Last night, a Facebook friend challenged a sign I posted, "Today, I choose joy," and we spent a few minutes privately swapping stories about the really tough events occurring in our lives. 2012 is not the first year I've been privileged to walk closely with Christ on Good Friday, but this time, I can definitely see the Resurrection up ahead.
And that is no slight thing.
Although we're battling some ugly and challenging issues, we are blessed--and again, I say, "blessed,"-- that while some very dear situations are passing away, as a group, my family and I are thankful we stored up treasure in heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, what thieves cannot steal, that what is most important: God and each other.
Certainly, in past years, we have kept this most passionate of weeks with all the liturgical gold our denomination offers, and we have most definitely enthusiastically celebrated at home with traditions built from the ground up thirty years ago with the birth of my first child.
So while every brick didn't fall in place for us this year, it's because the entire spirit of what it means to cling to Christ on a very scary walk is very real for us this week. We, individually, and as a group, are looking ahead with great longing and hope to the promises the end of this week brings.
When we sing "Christ is Risen" in about thirty-six hours, it will be with a heartfelt exuberance unlike any other year. Then we will most definitely sit down, together, and partake of the fatted calf, the preparations of which are already begun.
For numbering amongst our traditions as a church is an Easter basket full of particular delectable foods, prepared only once each year, that we will bring to the church for the priest to bless. Through careful planning and the generosity of my mother (since our preparations will be the cornerstone of Easter dinner of Sunday), every items will be present in that baskeet when it takes it place on the long tables in our church hall, beside everyone else's.
Note: If the contents seem like a cocktail for cardiac arrest, it's because an authentic Eastern Orthodox Lenten fast prohibits the consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy for the better part of two months (this includes parts of the Triodian period, as well as Lent and Holy Week). So, Easter food is heavy in these items
So what goes inside?
Pascha #1: a very rich, yes homemade, bread, tall and round loaf, full of eggs, whole milk, and butter. Crowning the top are braids, crosses, and the letters IC XC (Jesus Christ conquers!).
Pascha #2: A very soft cheese made from ricotta cheese, milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla. I prefer this to the hurdka, since I dislike eggs and can safey skip them in this recipe. I mold mine in a bowl and decorate it with a clove cross and surround the edges with sliced strawberries. Pure ambrosia, I'm telling ya!
Butter: In the shape of a lamb
Pysanky: Easter eggs dyed following traditional methods. We have made them in the past, but they are tricky and time-consuming. Like many moderners, we "cheat" and use shrink wraps.
Hrudka: Easter "cheese" made from whole milk, eggs, and salt (for those who don't like it sweet) and the same with the addition of vanilla and sugar (We make both kinds). Hrudka is time-consuming and must be prepared in a double-boiler until curds form. These are strained into cheesecloth, then tied up and allowed to hang and drip dry.
Lamb: We usually would have ours at our Holy Thursday dinner, but my mother won't make it, and my father loves it, so we deferred this year, so we could add it to our Easter basket and bring some for him.
Ham: Traditional Slavic celebration meat (My children are half Ukranian; I am half Bohemian).
Thickly-cut bacon (same logic as for the ham)
Long links of kielbasa (see above).
Fruit: We like apples, oranges, grapes, and strawberries
Colored hardboiled eggs: Which Timothy will transform into the deviled variety on Easter Sunday.
Horseradish: white and beet.
Salt and pepper in new, glass containers
Candy: Which we bought on sale extremely cheaply the day after Western Easter, one of the "perks" of being Easter Orthodox.
We will be eating off this food for the first couple of days following Easter Sunday (The Orthodox call it "Pascha," because it is our Passover, the passing from death to life). All of that first week is called "bright week," and fasting of any kind is strictly prohibited.
All these foodstuffs will go into an enormous basket we bought just for this purpose (the rest of the year it holds silk flowers). A brightly-colored embroidery cover, used only once a year, tops the feast.
Now that cover has a couple of stories attached to it. I will share those tomorrow.
And that is no slight thing.
Although we're battling some ugly and challenging issues, we are blessed--and again, I say, "blessed,"-- that while some very dear situations are passing away, as a group, my family and I are thankful we stored up treasure in heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, what thieves cannot steal, that what is most important: God and each other.
Certainly, in past years, we have kept this most passionate of weeks with all the liturgical gold our denomination offers, and we have most definitely enthusiastically celebrated at home with traditions built from the ground up thirty years ago with the birth of my first child.
So while every brick didn't fall in place for us this year, it's because the entire spirit of what it means to cling to Christ on a very scary walk is very real for us this week. We, individually, and as a group, are looking ahead with great longing and hope to the promises the end of this week brings.
When we sing "Christ is Risen" in about thirty-six hours, it will be with a heartfelt exuberance unlike any other year. Then we will most definitely sit down, together, and partake of the fatted calf, the preparations of which are already begun.
For numbering amongst our traditions as a church is an Easter basket full of particular delectable foods, prepared only once each year, that we will bring to the church for the priest to bless. Through careful planning and the generosity of my mother (since our preparations will be the cornerstone of Easter dinner of Sunday), every items will be present in that baskeet when it takes it place on the long tables in our church hall, beside everyone else's.
Note: If the contents seem like a cocktail for cardiac arrest, it's because an authentic Eastern Orthodox Lenten fast prohibits the consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy for the better part of two months (this includes parts of the Triodian period, as well as Lent and Holy Week). So, Easter food is heavy in these items
So what goes inside?
Pascha #1: a very rich, yes homemade, bread, tall and round loaf, full of eggs, whole milk, and butter. Crowning the top are braids, crosses, and the letters IC XC (Jesus Christ conquers!).
Pascha #2: A very soft cheese made from ricotta cheese, milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla. I prefer this to the hurdka, since I dislike eggs and can safey skip them in this recipe. I mold mine in a bowl and decorate it with a clove cross and surround the edges with sliced strawberries. Pure ambrosia, I'm telling ya!
Butter: In the shape of a lamb
Pysanky: Easter eggs dyed following traditional methods. We have made them in the past, but they are tricky and time-consuming. Like many moderners, we "cheat" and use shrink wraps.
Hrudka: Easter "cheese" made from whole milk, eggs, and salt (for those who don't like it sweet) and the same with the addition of vanilla and sugar (We make both kinds). Hrudka is time-consuming and must be prepared in a double-boiler until curds form. These are strained into cheesecloth, then tied up and allowed to hang and drip dry.
Lamb: We usually would have ours at our Holy Thursday dinner, but my mother won't make it, and my father loves it, so we deferred this year, so we could add it to our Easter basket and bring some for him.
Ham: Traditional Slavic celebration meat (My children are half Ukranian; I am half Bohemian).
Thickly-cut bacon (same logic as for the ham)
Long links of kielbasa (see above).
Fruit: We like apples, oranges, grapes, and strawberries
Colored hardboiled eggs: Which Timothy will transform into the deviled variety on Easter Sunday.
Horseradish: white and beet.
Salt and pepper in new, glass containers
Candy: Which we bought on sale extremely cheaply the day after Western Easter, one of the "perks" of being Easter Orthodox.
We will be eating off this food for the first couple of days following Easter Sunday (The Orthodox call it "Pascha," because it is our Passover, the passing from death to life). All of that first week is called "bright week," and fasting of any kind is strictly prohibited.
All these foodstuffs will go into an enormous basket we bought just for this purpose (the rest of the year it holds silk flowers). A brightly-colored embroidery cover, used only once a year, tops the feast.
Now that cover has a couple of stories attached to it. I will share those tomorrow.
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