Poland

Easter in Poland is eagerly awaited. Everyone loves it. It is a unique time when people try to be better. It is preceded by 40 days of Lent. On Ash Wednesday people go to church where ash is sprinkled on the heads of members of the congregation. The Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday. People bring palm twigs to church to have them blessed. Easter cards are sent to family members or friends.

On Easter Thursday (in other parts of Poland on Easter Saturday) children get sweet gifts from the Easter Bunny. On Good Friday people go to church to pray in silence, although on that day there is no mass celebrated. We believe that Jesus Christ died on a cross on Friday. We follow a strict diet without any meat.

On Easter Saturday  Polish people go to church to have their  Easter baskets blessed. The Easter basket contains: a few dyed eggs, some butter, ham, sausages, bread and salt. This food is served on the next day during breakfast.

On Easter Sunday we go to church and are very happy to celebrate our Saviour’s resurrection. We gather with our friends and families at a table and have dinner together. As a dessert we serve cheesecake or different kinds of cakes with dried fruit. We eat lots of boiled  or chocolate eggs.

Easter Monday is the last day of Easter. We visit churches again, have dinner together and there is something else…pouring water on people at Easter – lots of joy and fun! Childre love this tradition very much.

On Wednesday all children come back to school.

 

 Moldova

Easter is the most important religious holiday in Moldova.

Easter is the day when Jesus resurrected. People use a different greeting in Moldova on the days of Easter – they say "Hristos a inviat" which means "Jesus resurrected". And the reply for the greeting is "Adevarat a inviat", which translates to "Indeed resurrected”.

National food in Moldova for Easter:

• placinte (a type of filled pastry)
• galuste (rice and ground meat wrapped in grape wine leaves)
• various salads, meat dishes (especially rabbit and lamb),

It is also customary to color eggs in different colors for Easter,but red is considered the traditional color.

For Easter we have red eggs, our traditional bread , beef and we eat them in the  Easter morning  with our family.We also have a tradition to wash our faces with a white egg, and with a red egg and water. This means the beauty, health and wealth.

   

It is a custom to color eggs in different colors for Easter.Red is considered the traditional color.

A traditional Easter table in Moldova. National food in Moldova for Easter: placinte (a type of filled pastry ), galuste (rice and  meat wrapped in grape wine leaves) and different meats.

    

In this year, daffodils were already in bloom for Easter.

Ukraine

 

Before Easter families bake Paska (Easter bread), decorate eggs. On Saturday morning people go tj the church for  a holiday serice and to have their festive food blessed. Many of them leave some part of treatment to the poor near the chuch.

Easter breakfast begins with blessed water and paska, and then a battle with eggs.

 

At schools and kindergartens children learn more about Ukrainian Easter traditions on Easter Eve and have exhibitions and various events.