Ukrainian Holy Week and Easter Traditions Христос Воскрес!

PASKA (Easter "babka")
Starter: 2 oz. yeast (2 packages of dry yeast)
1 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. sugar
2-3 tbsp. water
Dissolve the yeast in the above mixture; wait
until it bubbles and then add
4 cups sifted flour
2 cups warm milk
Mix all ingredients and wait until the dough
rises.
PASKA - Easter Ritual Bread
The most honoured Easter bread was the paska and the preparation and baking of paska was considered one of the
most important tasks of the year. People believed that the future could be predicted, depending on how this holiday
bread turned out. Every homemaker wanted her paska to be the best and the biggest, therefore while baking it she performed
various magical gestures and used incantations.
The dough for the paska was kneaded in a trough which rested on a pillow so that the bread would be light. During the
preparation the homemaker had to maintain pure thoughts. While the paska was in the oven no one was allowed to sit or
make a loud noise for fear it would collapse in the oven. In some regions of Ukraine the man of the house stood guard in
his front door lest someone enter and cast an evil spell while the paska was baking.
A successfully baked paska brought great joy to the family. Wrapped in a rushnyk (ritual cloth), or placed in a basket, the
paska was carried to church by the master of the house to be blessed in a ceremony following the Resurrection Mass on
Easter morning. Other foods such as cheese, butter, salt, pork fat, horse radish, eggs, pysanky (Ukrainian Easter egg),
ham, sausages, as well as various seeds were also brought to church for the blessing. Immediately after the ceremony
the family would hurry home to share the blessed paska and thus begin Easter breakfast.
The antiquity of the paska as a ritual bread is evidenced not only by the rituals performed during the preparations and
baking but also by the decorations which adorned this holiday bread. The top of the paska was covered with symbolic
signs made of dough such as a cross, solar signs, rosettes, leaves, pine cones and sometimes even birds and bees.
Most of these decorations were remnants of an ancient pagan religion tied to the cult of the sun and bread.
To the mix add:
8 cups flour
3 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
1/4 lb. (or 8 tbsp.) sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 vanilla sugar
lemon rind of 1 lemon
juice of 1 orange
1 jigger of rum or other spirits
(brandy)
1/4 lb. melted butter
Article By: Lubow Wolynetz
Curator of Folk Art
Collection
The Ukrainian Museum in
New York City
DECORATIONS
FOR THE TOP OF THE PASKA:
Mix all the ingredients together. Add butter at the very end. Knead well
for about 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour, until the dough is elastic. The dough will
be very stiff. If it is too stiff, add 1/4 cup milk. Place the dough in a warm
spot and let it rise until double in bulk. When ready, fill greased and
floured pans 1/2 or 1/3 full with dough. Make dough decorations for the
tops of the pasky: solar motifs, square crosses, scrolls, braids, rosettes,
birds, etc. Place the pans in a warm spot and let the dough rise until it
reaches the top of each pan. Brush the tops of the dough with an egg
wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 for 10 minutes, and then at 325
for additional 45 minutes. When done, take the pans out of oven and
wait until the pasky cool in the pans. Then, carefully take them out of the
pans and place gently on a cloth-covered pillow. Allow to cool completely.
INCANTATIONS for a successful paska. Upon placing the paska into the
oven say: "Holy paska, be as grand and beautiful as the sun, because
we are baking you for the sun. Let all members of our family be healthy.
Let our children grow up as quickly as you grow. "Come out as beautiful
as you go in!"
DO'S and DONT'S:
• When preparing paska dough and during the kneading, think
only good thoughts, shoo away all evil ones.
• Don't let any of your neighbors or worse – strangers - come
into the house when you are preparing the paska. They might
put an evil eye on your paska and it will not rise as it should.
Don't make any sudden noises while the paska is rising or
while it is in the oven baking. Also, don't sit down while the
paska is in the oven or it will become flat.
• If you carefully follow all of the above instructions, the paska
will be light, airy and tasty.
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