Christos Voskres

This is how the Sopchaks say happy Easter...the translation is "Christ is risen." The traditional greeting response is "Voistinu Voskres," "indeed he has." The Russian Orthodox church, from what my former father-in-law told me, considers Easter the most important observance; moreso than Christmas even.

I loved Easter with them. Learning about dying Easter eggs led to a lifelong love of Easter egg art. I used to do a lot of psanky but have forgotten about it over the last few years. Go this link if you'd like to see some amazing egg designs!

Above is a picture of some of my pysanky tools. The dyes are very different from the Paas pastel tablets. I buy these in little envelopes and have a bowl for each dye, left on the table for a few weeks before Easter, doing an egg or 2 a day. The colors are so amazing: gold, black, red, brick red, scarlet, purple, and many more.

I took this practice with me to Yemen and eagerly set up the bowls on our big kitchen table when Easter was finally near. We had hardly gotten started when one day I came home from work and, to my horror, the kitchen table was empty! "Where are my dyes???" Our housecleaner/cook looked at me and said he thought they were dirty dishes and emptied all of them and washed the bowls. I was bereft! Those dyes are hard to find to start with, much more so in Yemen.

Other traditions of theirs that I enjoyed: Baba would make kulich, a big beautiful loaf of bread. (Actually, I think they had another name for it, but I can't remember it. The picture of kulich I found online looks the same as hers so I guess I'll go with that.) She'd put it in a big sturdy basket along with her specially dyed eggs (she used onion skins for a beige color and beets for red, e.g.) and probably some candy. We'd take the basket to the basement of the church where there were hundreds of other bounteous baskets lined up on at least 50 tables. After the service the priest would come downstairs and bless all the baskets.

The only other tradition I remember is that they would set the table for Easter dinner with a plate and chair for Jesus. And at the Easter dinner, we all had to eat a clove of raw garlic. I loved that meal!

This year Dan and I will go to his brother's house for a family gathering and feast. Ham, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, salad, garlic bread, strawberry shortcake. I don't know if they'll have any religious overtones....it's more of an excuse for the family to be together I think.