Ukrainian Easter: background notes on age-old tradition (05/04/86)

Ukrainian Easter: background notes on age-old tradition

by Chris Guly

WINNIPEG - Ukrainians who observe the Julian calendar, celebrate Easter on May 4.

Following are some interesting background notes on some of the traditions and customs associated with Ukrainian Holy Week/Easter observances.

According to Sophia Kachor, executive director at the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre (Oseredok), Julian Easter is observed in five of the 17 Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox Churches in Winnipeg.

Holy Week officially begins with Palm Sunday, the week before Easter Sunday. Commemorating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, Roman Catholics recall the event by blessing and distributing palm branches. Not the Ukrainians - they do this with pussy willows, which have an important place in Ukrainian mythology, symbolizing the eternal tree to life. They are chosen probably because of their hardiness, quick growing season, and due to the fact that they are one of the first trees to sprout blossoms in spring.

Ms. Kachor explains that tradition has people gently striking each other with the branches, transferring the power and energy of the eternal tree of life to each other.

The history of the paska also has an interesting twist. Strict adherence to tradition, Ms. Kachor explains, would have three paskas baked in preparation for Easter. The first one, called the "yellow" paska, is baked on Thursday to celebrate and honor the forces of nature (air, water, earth, etc.). The second one, the "white" paska baked on Good Friday, is to remember the departed souls (as part of a cult of the dead memorial marked throughout Holy Week). The third and last paska is for everyone honoring Mother Earth.

But in keeping with the Good Friday fast, neither the three Easter pasky, meats, nor any dairy products are allowed to be consumed. That comes on Easter morning as part of the blessed Easter basket.

From the paska custom described above you're probably wondering whether Easter is a Christian or a pagan celebration for Ukrainians.

In a sense, it's a bit of both.

In pre-Christian history, Ukrainian pagans celebrated the rebirth of the nature through what they called a "sun festival." Associated with this festival was a symbol which has survived the Christian Easter tradition, the egg. As Ms. Kachor explains, the egg then and now is a symbol of renewal. It appeared, in far more simpler geometric designs and patterns, about 2,000 years ago during the Stone Age. Thought of as a magical talisman of sorts, the egg (pysanka) was used to ward off evil spirits. Or, as Mark Bandera, museum curator at Oseredok adds, the pysanka was used to either charm or rid oneself of an eligible bachelor.

Some of the ancient designs have survived to present day, explains Ms. Kachor. The oldest known, which consists of meandering lines and zigzags, probably symbolized the "eternal thread of life," the idea of no beginning and no end, birth and death, day and night, and the change of seasons.

Another one, which displays 40 triangles, were intended to dedicate an event or wish in a person's life on each of the 40 triangles. Christianity brought additional meaning to the number 40 with Jesus spending 40 days and 40 nights in the desert and the present-day Easter cycle of 40 days leading to the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. (Forty appears to be magical for Oseredok too, in that, over the past 40 years, the center has managed to collect close to 3,000 pysanky through numerous donations).

"Pysanky," observes Ms. Kachor, "were probably the first philosophical expressions (through art) of a people."

Once the basket was readied for blessing, complete with pysanky, pasky, dairy products and smoked meats, (if the basket was big enough, even a roast suckling pig with a stock of horseradish stuck in its mouth was thrown in for good measure), Ukrainians, in the old country, would head for church at midnight Easter morning to attend Resurrection matins and liturgy. At 2 a.m., the priest would bless the Easter baskets, allowing people enough time to return home, before sunrise, in order to share their meal with the souls of their ancestors. (The more adventurous, in fact, would eat their Easter meal at the church graveyard atop the grave of one of their departed family members.)

Once done, Ukrainians were then free to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with the rest of the community at the crack of dawn.

| Home Page |