Easter in Bohemia, C. 1913  

     Not too long after the same routine was on schedule for spring house-cleaning, painting and getting ready for Easter in general. Large drawers were filled to capacity with all kinds of home made cookies and cakes.  
Baskets with hard-boiled hand-painted eggs stood  ready in a cool pantry for the big celebrations on Easter Sunday and Monday. Everything was ready for the two big days, including new clothes and shoes. But this was only Green Thursday and the time moved much too slowly for us young people. We went to the ancient St. Peter's Cathedral in the afternoon and the ceremony of the feet washing.  

     On Friday, we again went to church to see the tomb of our Saviour. In a large cave like niche made of rocks, lay the body of  Christ, so real to life. The grave was illuminated, but there was a boulder in front of the entrance. Two soldiers stood on each side of the famous grave, like stone statues and were relieved every hour.  

     Stuffed goose or pigeons or both, baked ham and pork roast were the types of meat selected for Easter. A fifteen inch long sponge cake lamb graced our dinner table, and it looked so sweet that it was too bad to cut into it.  

     After the lamb had been baked to a medium brown, Mother used coffee beans for the lamb's eyes, then frosted the whole cake animal and strew shredded coconut onto the still wet frosting Next, she fastened a tiny silver bell onto a pink ribbon and tied it about the lamb's neck and then stuck the stem of a daisy its mouth to give the impression that it was eating the flower. 

     Breakfast had to be eaten on the jump in the forenoon, because of the old tradition of the willow whip. The willow whip is made of several thin switches braided together and tied at intervals with different colored ribbons.  

     It was on this day of the year that the boys jumped out of their beds early in the morning without being called several times. Taking their fancy switches, they called on all the girls in the neighborhood to wish them a "Happy Easter". The switch used to persuade the girls to give the boys some of their Easter eggs and sweets. Then everyone went to church to enjoy Easter services. We exchanged gifts in the afternoon and then came the elaborately prepared dinner. On Easter Monday it was turnabout and the girls could spank the boys, but there were hardly any of these creatures to be found! We got even with them when their stomachs told them to come out from their hiding places.  

Source: Echoing Memories by Anna J. F. Humula. Boston Christopher Publishing House, 1963, pp.89-91. (Childhood Jinec Czenkov, Czechoslovakia.)  

This technique, particularly popular in Hana, Moravia, is one of the most exacting of all methods of decorating eggs. It requires a great deal of skill and patience. This form of decoration is used on eggs dyed a dark color, most frequently dark red or brown. Using good pieces of oat, barley, or wheat straw, first remove joints The stalks are soaked in hot water about one hour, and then they are split lengthwise and the pith scraped away with a knife. The straw is then smoothed out with an iron and then cut into squares, triangles, diamonds, and narrow strips-in fact all the elements from which decorations can be composed.  
,      A good colorless glue can be used to attach the individual pieces. A tweezers and toothpicks are used in the application of the  glue (toothpicks) and cut wheat pieces (tweezers).  

Source: "Slamenky (Cut Wheat Goose Eggs)" by Sidonka Wanidina-loe, Czechoslovak Culture compiled by Pat Martin. Iowa City, Iowa: Penfield Press, 1989, p.110. 
 
 
Egg trees, burning Judas, and drowning Smrt  

     In Czechoslovakia, Easter is the most joyous holiday of the year. Friends exchange eggs with the greeting "Christ is risen" and the reply, "He is risen indeed." Flowers and eggs abound in the markets, homes and churches.  

     In times past, the most beautiful egg painted by the boy or girl was saved for the special best-loved person. It was very often a pre-engagement symbol. Young people on the farm carried their eggs in a basket, delivering them from farm house to farm house.  

     One story tells of a young man who decorated an egg tree below the window of his loved one. On Easter morning there it was, to her surprise. Trees in the yard or garden were sometimes decorated.  

     Another old Christian practice occurred on Easter Saturday afternoon when the village boys collected and stacked wood and placed a straw-covered cross in the center of that stack. After an evening church service, the boys would light lanterns at the Paschal Candle, hurry to the stack of wood, and set fire to the cross. They would chant, "We are burning Judas." The ashes were guarded throughout the night, and in the morning were thrown into a flowing stream. Church ladies would then give decorated eggs to the one boy lucky enough to have lighted the fire in this annual observance.  

     Villages had egg artists, usually older people who utilized many designs and then taught them to others. Moravians placed pebbles or beads inside dried eggshells to make rattles for children. Long ago such rattles were believed to drive away evil spirits, and only recently have rattles become simply toys for children.  

     Inscribed eggs, a rarity in egg decorating, were fashioned by Moravians and Slovakians. Moravians threaded eggs with ribbon and displayed them on the traditional Easter Egg Tree. One custom was to adorn the tree with colored eggshells and flowers, and then young girls would parade house to house in their village. In another Moravian technique, cut-out straw pieces were glued to the eggshells 'to make beautiful designs or patterns. The straw pieces were either dyed or of natural color.  

     An old Bohemian custom involved "Snrtt"' an effigy of "Death." Numerous variations of this custom are recorded. One featured the doll burned or thrown into a running stream or river on Palm Sunday. The figure, symbolizing "Old Woman Winter," might be fashioned of straw and dressed in old clothes or decorated with rags. She might have had a necklace of eggs. As she was tossed into the river, the children would sing a welcome to the arrival of spring.  

     Another old custom involved making willow switches to "dust away the dreariness of winter when spring arrived." Then decorated eggs were presented to an individual's favorites following the "switching." These customs are as numerous as the villages in Czechoslovakia.  

Source: Czechoslovak Culture: Recipes, History, and Folk Arts by Pat  Martin Iowa City, Iowa: Penfield Press, 1989, p.107. 
 
 
 

The Sun Dances on Easter Morning 

On Easter morning (according to Armenian tradition) the sun dances, and there is no other morning in the year when such is the case. Since they cannot look directly at the sun, they have mirrors into which they look in order to see it dance. It is said, too, that very seldom is there an Easter morning which is not clear.  

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. XII (1899), p.106. 

Armenian Easter Egg Game  

For three days before Easter the Armenians will gather at a churchyard for the purpose of breaking eggs. Two persons will each take an egg, and one of them will hold his egg stationary while the other strikes it with the point of his egg. If A is holding the stationary egg and B is doing the striking, then, in case A's egg cracks, he turns the other end and lets B strike again. If the other end is cracked, B gets the egg and A must produce another egg to be treated as before and with like possible results. If B's egg cracks, then he turns the other end of the egg and strikes again. If it suffers in like manner, he loses his egg and must supply another, whereupon A does the striking until he forfeits his right by losing an egg. Thus they go on breaking eggs, until oftentimes one couple has broken as many as a hundred. The man with the strongest egg will of course win the most eggs from his opponent These cracked eggs which he has won he sells at a reduced price. Sometimes a man will pay a dollar for a strong egg before he enters into a contest, if there is evidence to prove that he is really getting a strong one. 
Formerly, Easter eggs were always colored red in order to represent the blood of Christ. They are usually colored red now (c. 1899), but are beginning to vary somewhat. 

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. XII (1899), pp. l06-107. 
 

Easter greetings and egg fighting 

In the spring, we fast for forty days before Easter, during which time we strictly abstain from meat and fish. 

On the evening preceding Easter morning, we break our fasts. It is a great day of feasting, and on this occasion we prepare elaborate meals. On Easter morning we go to church and following an Easter dinner, greetings are exchanged after the fashion of Christmas celebration. The visitor greets the host saying, "Christ has risen from the dead!" To which the host replies, "Blessed be the resurrection of Christ!" greetings are over, the people gather in an open wrestling and djirit games are held. 

The great pastime on Easter day is "egg-fighting."  There are many hard-boiled-egg sellers in the amusement place. Two men buy a dozen or more of these vari-colored eggs, place them in a row, squat on the ground, then each takes an egg from one end, with which they begin the fight. That one who holds in his  hand the last unbroken egg wins and collects the entire dozen. I have seen men carry home a whole basket full of eggs in triumph. 

Source: When I Was a Boy in Armenia by Manoog Der Alexanian. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1926, pp. 119-120 

Egg cracking among Albanian Orthodox Christians and Moslems  

In egg-cracking games it was customary for the younger friend or relative to offer his egg with the pointed end up. The older person struck the egg with his own egg, saying, "Christ is risen." The reply: "He is risen indeed." In pre revolutionary Albania both Moslems and Christians played at the egg-tapping game.  

Source: An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study by Venetia Newell. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1971, p.346.

In Arandjelovac a livestock fair was held on Good Friday. Everyone dressed in their best and enjoyed the fair, even those who did not join in the religious celebrations of the season.  

Easter egg dyes   

Grandmother and grandchildren enjoyed dyeing the Easter eggs on Good Friday. Colors were made from huckleberry juice, boiled onion skins, and boiled walnut shells. Rubbing the eggs with a rag dipped in lard gave them a sheen.  
  

Source: A Serbian Village in Historical Perspective Halpern and Barbara Kerewsky Halpern. New y Rinehart and Winston, 1972, pp. 114-115.

Easter is the greatest religious holiday. With its six-week Lenten preparatory season, solemn Holy Week rituals, and bright midnight resurrection service, everyone rejoices in the renewal of spiritual life and of the spring weather. The coloring of Easter eggs in decorative Romanian designs is an art in itself and reveals the artistic talents of the Romanians. Households are cleaned, repainted, and refurbished. New clothes are made or purchased. Soup, roasts, and casseroles of lamb are prepared. Nut and  raisin kuchen are baked. Merrymaking abounds after church services. After the Lenten restriction on dancing for six weeks, the village dances are resumed and a happier atmosphere prevails. 

Source: "Romanians," Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures are Daily Life. Vol.4, Europe. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998,p.326. 
 

On the Monday following Low Sunday, or St. Thomas's Day, Romanian children sent a message using bits of brightly colored egg shells to let the fairy like blajini know that Easter had come.

     The day after St. Thomas (Low Sunday) is well remembered by  Romanian children because of a curious custom connected fanciful story. 
     That day is consecrated to the Blajini, a meek, good-natured, innocent beings supposed to dwell in a  fairy-land, "by the Sunday water." The blajini are favorites of the Lord because of their purity and innocence. They  dwells so much apart that they do not know what is going on in the world at large. Therefore we children are taught to throw the red eggshells into running brooks and streams so that the 
waters may carry the token to the blajini and they may also know that Easter has arrived and rejoice. 
On that day women and children gather before the running brooks and rivers or on the little bridges and with appropriate ceremonials and conjuration's the fragments of the colored egg- shells are thrown into the running stream as a message of good cheer to the blajini. The word blajini means "meek." This ceremony is undoubtedly of pagan origin. 

Source: When 1 Was a Boy in Romania by Dr. J. S. Van Teslaar. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1917, pp. 67-68. 

Easter Celebration  

In the Ukraine, Easter celebration lasted until the Thursday after Easter with visiting and festivities at which one might sing and the hahilki. 

Pysanki  

The intricate designs on pysanki eggs are created by applying beeswax designs to the egg with a hair brush. The eggs are then dipped in dye. After each dipping, wax is added to protect the dyed area from further dipping. Geometric designs and symbols of spring and good luck decorate the eggs. Pysanki may be blessed by the priest before being given away. They will be kept for years as works of folk art. 

Source: Easter the World Over by Priscilla Sawyer Lord and Daniel. Foley. Philadelphia: Chilton, 1971, p.186. 

Easter Sunday, after the church service, the whole family gathers for the holiday meal. The blessed egg is sliced and shared among family and guests, with everyone exchanging good wishes. After this little ceremony everyone sits down to eat the wonderful meal of ham, sausages, salads, babka -the Polish national cake- and mazurki, which are sweet cakes filled with nuts, fruit and honey. Marysia loves Easter, with the bells ringing out joyously after the long weeks of silence during Lent. All day long friends and family come to visit. 

On Easter Monday everyone puts on old clothes for smigus (SHMEE-goose), a water-throwing game which is fun. The children particularly love this game and the boys drench the girls with water. Their squeals and laughter fill the air. Easter has come and so has spring-two reasons for joy and happiness. 

Source: UNICEF'S Festival Book by Judith Spiegelman. New York: United States Cornmittee for UNICEF, 1966, n.p. 
 

Easter traditions in Poland 

People gather at the churches on Palm Sunday with palms, often elaborately made by local artisans. In the Kurpie region and near the village of Myslehice, some palms are 30 feet long. A passion play, the rite of "the burning of Judas," and the drawing  of Marzanna (killing of death) are some of the other Easter-related traditions. Holy Saturday is the day of blessing of the food People bring colorful baskets filled with boiled eggs, sausages, bread, butter, and salt, as well as little lambs made of sugar for a blessing to the local church. This food is then shared with family the next day during Easter breakfast. The breakfast begins with sharing a blessed egg with the wishes of health and prosperity. The Easter table is decorated with pisanki (beautifully decorated eggs), a sugar lamb, yellow chicken, sausages, a roasted piglet, layer cakes, and mazurkas. Easter Monday is another day for frolicking. Unsuspecting people may find buckets of water poured on their heads, as part of the smigus dyngus tradition. 

"Polish Holidays Are Rich in Old Customs and Traditions" By Roza Pace, Business America, V. 117 (1 December ,1996. 

Three-day celebration 

Easter is the most important religious holiday among Lithuanians. Until World War II, the traditional Easter observances extended over two days, and in some rural areas even longer. Easter Sunday, following attendance before sunrise at Resurrection services and a festive breakfast, was devoted to the immediate family, with even the children 5 visiting limited to their grandparents and godparents. Beginning in the late afternoon and on Easter Monday, groups of young men would call on their neighbors, singing and asking for inarguciai (decorated Easter eggs). It was considered the height of inhospitality to refuse the carolers' requests, but that rarely happened. General merrymaking on the second day of Easter included the rolling of Easter eggs, testing one's strength, and swinging on swings "to help the flax grow faster." Adults traveled to visit relatives and friends. On the third day of Easter, the dead were remembered and cemeteries were visited. 

Source: "Lithuanians," Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Vol.4, Europe. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998, p.234.