Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Христос воскресе!!!!

Indeed He is Risen!!

Христос воскресе means Christ is Risen.  The phonetic pronunciation of the Russian is "Khristos Voskrese!"

Pascha was lovely and hectic all at the same time.  It always is for our family.  Thursday night we read the Passion Gospels, which I enjoy reading.  Then on Friday, we brought out the shroud of Christ, it was a very somber and tearful service.

Then came Holy Saturday.  Usually I go for the morning service where we read a big chunk of the Bible, however, I hadn't been home properly in over a week so I had to manage some things at home.  I went over to my Nana's mid-afternoon to help with dying the eggs.  My Nana already made the Syrnaya Pascha bread  and my mother made the Kulich bread which we eat along with the syrnaya pascha cheese...so rich and tasty!
Syrnaya Pascha
The below photo is not my Mother's Kulich!!!! Unfortunately, one of the Kulich's didn't rise properly nor bake so we only had one which we didn't bother to decorate.  Instead we ate it the next morning for breakfast!! Luckily, it was really tasty and fully cooked through.  Thought I would share a photo of what a proper Kulich is supposed to look like!
Nice, right?!!

I think I gained back the weight I lost during Lent with two slices of Kulich and Syrnaya Pascha!! The Pascha cheese is made with quark cheese, vanilla bean, whipping cream, sugar and something else really fattening....oh ya, butter!

As for the service, the most important part of Lent, we started the service at 11:30.  Then at midnight, that's when the joyous part of the service begins and we shout out "Khristos Voskrese" and "Voistinu Voskrese" as a reply to however shouted out the first part!! We try to do it in a bunch of other languages as well such as Greek, English of course, and some other one I can't remember!! It's a very exciting part of the service.  After the service was finished, it's traditional, for I think Eastern Europeans and Russians, to greet each person in the parish with "Khristos Voskrese" and kiss the cheeks three times.  Fortunately, we have a small parish because usually this takes awhile to get through everyone!
The service ended at 2 am and we feasted and had some wine until 3 am. I was exhausted but exhilarated at the same time. We also have a tradition where we each have an egg and we "war" or "bash" our eggs together and see who's egg will break first.  This involves some much practiced strategy for one person to win and still have their egg uncracked.  I figured out the trick when I was around 13 years old! I won't tell you what the trick is just in case you are invited to do this at some point in the future!! I didn't win this year because others out smarted me and my egg!!

The next day, both my Nana and I worked hard on preparing the dinner for the family.  I actually didn't really get a chance to visit with anyone because I was so busy cooking and cleaning afterwards!!  Here's some photos of the table and our meal.
It was a lovely dinner and a lovely Pascha.  Full of joy and celebration.  I will leave you with a photo of my finished Quaker design, stitched for myself, and some pictures of spring trees and flowers.

Had to include some really cute photos of Titus playing with his mink. Yes, I did type mink.  It is a piece of mink my Nana saved from some old jacket she had.  I thought it would be a good toy.  He loves it!!


He soooo doesn't look happy there!! LOL!!!

Oh right, almost forgot! It's IHSW this weekend!!! If you haven't signed up before, do so! Just click the hermit crab picture and it will take you directly there! I hope to try and work more on Jane and TBF and perhaps start another small...we'll see!!

Thanks for your lovely comments! Hugs to all and Happy Stitching!!!

Anne


19 comments:

Melissa said...

It was wonderful to read all about your family traditions. The eating part sounds yummy. I love Quark cheese!

Titus sure is a handsome fellow!

Enjoy your IHSW weekend. I've been busy spring cleaning inside finally. I am hoping this means then work will be ready for me to go too (wishful thinking)!

Margaret said...

I really enjoyed reading about your family traditions and food -- especially the food. lolol! Sound like it was all fun too. Did Titus take part in the celebration? :D He's a cutie. lol -- even Titus has a mink!

Ewa said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful, warm, heart-filled Easter.

valerie said...

What a wonderful Easter! So glad you all had a lovely service and dinner. That bread looks amazing! You must be happy to be off the fast! Titus is so cute! He sure doesn't look happy with that mink on his head. hahaha Wonderful quaker finish!

Veronica said...

I love reading about how you celebrated Easter. It sounds wonderful. The food looks so yummy, especially the Kulich. Titus is adorable as usual.

Hugs,
Veronica.

Lee said...

I have enjoyed reading of your Easter traditions. Thank you.
Love Titus with his mink we had a cat who claimed my grandmothers black coonet coat as her blanket
greetings from many miles away

Anonymous said...

Hello

I really enjoyed your post about the Eaester traditions you and your family do. Sounds like you enjoyed it.

Love your Quaker finish.

Beautiful trees, the blossom is gorgeous!

Titus looks very cute with that piece of mink on his head(:

Kaisievic said...

Thank you so much for sharing your Easter with us - it sounds really special. Love your kitty cat pics, too.

hugs, Kaye xoxox

Chris said...

It looks like a wonderful celebration!
Hugs to you and Titus :)

butterfly said...

Lovely read, wonderful easter celebration.
Your food looked yummy.

Melissa said...

Loved the post today! Your easter traditions seems so great and that cake looks to-die-for.

geeky Heather said...

The Lord is risen indeed! =) This is what we say in our services...the priest or pastor will say, "Alleluia! Chris is risen!" and we reply "The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!" It looks like you had a beautiful celebration. The cheese and bread look wonderful! I had to Google quark cheese...mmmmm...I will have to look for that next time I am overseas. Isn't it always the way that when you are in charge of the party, you rarely get to socialize with your guests??

I always love to see pictures of Titus; such a handsome fellow. =)

Mouse said...

ohhhh thank you for sharing your special time .... love to hear how other people celebrate things ... the eggs and the cake looked very yummy and also wouldn't have minded joining you all for dinner :)
love the photos of Titus and I bet he really does love that mink :) love mouse xxxxx

♥ Nia said...

So nice to know a little more about traditions in other countries :) thank you for sharing!! Beautiful eggs!
I hope you had a great time with your family :D
Hugs&smiles

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri Malinovich) said...

What a lovely and joyous post! Loved reading about your traditions and the fun egg wars.
Titus is beautiful as is your quaker finish!

Catherine said...

What a great post. I love hearing about traditions from all over ~ thanks so much for sharing!

Lynn said...

Thank you for sharing your Easter traditions with us. Your Saturday service sounds somewhat similar to our Easter Vigil. Your meal looked amazing! I love brussel sprouts and I can only imagine how wonderful that Kulich tastes.
Loved seeing Titus too! Any cat I've had is really attracted to pieces of fur like that. Clarisse loves to play with a fur covered mouse.

Joysze said...

Loved reading this post, Annie!! The food looks sooooo yum.

HMBW!!!!

Joysze said...

Loved reading this post, Annie!! The food looks sooooo yum.

HMBW!!!!