Easter in Eastern Europe
Easter's the most important festival throughout Eastern Europe, and food preparations begin in earnest during the week running up to Easter, known as Passion Week. An enormous range of pastries, cakes and biscuits are enjoyed during the Easter celebrations.
- Easter Saturday - a basket of food, known as the blessing basket, may be taken to the priest to be blessed. Only at that stage will people believe that Lent truly is over. This beautifully decorated basket is crammed full with symbolic foods such as a figurine of a lamb made from sugar (as a symbol of Christ, the Lamb of God), decorated coloured eggs (to represent resurrection), bread and salt (for prosperity and health - the bread represents hard work, the salt protects from rotting), meats and sausages (for bounty and fertility), and horseradish (which stands for the bitterness of Christ’s suffering).
- Easter Sunday - families break their Lenten fast by sharing a blessed egg, which is cut into small pieces and eaten in complete silence, after which everybody tucks into an elaborate feast. This may include roast ham, roast veal, suckling pig, boiled pork, roast turkey or goose, kielbasa (sausages), pancakes, stuffed cabbage, cwikla (beetroot and horseradish relish), hrudka (sweet Easter 'cheese' made from eggs), decorated coloured eggs, and krupnik (honey vodka). A lamb sculpted from butter, white sugar or pastry forms an important centrepiece. In Poland, people enjoy a special Easter soup made with smoked sausages, horseradish and hard-boiled eggs, using a stock traditionally made from soaking together oatmeal and rye bread in water (although modern recipes use vinegar).
- Easter Monday - in Poland any leftovers are turned into bigos, or hunters' stew. In Hungary, a meatloaf made from pork, ham, spices and bread is the preferred dish.
Other Eastern European Easter treats
An enormous range of pastries, cakes and biscuits are also consumed. The most famous is the Russian/Slovenian paskha (often spelled 'pashka') - a rich pyramid-shaped cheesecake with raisins, inscribed with the letters XB, which stand for the saying meaning 'Christ has risen', and the Polish sernik,a cheesecake made with mild lubelski cheese.
Also popular is kulich, a tall saffron loaf, and babka, a sweet yeasted cake. A huge variety of Easter biscuits, flavoured with oranges, lemons, almonds, walnuts, figs, dates, raisins, poppy seeds and candied fruit are also eaten. There's also a strong tradition of painting eggs in different colours - a precursor to 'painting' eggs with chocolate in modern times
Source : bbc.co.uk Tag : Easter in Eastern Europe Easter
