Figure 1.--Here we see a Russian Easter card from Tsarist Days. After the Revolution, the celebration of Easter was supressed. The legend reads, "Happy Easter". Notice the pussy willows and the eggs in the basket.

Orthodox Easter (Православная Пасха) commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. A a religious holiday, it is not a state holiday with employees given a day off. It has no set calenar date. It is held on the first Sunday after the date of the first full moon that occurs on or after March 21. It is usually in April, but occassionally falls at the end of March. In 2004. Easter was a major holiday in Tsarist times. The two principal holidays during the Tsarist era were Christmas and Easter. The holiday of course was not celebrated during the Soviet era. At the peak of the atheism campaign, it as well as the Church itself were actively supressed. Since the fall of Communism, Easter has again become a popular holiday as their has been a renewed interest in religion. A reader writes, "Your dates for Easter are incorrect. The Orthodox church effectively still works on the old (Julian, I believe) calendar, so Orthodox Easter is usually 4-5 weeks after Easter in the West." We are not sure how popular Easter now is in modetn Russia. No where is the Easter egg more important than in Russia, the Ukraine and other Slavic countries. Like many Christain traditions, the Easter egg was supressed by the Soviets, but even Stalin was unable to stamp out the tradition. Easter eggs in these countries are wonferful works of folk art. The women draw beautiful designs in many colors on the eggs. They are painted by hand and are suchbtrasures that many are saved and passed down to future generations. The wonderfully decorated eggs are brought to church to be blessed.

The Celebration

Easter is one of the central Christian celebrations. Orthodox Easter (Православная Пасха) commemorates the resurrection of Jesus.

Status

As a religious holiday, it is not a state holiday with employees given a day off. Easter was a major holiday in Tsarist times. The two principal holidays during the Tsarist era were Christmas and Easter. The holiday of course was not celebrated during the Soviet era. At the peak of the atheism campaign, it as well as the Church itself were actively supressed. Since the fall of Communism, Easter has again become a popular holiday as their has been a renewed interest in religion. We are not sure how popular Easter now is in modetn Russia.

Date

Easter in Russia as Easter in the West has no set calenar date. It is held on the first Sunday after the date of the first full moon that occurs on or after March 21. It is usually in April, but occassionally falls at the end of March. A reader writes, "Your dates for Easter are incorrect. The Orthodox church effectively still works on the old (Julian, I believe) calendar, so Orthodox Easter is usually 4-5 weeks after Easter in the West."

Easter Eggs

No where is the Easter egg more important than in Russia, the Ukraine and other Slavic countries. Like many Christain traditions, the Easter egg was supressed by the Soviets, but even Stalin was unable to stamp out the tradition. We are not sure to what extent the tradition was supressed during the Stalinist era and when it became fully accepted. The Communists presumably sought to detch it from Christian symbolism nd religious observation. Easter eggs in these countries are wonferful works of folk art. The women draw beautiful designs in many colors on the eggs. They are painted by hand and are such treasures that many are saved and passed down to future generations. The wonderfully decorated eggs are brought to church to be blessed. Decorating the eggs is a real art form. The children loved to color and paint on the eggs and look to this every year. Most of the Easter egg coloring is done in the home. I'm not sure how the traditiin was explsained to children during the oviet era. Today religion is no longer supressed and the religious symbolism can be explained to children. While the coloring continues to be done primarily at home, it is not the only place where the eggs are colored.

Pancakes

Another important Russian Easter tradition is pancakes. Russian pancakes are bini and there are several different popular recipies for making the treats. Americans may have pancake days--the Russians have the mother of all pancake days--in fact an entire week. The last week in February is the week of Pancakes. The celebration is called Maslenitsa. While Maslenitsa has its place in the Russian Orthodox celebration of Easter, it is clealy a celbration with obvious pagan origins. Some see it as originating with the Celtic festival of Imbolc. Some say there were human sacrifices. Maslenitsa occurs near the end of end of winter and the beginning of the agricultural cycle. It is tied in with the idea of death and renewal, thus tieing Imbolc up with Easter. Pancakes (blini) are said to represent the warming round sun which brings life to the thawing soil. Russians after a wek of eating pancakes, on the final day of the week, burn an effigy of an old woman. She represents the old year which the Russians are putting behind them. is burned, representing the death of the old year, clearing the way for rebirth. A reader in Russia has provided us some details about the celebration.

Created: 2:16 PM 10/31/2008
Last updated: 4:17 AM 4/24/2009