Paska is much more than a loaf of bread eaten during Orthodox Easter
Most Ukrainian Easter traditions revolve around food in one way oranother.
Perhaps the religious exultation and the merriment of spring are enhanced by the anticipation of holiday gluttony. After all Easter markes the end of the 40-day Lenten fast when all foods made of animal products are prohibited.
Traditionally, during the last week before Easter – Clean Week – many people ate just small portions of bread and water. But preparations for the holiday dinner helped them endure hunger.
Monday and Tuesday were cleaning and laundry days.
On Wednesday, women began to prepare dough for the traditional Easter pastry known as paska. Men smoked ham and made the kovbasy – sausages. Girls chose the best eggs for the krashanky and pysanky. The krashanky – hardboiled eggs dyed brilliant colors – were to be eaten. Pysanky – painted eggs designed with intricate patterns with the help of wax – were not to be eaten, but saved as gifts and believed to be lucky charms. They were given as gifts to boyfriends, godchildren and guests.
Clean Thursday was the main day for baking the paska.
Colored eggs and paska are the main Easter dishes. The word paska, derives from Paskha the word for Easter, originating from Jewish Passover.
Paska is sweet bread, often made with raisins and icing and formed into the shape of a truncated cone. The shape symbolizes Calvary Hill in Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified.
Before the Russian Revolution, up to 40 recipes of pasky circulated in Ukraine. Many of those have since been lost. Back then each household usually baked three kinds: yellow, white and black paska. Yellow, the largest and the most popular, was dedicated to the sun. The white, traditionally baked on Good Friday, was dedicated to the dead, the spirits of deceased relatives. The black one, baked on Saturday, was dedicated to people and the earth.
There were also red paska, red symbolizing the beauty and joy of life, or, in some regions of Ukraine, Jesus’ blood and resurrection.
Various rituals accompanied the production process, from mixing the ingredients to kneading and rolling out the dough.
The most important part was putting the pasky in the oven: The hostess even read a special prayer.
On the Good Friday, adults fasted all day, drinking only water. On Saturday, women colored and painted the eggs, and men made small baskets.
People tried to stay awake all night before Easter. Many went to church at night for the vespers, or came early the next morning to bless the food for Easter breakfast. It is still a tradition today to bring paska, eggs and meat to the church to be blessed.
All food was placed in baskets, which the girls decorated with embroidered napkins and spring flowers.
A candle lit in the church would be placed in the paska, and people would walk home carefully not to let it burn out. Some people walked several kilometers gingerly holding their paska with the lighted candle on top.
Once at home, the family gathered around the table. The holiday breakfast started with a prayer and a traditional Easter greeting “Khrystos voskres” (Jesus is risen). The answer is “Voistynno voskres” (Truly risen). After this greeting people hugged and kissed three times. This greeting was said all Sunday and for several more days if people hadn’t greeted one another since Easter.
The first part of the meal was a slice of paska. Then people played navbytky, hitting their eggs to see whose is stronger. The one whose egg didn’t crack won. After the breakfast, children went outside and played navbytky with their friends. The winner got the loser’s cracked egg.
The games lasted all day, and in the evening young men visited the girls’ houses asking for pysankas. If he got one, it meant she liked him, and he was supposed to hire musicians and ask her for a dance.
On Easter Monday children visited their grandparents, teachers and godparents and brought them paska and eggs. But a store of eggs and a paska was always kept until the next Sunday after Easter – Provody, when families went to cemeteries and left food at the graves.
While some of these traditions have fallen by the wayside, many Orthodox Ukrainians have started to incorporate the old customs in their modern Easter celebrations
Traditional Easter recipes
KRASHANKY
Preparing the eggs: Boil eggs in well-salted water. Make sure the eggs are room temperature before placing them in boiling water so they don’t crack.
Dyeing the eggs: Purchase egg dye, which can be found at any bazaar up to a week before Easter. Most dyes come in powder and need to be dissolved in cool boiled water. Or use a natural dye. The simplest one is made from onion peels. Simply place eggs in boiling water with onion peels. The longer the egg boils, the darker it becomes.
To make a simple design, like crosses or spots, put some Scotch tape or hot wax on the egg before coloring it, and take it off, after dyeing.
Displaying the eggs: To make an attractive green “lawn,” put a handful of oats on a large plate, cover with wet cloth and put on the radiator a week before Easter. Make sure the cloth stays damp. By Easter the oats will sprout into a luscious green bed.
PASKA
Yellow paska
100 grams butter, 5 brown eggs, 150 grams cream, 300 grams white flour, 50 grams sugar, a dash of salt and 12 grams dry yeast.
Whip butter with mixer, adding eggs one by one, and then the cream. Add flour. Dissolve the yeast in a small amount of warm cream and add to the mixture. Add sugar and salt.
Knead the dough and put in a warm, dry place. When it rises after about 30 or 40 minutes, knead it again and put into a baking pan, lightly smeared with butter or sunflower oil. When it rises again, put it in the oven. To check if it’s baked, pierce the dough with a wooden match. If the match comes out dry, the paska is ready.
Red paska
1.8 liters baked milk (pryazhene moloko), 1.8 liters curdled milk or kefir, 0.5 liters sour cream and 1 egg yolk. Sugar and vanilla to taste.
Mix baked milk, curdled milk, sour cream and egg yolk. Boil until whey separates. Then filter through a cotton napkin and grate through sieve. Add sugar and vanilla. Put in a form and press with a heavy plate. Put in the refrigerator.
BAKED HAM
Take a pork ham, the best is smoked. Smear it with salt and cover with a dough made of flour and water. Bake one hour for each kilo of ham. Remove dough only after it cools completely. Then lift the skin and cover the meat with a mixture of sugar and spices. Put back in the oven for a few minutes.
BLESSING FOOD
On Easter Sunday, go to church early, no later than 7 a.m. and stand in the churchyard with your basket along with other people. The priest will come out periodically to bless the food, sprinkling it and the people with holy water.
