Easter basket blessing?

[Blanka]

I remember hearing about some Eastern European Catholics who have a custom of taking their Easter baskets to church on Easter Sunday where the priest blesses the baskets. They have beautifully embroidered covers for the baskets and unlike the American version of the candy filled Easter basket, their baskets contain (part of) the Easter dinner they will serve when they get home. It sounds like a lovely custom.

Does anyone here know more about this custom or if there are any blessings of Easter baskets at parishes in this country? :tiphat:

 

[Patchunky]

Hi

This is usually what is eaten for breakfast on Easter morning after coming home from church.

The contents of the basket will vary slightly from region to region often from village to village but it is basically the same.

A large loaf of bread, usually round in shape often with a cross or other decorations of dough on top.

Meats of various kinds including kolbassy, slab bacon, lamb and veal.

Horseradish, often mixed with beets.

Butter often in the shape of a lamb.

Container of salt.

Cheeses of various kinds including those made of eggs.

Hard boiled eggs that are colored, in some areas these eggs are red or colored with onion skins.

Many regions also included eggs that have been decorated by various methods; i.e. wax batik, scratch carved, wax applique, straw applique, and other methods.

Also included are various kinds of pastries.

If the region was a wine making region, a bottle of wine was also included.

In some areas, a candle was also placed in the basket.

The basket is covered with a richly embroidered cover that usually has a cross or other religious motif; i.e. the Resurrection, Mother of God, etc.

In this country, many families will also put in some chocolate crosses.

In some regions of Eastern Europe, you will also find lamb cakes and lambs made of sugar in the basket.

Some regions will add crosses of palms or fresh cut flowers.

All of the foods have a special meaning. The bread represents Christ, the Bread of Life.

The salt is a staple of life also.

The beets and horseradish are everything that is sweet and bitter in life.

The meats, eggs, cheeses and dairy products are things that had been forbidden during the long fast of Lent.

The decorated eggs were wishes for a properous year and good fortune.

Nothing from the table was ever wasted or thrown away. The scraps were given to the other animals in the house or farm and the eggs were collected and crushed to be scattered around the house to protect it from Evil and from being struck by lightning.

Hope this helps…

I will try to find the link to a site that gives more info…

 

[Hesychios]

The post by Patchunky was excellent.

All of the Byzantine Catholic churches I know of do this. It a most delightful event. One doesn’t need to be a member of the parish to get the blessing, just prepare a basket and bring it in before liturgy on Easter Sunday.

The foods represent those items that are typically fasted or abstained from during Great Lent. As you can see, the Byzantine fast is quite a bit more rigorous than the typical Western fast.

The Orthodox churches from Eastern Europe do this as well, you can visit them on their Easter (which happened to have been today) and bring a basket for blessing. Believe me, if you show up on an Easter Sunday without a basket you are really really going to wish that you had one of your own out there, the ceremony is something not to be missed!

The Poles have a similar custom, however they typically do not have a massive blessing ceremony, the faithful usually go to the church sometime on Saturday and get individual blessings. I don’t know enough about this to attribute the custom to some Slavic pre-Christian rite. But the idea has been advanced (by me, mostly) that the Polish basket blessing custom dates back to the time when Eastern Christianity began to penetrate southern Poland, which was then part of the Moravian Empire.

I am looking for more info on this, so if anyone has any thoughts I would like to hear from them!

 

[Blanka]

Thanks for the great information Patchunky and Hesychios.

It sounds like a wonderful tradition. Wouldn’t it be great if this practice would catch on at the average Roman Catholic parish? It might help focus more attention on Easter as a religious holiday and less attention on the Easter bunny!

:bowdown2: