Khrystos Voskres!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Today is a very special day, the day that we celebrate the atonement of our Lord, Jesus Christ, culminating in His victory over death, i.e. resurrection. Somehow Easter has been overshadowed in America by Christmas, but this isn't the case in other places in the world. Where I served my mission, the western half of Ukraine, Easter is the major religious holiday. Christmas is celebrated, but not nearly as intensely or universally as Easter. This may be at least in part due to the fact that during the times of the Soviet Union, New Years was THE winter holiday with the tree (yolka in Russian or yalinka in Ukrainian) and presents, etc. centered on that day. But Easter is THE major religious holiday in Ukraine, and rightly so. I had the opportunity to spend two Easters in Ukraine, one in Bila Tserkva, a small city of about 200,000 people, and the other in L'viv, the largest city in Western Ukraine (~750,000 people). Both of these holidays were very memorable, and honestly much more enjoyable than either of the Christmases I had in Ukraine. This is likely due to the fact that it wasn't -20 degrees C outside, as well as to the fact that I prefer green grass and blue sky to grey everything. One can imagine that this plays on the Ukrainian psyches as well.

For this post, I thought I'd share some of my memories of Ukrainian Easter. I should start out by saying that this is my impression of how things were/are, and that I can't guarantee that this is all 100% culturally accurate. If any of my Ukrainian friends ever happen to read this, I hope they will forgive my possibly biased observations. First I should say that the majority of Ukrainians are either Orthodox Christians, or, as in the western tip of Ukraine (i.e. L'viv) they are Catholic, more specifically Greek Catholic. To simplify things greatly, the Greek Catholic church is a melding of orthodox liturgical practices and allegiance to the Pope. There is an interesting article about this here.

Anyway, for all intents and purposes, the outward celebration of Easter for both of these churches is very similar. What will likely come to mind first for anyone thinking of Ukraine is Ukrainian Easter eggs or pysanky. Pysanky are extremely intricately decorated eggs, they can be wooden or the hollowed out shells of chicken or goose eggs (real eggs in my opinion are both more attractive and more impressive). The designs and motifs used have specific meanings and different designs are used in different areas of the country. Below are pictures of some of my favorites from my collection:

See here for some interpretation of symbols.

Of course, I don't want to give the impression that all Easter eggs in Ukraine are elaborately decorated.  They have kits, just like we have here in America.

This is a picture of Sister T'kachova in L'viv with her four children.  My companion and I took part in this decorating extravaganza.  We had purchased some eggs and came with a coloring kit from America.  They were already working on coloring the yellow/orange eggs in the middle (dyed by boiling with yellow onion skins).  The income for this family was based solely on the pyrozhky (dumplings or pies) that Sister T'kachova made and which her husband would sell on the street. Decorating Easter eggs with this family is one of my most precious Easter memories.

After decorating the eggs, Ukrainians head to church with a basket full of the eggs, sausage, paskha (traditinal Easter bread), and even horilka (Ukrainian whiskey). There it will be blessed by a priest.  The food will be taken home and eaten for dinner that evening, along with other foods prepared for the Easter meal.

This is outside one of the largest Greek Catholic churches in L'viv on the day before Easter.  Notice the LONG line outside?  If you look closely you can see the baskets with the goods to be blessed.

Often, the basket will be liked with an embroidered cloth like this:

I purchased this from a lady selling sunflower seeds at a bus stop in Bila Tserkva.  It says "Khrystos Voskres (Christ Resurrected), Voistyny Voskres (Truly he resurrected)." This is the traditional greeting and response used on Easter in Ukraine.  The twigs with willow buds are to represent the palm leaves that were laid before Christ during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem before his Crucifixion.  Traditionally willow buds are brought to the church on Palm Sunday to be blessed by the priest.  The blessed twigs will then be placed in the house for good luck throughout the rest of the year.

The majority of the people I met while serving in Ukraine had sincere and strong belief in Jesus Christ and his resurrection.  The members of the church were especially good examples of living with faith under difficult and constantly trying circumstances.  My faith has been forever changed and enriched by theirs.

This is Elder Jarvi and I serving together in the spring of 2001 in L'viv.  Elder Jarvi now lives in the same city that I do and is participating in the same MD/PhD program that I am.  Small world, ey?  We were great friends on our missions and are great friends now.  You can tell by his smile that he is a good guy.

Translation: Family happiness can be forever.  This is a Russian pass along card, and what it says is true.

"He gave his life, to break the bonds of death." Elder Richard G. Scott