www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Easter Basket

Do you mean a "Kolach" which is a Ukrainian word for a round breaded bread used at Christmas for at Panakhyda and other occassions.
I suspect the Ukrainian Catholic Churches you have visited have people who have intermarried with Poles in Galicia or in the USA which caused the blurring of traditions.

Well, this all sounds kind of complicated but never the less delicious! Different parts of different countries tend to have different recipes of the same theme...

Thank you, dear Halia, for taking the time to explain to me. You always sound as if you fiercely love your ethnic background, as you should rightly do so...

I worked with a woman last year, a recent immigrant from Ukraine--and what a lovely, lovely human being she was!! Her face and her smile shone with her beautiful spirit. We often spoke of common Orthodox customs we shared and I liked to learn about her foods and traditions...She had once lived in Greece on her immigration journey, so she knew a little of mine too. Even though she still had a hard time with English, we communicated from the heart and soul...I will always remember her, and she had the same name as you!

Another man who worked there although not ethnically Ukrainian, had lived in Ukraine most of his life and loved it very much. He had a calendar with lovely photos of Ukraine which he shared with me. The churches were breathtaking as were all the photos. What a beautiful country!

Such beautiful souled people are truly the best representatives of their countries...

Ukraine sounds like a wonderful country with a proud heritage and lovely people.

Be well,
In Christ,
Alice

You're one of them, too.

Thank you...

Humbly,
Alice

It's very interesting to hear of the different recipes and such that go into making an Easter Basket.

Sadly, my family has not had a basket blessed that I can remember (I'm 32) in my lifetime. Lots of excuses.

Looks like its up to me. My personal Easter basket will include the usual: sunka, maslo, kolbasi, slanina, and chrin.

My family tends to make a very dry Paska--unfortunately the only thing it's good for is toast slathered w/butter Babka will be taking it's place in my basket.

Salt was mixed with granulated garlic, onion, paprika, and black pepper which will be going into the potato salad later on.

Also in my basket will be a (hopefully) lovely German Riesling to accompany the ham.

I had read that in Europe, wine WAS a customary part of the basket. Good tradition, indeed.

Slava Isusu Christu! (Glory to Jesus Christ!)
Slava na Viki! (Glory forever!)

Yes, wine is certainly a good thing to put in a basket to be blessed. My dad and I used to make wine when I was still living at home (we started when I was 12--just don't tell the police I was his main taste tester!) and I recently found two bottles of our peach brandy from 1978! Oy, is it good and strong! I put a small bottle of that in my basket last year along with a small bottle of Slivovitz. If you don't know what that is, it's pretty ubiquitous in many Eastern European nations. It's plum brandy and it is wonderfully strong. You know you've had something when you take a shot of Slivovitz. It will be in my basket again this year.

Enjoy the Holy Week services. They are so meaningful and full of hope, even though they deal with such serious things.

Tim

I always add a full container of salt, and not just a little bit, that way I have the blessed salt from Pascha all year long. I like sea salt.

We are going to a Russian Catholic parish tonight. We want to put together a Pascha basket to be blessed, but have never done this before. We don't have a cover for our basket, neither of us like horseradish, and we don't have the kitchen facilities for making our own bread at the moment. Will we be considered weird if we leave these things out/will anyone notice? Can I use store-bought bread, and cover the basket with a plain white cloth?

Being very honest - if it's anything like my Parish you will see every type of container - from plastic carrier bags to elaborate baskets.

I have an embroidered cover that my GodPapa gave me and others have plain white towels or dinner napkins as covers.

Include butter , salt , eggs [ hardboiled !! ] some ham and other meat and whatever else you can get . How about a small bottle of olive oil ? Some small bread rolls ?

When you place yourbasket with the others fold back the cover but leave it on your basket so when they are blessed it will get sprinkled [ or drowned ] by the Holy Water that Father sprinkles freely everywhere as he Blesse them.

I hope you enjoy the experience and the Liturgy

Do pass on your impressions afterwards