Ukrainian Easter

I was excited when I realized that we would be spending Easter in Ukraine. I knew that it would probably not be anything like what we experience here in the U.S. Our morning started with leaving the house in our church attire at 5:30 in the morning. We then walked, Vova carrying the basket of offerings, to the church. As we rounded the corner I could not believe my eyes. People were lined up for blocks on either side of the street.

It started at the church and by the time we returned home went for about a 1/4 mile.

It was such a beautiful sight, it seemed the whole town was there with their baskets in front of them on the ground with their candles glowing in their baskets.






The purpose is to bring a basket with the food that you will be eating on Easter. The priest comes out and walks along the street blessing the people and their food.




I call this the "Come to Jesus Basket" it has the homemade hooch next to the picture of Jesus.

Gorgeous hand-made cross stitch towel to cover their basket. I guess the person next to them didn't have a basket so they used a grocery sack. That works too.

My mom hates this picture but it's one of my favs of the whole trip. Sorry mom. I call it "Babushka Marilon" Her name isn't really spelled like that, it's just the way you say it there.

I was trying so hard to get a good picture of these two women without them noticing. This was the best I could do. I love their matching purple wool sweaters. They had to have been sisters. Matching head scarfs as well, same height, adorable.


It was a very cold morning and we waited about an hour for the priest to come out. But we knew it was time when the church bells chimed. He came out and was followed by several men carrying flags of some type. He dipped a straw broom in a bucket and then sprayed the people with water. I was shocked at how much water he got on them.

Some things to note when watching this:



1. The men (priests?) who are carrying the flags and how they noticed I was videoing them. We stuck out like a sore thumb I tell ya'.
2. You can see the purple sisters really well in this video
3. Anya's face when she got sprayed with water (my 10 year-old cousin in the tan coat and hat)