On April 4, 2021 in Poland we celebrate the feast of Easter.
Easter is the oldest and most important Christian holiday celebrating the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ: his passion, death and resurrection, celebrated by Christian churches that retain the Nicene Creed. The culminating moment of the Paschal cycle. It developed from a feast celebrated in spirit and truth as part of the Jewish Passover rites. Then, after the separation of the Church from the Synagogue, it became a simple annual holiday preceded by one or more days of fasting, celebrated as an all-night vigil (the Paschal Vigil), during which the story of salvation was told, culminating in the Paschal events involving Jesus Christ and the Eucharistic sacrifice of the true Lamb.
The solemn Easter breakfast begins with the custom of sharing the holy egg. It is a moment in which we offer each other our best wishes. The day before on Easter Saturday we go to the church with a holy card to consecrate food, there are in it:
🥚The egg - is a sign of victory over death, rebirth of life and fertility. Hard boiled eggs, usually painted, are put into the basket.
❄️ Salt - means simplicity of life. It adds taste to meals, protects from spoilage and has purifying properties. Once it was believed that it can ward off evil.
🥩 Sausage - ensures health, fertility and prosperity. Sacred are mostly pork products, such as a piece of ham or sausage.
🐏 Lamb - means humility and gentleness. The one with a red flag is a symbol of the Risen Christ
🍞 Bread - is the basic food symbolizing the Body of Christ, guaranteeing prosperity and well-being. Several slices of bread are usually blessed.
Pepper - ground black pepper is usually sacred, symbolizing bitter herbs. We sprinkle it (and salt) on the egg that we share on Christmas Sunday.
The Christian custom of blessing food was born in the 8th century. In Poland, however, it began to be practiced as late as the 14th century. Initially everything that was to be found on the holiday table was blessed - and there was quite a lot of it. Therefore the priests blessed food by going from manor to manor and visiting farms of rich peasants.
Since this took a lot of time, the blessing of food was moved to church. Today, on Easter Saturday, a lamb (made of butter, dough or sugar), eggs, bread, salt, pepper and cold cuts are placed in a wicker basket. The basket is decorated with sprigs of boxwood, blueberries, basil, or spring flowers, and covered with a snow-white napkin.
Today is our day off from work.