Effervescent In Pink

My Favourite Holiday

Many people find it funny that my answer to "Favourite Holiday?" is Easter. Sure, Easter's got chocolate and a 4-day weekend, but favourite holiday??

What can I say? After months of high-pressure commercialized holidays (Christmas, Valentine's Day), Easter is a delightfully simple celebration. I just have great memories of Easter - it's spring, it's family and family friends. It's a gracious and forward-looking holiday.

My good friend Vanessa recently hit the nail on the head when she said that she felt that "being Catholic" was not just a religious thing but part of her culture. I agree - in our family, "Polish" and "Catholic" are inextricably linked. And my favourite Polish Catholic tradition is most definitely Easter. So today I thought I'd share a little photo essay on what I did last weekend and what is it that makes Easter so special for me....

Good Friday
While we spend the day presumably fasting and thinking about Jesus, I get started on my Easter duty - the desserts, pisinger (lemon wafers) and cernik (polish cheesecake).

Meanwhile, Mum kicks into full gear on the bigos. Most people have turkey or ham on special holidays, we have a dish of sauerkraut, pork, and polish sausage that has been stewing in the kitchen for 2 days. It may be an acquired taste, but to me, bigos is Christmas and Easter.




Saturday
Saturday we wake up, have a little breakfast and then put together our swięconka (a small decorated basket full of bits of food we will eat the next day - bread, butter, sausage, cheese, some treats, and a hard boiled egg).

Then Polish people from everywhere come out of the woodwork and head to the nearest Polish church to have this food blessed. You show up and place your basket among the many others in front of the alter, then the priest comes out and does this (thankfully) brief blessing ceremony, sprinkles holy water up and down the row of baskets, and you're good to go!

Saturday is my favourite part of the weekend, seeing all the people dress up and pile into the church, baskets colourfully decorated and piled along the front. I get to practice what little Polish I know, and feel just a little of what my dad's childhood was like.




Best of all, we get to go to the Polish delis and bakeries afterwards to pick up all the Polish specialties needed for Sunday ! Mmmm, pączki....

Sunday
Well, Sunday's the big day - Jesus has performed the greatest magic trick ever and we celebrate it with a day-long meal. But before you can eat anything today, the hard boiled egg (symbolic of new life) comes out of the basket; the family each has a piece and wishes everyone a good year.

Of course, even though we're far too old for it, my dad always sets up an egg hunt in the living room for me and my sister. Because he understands that it's not the chocolate but the ritual that we love.

One other Easter ritual is a visit from my Uncle John. We rarely see Uncle John but we can always count on him for Easter brunch. (Here's a scanned photo from Easter 1986 - back when we were all a little cuter....) Easter just isn't Easter without Uncle John.

Lastly, I have to say that what makes this holiday so special for me is that Easter represents all that I find important about my religion - forgiveness and unconditional love. It is considered the time to reconcile all that might have happened in the previous year, let go of any grudges and go forward with a new energy.

So there you are - my favourite holiday and why I hope your Easter was as pleasant as mine was. And as a belated Easter gift, something from ViewAskew's God herself.

Listen: Alanis Morrissette - Still
Lyrics

posted by Aleksandra @ 2:15 PM