Traditionally, the Christians on Easter night go to church to pray, to take Holy Light and to bless food. The Easter basket must mandatorily contain Easter bread, red painted eggs, lamb, wine, candles and a towel. Almost all the elements of the basket are substitutes of divinity, ethnologist Raisa Osadci, scientific researcher of the Cultural Heritage Institute, stated for IPN.
She noted that the red egg is the substitute of cosmogonic divinity out of which the worlds were created. The Easter bread represents our adherence to divinity, the lab is the symbol of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, while the wine is the blood of Jesus Christ. So, white wine or stronger alcoholic beverages are not placed in the basket.
The Christians can also place salt in the basket and this is later added to the salt that will be used throughout the year. The basket can also contain pressed cheese or ewe’s cheese and other dairy products that have the same symbolism of transformation and reinvigoration, as well as pork as the pig is an agrarian divinity, rabbit meat that embodies the spirit of wheat, garlic and poppy seeds that are used against spells and ghosts.
The same products are put in the basket on the Sunday of the Dead. In some of the regions, they add a special white and black sweet pie that signifies this life and the other life.
It is very important for these elements to be protected. They are covered with a towel so that evil forces do not touch them. The towel also separates the sacred things from the profane things. The role of candles is also symbolical as the fire is the one that clears the space.
When returning home from the church, the faithful who fasted can eat blessed food. It is common communion with divinity, noted ethnologist Raisa Osadci, scientific researcher of the Cultural Heritage Institute.
