It was March 22nd, March not April MARCH! I was out visiting my parents and
I noticed my Dad already had Hot Cross Buns on the counter. That is simply how
good the food is in my home town around Easter. People are in fits for the bake
shop to up and start with the various Easter breads.
In our home town Paska (traditional Easter bread) is ordered weeks in advance, and people are hunting down Nun's willing to carve Butter Lambs for them. Every adult of Ukrainian heritage in Rural Manitoba is on an Easter Egg Hunt of their own... not one that will end in chocolate mind you, but the one where you dig out the heirloom Pysanky (traditional Ukrainian decorated eggs) that you were so very afraid someone would break that you packed them away so well, not even you remember where exactly you stored them.
If some of these words are a little funny to you, don't worry about it. It's just time we gave you an introduction to some of the food in a traditional Easter Basket.
If you took a look at the above photo you are going to see just how easy and basic a basket really is. Some of you are thinking "I have all that stuff in my fridge right now!"
A basic traditional Easter basket should include:
-Salt
-Butter
-Cheese
-Meat
-Eggs
-Bread
- Herbs, Horseradish, or Pickles of some type (dill pickles, beats, onions)
- Candle - If you plan on attending a blessing service
Easter baskets are not only a Ukrainian tradition, and many many variations exist. If you are non-traditional and looking to make your own basket the above should be used as a guideline to helping you create a basket. I think sometimes the world can be too strict with "tradition" that discourages people from keeping the tradition alive. You start seeing a tradition as too time consuming, and in the end not something you find personal. I hear-by give you full permission to put whatever you darn well please in your Easter basket, I'm sure it will be wonderful. When you make a tradition your own it evolves and becomes something with meaning to you regardless of heritage, or religion.
I will now encourage you to include at least one hand-made item in your Easter Basket. I'm going to showcase how to make traditional Easter food for you. My family tends to include Wine in their basket as well. Imagine a big wicker basket of all these goodies just waiting for you on Easter Morning for a no fuss breakfast. That is pure Easter magic.
The Traditional Basket I am planning to make will have the following:
-Paska Bread
- Eggs and Pysanky
- A butter Lamb - You may have noticed in the diagram above the butter is shaped like a sheep
- Bread Birds
- Wine
- Hrudka cheese
- Salt
- Ham, Bacon, Kubasa
- Pickles
- Candle
I will also cover some other traditional bread and Meats you may find in a basket, so don't worry if you are outraged by the Paska and Kubasa or the way I spell it. I'm afraid that is a Home Town thing spellings and recipes for these foods tend to vary. I'll be trying to make what I grew up with but feel free to include bread that has meaning to you. As we go along in creating the basket we will learn more about each element of the basket, variations on each item, and some traditional names and representations. For now I will leave you with a photo of last year's basket I made up. Don't worry this year's will be even better.
In our home town Paska (traditional Easter bread) is ordered weeks in advance, and people are hunting down Nun's willing to carve Butter Lambs for them. Every adult of Ukrainian heritage in Rural Manitoba is on an Easter Egg Hunt of their own... not one that will end in chocolate mind you, but the one where you dig out the heirloom Pysanky (traditional Ukrainian decorated eggs) that you were so very afraid someone would break that you packed them away so well, not even you remember where exactly you stored them.
If some of these words are a little funny to you, don't worry about it. It's just time we gave you an introduction to some of the food in a traditional Easter Basket.
Image Credit - Hub Pages Origin of the Easter Basket
If you took a look at the above photo you are going to see just how easy and basic a basket really is. Some of you are thinking "I have all that stuff in my fridge right now!"
A basic traditional Easter basket should include:
-Salt
-Butter
-Cheese
-Meat
-Eggs
-Bread
- Herbs, Horseradish, or Pickles of some type (dill pickles, beats, onions)
- Candle - If you plan on attending a blessing service
Easter baskets are not only a Ukrainian tradition, and many many variations exist. If you are non-traditional and looking to make your own basket the above should be used as a guideline to helping you create a basket. I think sometimes the world can be too strict with "tradition" that discourages people from keeping the tradition alive. You start seeing a tradition as too time consuming, and in the end not something you find personal. I hear-by give you full permission to put whatever you darn well please in your Easter basket, I'm sure it will be wonderful. When you make a tradition your own it evolves and becomes something with meaning to you regardless of heritage, or religion.
I will now encourage you to include at least one hand-made item in your Easter Basket. I'm going to showcase how to make traditional Easter food for you. My family tends to include Wine in their basket as well. Imagine a big wicker basket of all these goodies just waiting for you on Easter Morning for a no fuss breakfast. That is pure Easter magic.
The Traditional Basket I am planning to make will have the following:
-Paska Bread
- Eggs and Pysanky
- A butter Lamb - You may have noticed in the diagram above the butter is shaped like a sheep
- Bread Birds
- Wine
- Hrudka cheese
- Salt
- Ham, Bacon, Kubasa
- Pickles
- Candle
I will also cover some other traditional bread and Meats you may find in a basket, so don't worry if you are outraged by the Paska and Kubasa or the way I spell it. I'm afraid that is a Home Town thing spellings and recipes for these foods tend to vary. I'll be trying to make what I grew up with but feel free to include bread that has meaning to you. As we go along in creating the basket we will learn more about each element of the basket, variations on each item, and some traditional names and representations. For now I will leave you with a photo of last year's basket I made up. Don't worry this year's will be even better.
Ebony's Easter Basket 2013
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