Easter in Ukraine

[ScottinCrimea]

 Happy Easter everyone!  If you haven't experienced Easter here in Ukraine, you really should take the opportunity.  No commercial blitz, no candy fests, no Easter Bunny.  All day people answer the phone or greet each other on the street with the words, "Christ is risen".  They clean their homes the week before, bake sweet bread and those column shaped cakes, and decorate eggs as a symbol of new beginnings and new life.  Families get together to attend church, to share a meal, and to enjoy each others' company.  It's interesting to see how a country that went without religion for so long does a better job of celebrating religious holidays than those of us who have always had that freedom.

[Elen]

Easter was selebrated as far as I recall in soviet times as well ( where there "was no religion" like sombodies think - but in reality it was just separation the Church from the state) 

[viking]

I used to color eggs when I was a child, but these are works of art. Wow!

[Daveman]

Man, I can smell one of these "Easter is not a religious holiday" debates headed this way (not from you three, just in general).  Who cares where it originated, the fact is, it is celebrated, in many different ways.

Scott, I agree, that actually sounds a better way to celebrate than we do.  But of course, chocolate easter bunnies do bring in the bucks... 

Elen, I didn't know that for sure.  Here we were taught that sometimes people were even shot for religious practices in Soviet times.  Great pictures.  The eggs are gorgeous.   Most here are just dyed with colors and not much artistry like that. Very beautiful.

Here's a question... do you eat the eggs at some point?  Here some do, some don't...  I tend to make egg salad sandwiches for a few days.. 

[Elen]

I used to color eggs when I was a child, but these are works of art. Wow!

No  It's just new technologies due to wich we now have those termo plastik pictures which are able to wrap an egg under a hot temperature  Not true art but nice look anyway

[viking]

Elen

Do not ruin this for me! I have this picture in my mind of all these Russian artists sitting around painting these beautiful eggs. Kinda like Faberage eggs?

[Elen]

Man, I can smell one of these "Easter is not a religious holiday" debates headed this way (not from you three, just in general).  Who cares where it originated, the fact is, it is celebrated, in many different ways.

In Russia it' is religious holiday ( like Christmas which is different to Christmas at the West as well )

Elen, I didn't know that for sure.  Here we were taught that sometimes people were even shot for religious practices in Soviet times.  Great pictures.  The eggs are gorgeous.   Most here are just dyed with colors and not much artistry like that. Very beautiful.

In soviet time people were shot ( sometimes)  for their activities against the state  Also I 'm not such old to recall those times when those "sometimes" happened I was raised in Brezhnev's times, there were several churches in my district and people went there if they wished that. I 'm from non religion family. But painting eggs and eating kulich was a fun, and visiting cemeteries at Easter was a tradition in our family as well.

Here's a question... do you eat the eggs at some point?  Here some do, some don't...  I tend to make egg salad sandwiches for a few days.. 

Russian "traditional salad"  Olivie is supposed to use several eggs "Eggs" and "sandwiches" are not combined in my Russian mind at all  
Ps I didn't get why somebodies didn't eat eggs ( if it's not a matter of alergic of course)

[Elen]

Elen

Do not ruin this for me! I have this picture in my mind of all these Russian artists sitting around painting these beautiful eggs. Kinda like Faberage eggs?

They do  but only with wooden eggs ( bit not with those real ones which are supposed to be eaten in few next days)

[Daveman]

Russian "traditional salad"  Olivie is supposed to use several eggs "Eggs" and "sandwiches" are not combined in my Russian mind at all 
Ps I didn't get why somebodies didn't eat eggs ( if it's not a matter of alergic of course)

Yes, I understand about egg sandwiches in Russia - I got some very interesting looks when I made a sandwich from eggs, bell peppers, and ham.      

Some don't eat the eggs because... I don't know why... they just throw them away as if something is wrong with them because they have been colored.  I have never understood why.  Some americans are very peculiar about what they eat.   Even now, I still can't eat sushi.. i just can't do it.. oysters too..

[LEGAL]

The main paschal symbol of resurrection is red eggs. The old Russian Easter tradition is to greet each other with three times kisses and with words "Christ arise!" and give each other red eggs.

"One tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, she used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius Caesar. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house.

Another version of this story can be found in popular belief, mostly in Greece. It is believed that after the Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and the Virgin put a basket full of eggs at the foot of the cross. There, the Eggs were painted red by the blood of the Christ. Then, Mary Magdalene brought them to Tiberius Caesar"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene

Olga.