Origin of Easter Eggs,
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Ukrainian Easter Egg 
Symbols And Legends

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Western Easter is on April 4th, 2010
Orthodox  Easter is on April 4th,  2010

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Ukrainian Easter
 Traditions &Ukrainian
 Easter Folklore
 

              WHY IS  ORTHODOX EASTER CELEBRATED
ON DIFFERENT DATES?
                 In determining the day to celebrate Easter, early Christians faced a dilemma. It was known that Christ was crucified after Passover and therefore the date Easter should fall on should be after Passover.  The date for Passover is the fourteenth day of Nisan (thirst month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar, about the time of the vernal equinox), a fixed date in the Jewish calendar. This date, translated to the old Julian or solar calendar that Christians used, became a floating date that fell anytime in a week, and therefore made the date and day for Easter change yearly.  To add to the confusion, early Christians felt that Easter should always fall on a Sunday. This was resolved at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. when the date for Easter was set as the Sunday that fell after both the fourteenth of Nisan and the vernal equinox.
ORTHODOX EASTER IS CELEBRATED ON  April 4h,  2010
             Further controversy in the date of Easter began in 1582 A.D. with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.  All countries
 that did not accept this calendar and even today, there are may churches that still use the old Julian calendar.
             Currently, churches on the Gregorian calendar calculate Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon that comes on 
or after the vernal equinox (March 21). This means that Easter can fall within a 35 day period between March 22 and
 April 25 inclusive. Churches that still use the old Julian calendar occasionally have Easter on the same Sunday as those on the Gregorian calendar, but through the different method of calculation may celebrate Easter anywhere from one to five weeks later.  This is due to a combination of factors and the tradition that Easter must necessarily follow the Jewish Passover but never precede or coincide with it. 
              In other words as the Old Testament becomes fulfilled with the New Testament; as the Gospels follow the Mosaic Law;
 as the New Pascha comes from the old Pascha, so also the Christian Pascha must follow the Jewish Pascha.

                  THE SPRING CYCLE in UKRAINE

              The spring cycle begins with the "meeting of winter and summer" which coincided with the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It is called Stritennia in Ukrainian (meeting, the meeting of Jesus with Simon and Hannah. This date falls on February 15th.  However, the spring period really begins with the appearance of the first birds, which return to Ukraine in the beginning of March around the feast day of the Recovery of the Head of St. John the Baptist - March 8th.  The Annunciation - April 7th begins the true spring period.  From this day spring work begins. Close to the Day of Annunciation, usually at the end of March on the day of Alexis, which is called "Warm Alexis" - March 30th, the beekeepers set out the hives in the orchards.
            April 7th - Blahovishchennia.  Lady Day (Annunciation).  Tradition has it that this the biggest spring holiday in as far as on this day God blesses all the plants.  It is a big sin to work on this day.  Birds fly freely and begin to arrive, especially the storks.  Religiously, the Holy Spirit spoke to Mary that she will conceive God's Son.  In church very small pieces of bread - proskury - are blessed and believe to have healing powers.  "Blahovishnyk" is what the peasants call Archangel Gabriel, who is the master of lightning, while Illia is the master of thunder. According to old beliefs thunder and lightning wake up after their winter sleep and therefore Blahovishchennia one can expect thunder everyday.
        In this pre-Easter period, the spring cleaning is done. The women whitewash or paint the interior of the house and clean it from the "top to the bottom".

            The last Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) is called Willow Sunday (verba).  On this day pussy willows are blessed and distributed among  the congregation.  With these the people tap one another, repeating the wish: "Be tall as the will, healthy as the water and rich as the earth" or else say, "The willow hits, not I; a week from now will be Easter.
       According to old popular beliefs the week before Willow Sunday (Palm Sunday) "one should not either sow or plant anything which grows in the soil: potatoes, beetroots, carrots, radishes, onions and garlic because all these plants would grow tough as willow.
        On Passion Friday - Good Friday - no work is done and in particular no wood is chopped; there is no sewing.  Until Easter Sunday the ringing of the bells is replaced by the beating of wooden clappers (kalatala) or the striking of a mallet on a board.  In some localities, the Holy Shroud (plashchanytsia) is carried solemnly three times around the church. 
         UKRAINIAN EASTER is the principal spring festival and a series of rites have become centered around it.  Easter in Ukraine has preserved traces of  pre-Christian rites, which in general show a similarity to those of Christmas and New Years.  These rites are closely related to agriculture, to the memory of the dead and to the marriage season during which ritual songs are sung and there is much well wishing.
           Prior to Easter is the Lenten period of fasting and abstaining from meat and dairy products. Our relatives in Ukraine prepare Easter baskets just like we do in Alberta, Canada filling them with sausage,  garlic, salt, smoked meats, butter, cheese, horseradish, pasky - paska - traditional Easter bread, pysanky and krashanky - hard boiled eggs dyed in one color.  All these foods take on a symbolic meaning which reflects the faith of the people. The baskets are covered with beautifully embroidered linens saying Khrystos Voskres meaning Christ has risen, to which the reply is Voiistynu Voskres - He is truly risen. 
           At the conclusion of the service, rows and rows of food-laden baskets with a lighted candle in each are blessed by the priest. In favorable weather the ceremony of blessing the baskets is done outside. In Ukraine young boys light huge bonfires in the churchyard.
The most beautiful aspect of the liturgy is the joyful heralding of a risen Christ in singing the traditional Ukrainian hymn "Khrystos Voskres", Christ is risen.  The people go very early to church and return about 4 hours later. They break the fast by having an early breakfast with the blessed food and then most of them  lie down for a  rest or go sleep - at least for awhile.
           On Easter Sunday relatives invite guests or go visiting. They also visit the cemetery to light candles of the graves of their deceased love ones. Easter Monday  or "Sprinkling Monday" or "Dousing Monday" is marked with a quaint custom, the origin of which is obscure - of dousing young maidens with water by the village lads. Our cousins were telling us that they were young they put buy expensive cologne to add to the water when they sprinkled it on girls. They wanted to impress the girls. Then on Tuesday - it's the young maidens turn. They sprinkle the young lads with water. There is much merrymaking and laughter. This old tradition dates back to pagan worship of water as the life-giving element. Khrystos Voskres!

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