it, especially in the villages

[Chris]

Pysanka, decorated Easter eggs are another tradition, they are mostly hard` boiled eggs and highly decorated, these are from a market stall ata small village high in the Carpathian Mountains. They are actually wooden eggs decorated in the same style.

[Chris]

A video of how traditional Pysanka were made, nowadays there are much easier ways to do this, but in the mountains and rural villages, the old ways are still used.

As you can see they are a lot of work to produce.

[BelleZeBoob]

Notice this one has one member of the couple buried (the women) and the other is undated ready for him to be buried here in the future. This is a typical way they do it, especially in the villages
(Attachment Link)

My Goodness..I have heard of cases when people buy places for their own graves in advance, but this is for the first time I see when someone even made a gravestone for himself with the date of birth! I am chocked 

[Chris]

Notice this one has one member of the couple buried (the women) and the other is undated ready for him to be buried here in the future. This is a typical way they do it, especially in the villages
(Attachment Link)

My Goodness..I have heard of cases when people buy places for their own graves in advance, but this is for the first time I see when someone even made a gravestone for himself with the date of birth! I am chocked 

Yes Belle, my wife didn't like it either. But in the villages, the older generations do this sort of thing. Walking around that graveyard there were many like the example above.

[mendeleyev]

Very common practice in parts of the USA too. Prices of burial space can be expensive and keeps increasing. When one dies it's practical to purchase room for two at today's prices.

Same for the headstone--purchase and install at today's prices so that in the future all that is needed is to engrave the date of death.

[Boris]

Notice this one has one member of the couple buried (the women) and the other is undated ready for him to be buried here in the future. This is a typical way they do it, especially in the villages
(Attachment Link)

My Goodness..I have heard of cases when people buy places for their own graves in advance, but this is for the first time I see when someone even made a gravestone for himself with the date of birth! I am chocked 

It is common in rural America as well. My grandparents headstones were like that. My grandfather passed 15 years before my grandma but her headstone was put up when he died.

[mendeleyev]

I've written before about schools, government cafeteria systems and public restaurants adjusting their menus for the 40 day Lenten fast prior to Easter and Nativity (Christmas).  Here is the Lenten menu at the famous Starlite Cafe in Moscow.

[solzhenitsynfan]

Thanks for sharing that menu! You are killing me!!! (Sorry I haven't eaten all day).  I am going to definitely check out the Starlite someday soon.   For now, I am going to have to run to my favorite German restaurant here in Johnson City as a substitute.  I am sad to admit that I have never yet tasted a single Russian dish.  My brother and I plan to try to make borshch the next time we get together though.  He is a chef. 

Are there any repercussions if you do not observe the fast?  Or is it like anywhere else?  You can participate or not and no one cares otherwise.

Well, It is high time for me to begin hunting a great Russian Restaurant here in the US.  Unfortunately I am in the Southeast which limits my options.  Maybe the closest one is in DC?  Anyone know?  (Please PM me as this is off-topic)

Anyway, thanks for all the great cultural info and imagery. 

I took a peek at your blog and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in FSU culture and a birds eye view of current happenings there!  Great stuff!

[fireeater]

Very common practice in parts of the USA too. Prices of burial space can be expensive and keeps increasing. When one dies it's practical to purchase room for two at today's prices.

My mothers parents convinced my father to buy plots at the same time as they did. Both bought three plots, which over time the rules have changed and you can now bury two in each. So a total of six plots have now become
12.  If you do not want to be on the bottom for life, die last. 

You can also arrange all the details of your passing in advance, already paid for. Something my mother has done. When she goes, two phones calls starts the process. One to the funeral home, the other to the minister. I have no decisions to make, but the date. (which is hopefully never needed)

But both have saved a bundle in costs as they do rise each year. 

 

[mendeleyev]

Are there any repercussions if you do not observe the fast?  Or is it like anywhere else?  You can participate or not and no one cares otherwise.

In the FSU the fast can be both a religious and cultural tradition or it can be just a cultural tradition. Many of the athiests who would have never fasted, at least publically, during the CCCP days will observe the fast as a cultural tradition, but then other non believers pay it no mind. For non believers its a personal choice.

A practicing Orthodox should and most will, observe the fast. My brother, who is trim and fit is "borderline diabetic" (go figure) and he practices a modified fast by cutting out red meat and most oils but eats fish and some eggs for needed protein.

My wife and MIL are very strict fasters. They even cut out coffee during the fast. It's no big deal for MIL because she's only a casual coffee drinker and prefers tea anyway. Cutting out coffee however is truly a sacrifice for my wife who learned to like coffee in the USA. I have spoken to our priest and he allows me to have fish as an exception for protein reasons so my fasting would be considered a "modified fast."

A person who breaks the fast would not take communion until going to confession. At Easter this is a big deal especially for Orthodox who practice infrequently Easter might be the only time they receive the Sacrament all year. Many even practicing Orthodox confess twice annually at Easter and Nativity (Christmas). Others confess monthly or even weekly.

In general the 40 fast is a time to try to live a diet closer to what Christ ate when he was alone in the desert 40 days before the crucifixion. So we try to cut out meat, poultry, eggs, all dairy, alcohol and oils. Even celebrations should be delayed until after the fast. Example: an Orthodox wedding would not be performed during a fast. Some couples also choose to either limit/curtail sexual activity during a fast. Its a personal choice for the couple and not mandated.

Well, It is high time for me to begin hunting a great Russian Restaurant here in the US.  Unfortunately I am in the Southeast which limits my options.  Maybe the closest one is in DC?

RUA has a nice USA/Canada Russian restaurant directory. It is not complete so let us know your city and we'll do some research and add to the directory.   



Thanks for the nice comments about the Mendeleyev Journal blog.