How Easter is celebrated in Ukraine and Scotland

By Yelyzaveta Basharova

UKRAINIAN EASTER

Easter 2024 will be celebrated on 5 May and Catholics on 9 April. This is one of the most important holidays in Christianity, on which believers commemorate the miraculous resurrection of Jesus three days after his execution. Ukrainians have many long-standing Easter traditions in which Christian precepts are intertwined with ancient pagan beliefs.

Preparations for Easter in Ukraine begin in advance when people observe a long Lent. The last week before Easter was called the White Week - during this week, people cleaned the house, washed all surfaces and decorated the house with towels.

For Easter in Ukraine, ritual pastries are prepared - Easter cakes. More eggs are added to Easter cakes to make the dough a deep yellow colour, symbolising the sun. Easter cakes were decorated with bird and flower figures on top to signify spring and fertility.

During the baking of Easter cakes, housewives forbade their household to walk near the oven, ventilate the room, and slam the door - it was believed that the dough would not rise due to a draft. It was considered a good omen if the Easter cake rose high and baked evenly, which meant happiness and prosperity for the whole family.

Another symbol of Easter in Ukraine is the willow tree. Branches and willows are brought into the house during Palm Week and then decorated for Easter.

The third well-known symbol of Easter is Easter eggs. Painted and dyed eggs symbolise life, the sun and resurrection. The art of Easter eggs - Pysankas a great Ukrainian tradition when people use wax to create meaningful designs on the egg shells.

On Easter Day itself, it is customary to collect various foods, Easter cakes and Easter eggs in a basket. The whole family goes to church for a service and blesses the food. Then, at home, the whole family sits at a festive table, and the meal always starts with an Easter egg. For dessert, they eat Easter cakes.

SCOTTISH EASTER

Easter in Scotland has much in common with the holiday in other countries. However, several Easter traditions make Easter particularly Scottish.

As in most Christian countries, the main dish on Easter Sunday (31 March) is roast lamb. There are several reasons for this - some religious, others more practical. It takes its history From the Bible with a rite of sacrifice as far back as BC.

There is a more recognisable part of the holiday - the Easter egg rolling. This activity involves colouring an egg and rolling it down a hill (or across a suitable grassy lawn). From time immemorial, this activity has traditionally been held on Easter Monday.

It's not surprising that the tradition of egg rolling originated in such a landscape - after all, there are so many surfaces in Scotland for it. Participants in this long-standing custom compete to see whose egg will travel the greatest distance. This is why eggs are often boiled before rolling so that they retain their strength.

Every Easter, children across the country run around homes and gardens looking for chocolate eggs. However, the custom of the hunt came from Germany. Some suggest that its origins date back to the late 16th century when Protestant reformer Martin Luther organised egg hunts for his parishioners. Men hid the eggs for women and children to find.

Easter eggs and egg hunts became more popular in England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as society changed. As a result, Easter ceased to be primarily a religious and communal celebration and became more centred on family, home and children's joys.

In the same way, eggs can be decorated using different coloured paints. In past times, before colours became widespread, eggs were decorated using onion skins, which turned a translucent golden brown when boiled.

Another older tradition is the lighting of bonfires. Like many Christian nations, the Scots traditionally light bonfires as part of their Easter celebrations. This almost always takes place on the Saturday before Easter Sunday.