Amid melodious chanting and clouds of incense, a beloved Eastern European tradition played out Saturday at St. Mary of the Assumption Byzantine Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre.
Dozens of people waited eagerly behind tables bearing baskets filled with delicacies and sweets prepared according to recipes handed down through generations.
“We are blessing the Paschal foods, the Easter foods,” said Rev. Michael Kerestes, the parish priest. “These are the foods which people have abstained from throughout the Lenten season.”
For millions of Christians worldwide Sunday marked one of the holiest days of the faith, Easter, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion.
On the day before Easter, known as Holy Saturday, families bring their Easter baskets to church to be blessed. While the ritual has gained popularity among many Catholics, its roots are believed to lie in medieval Poland. Known in its native land as święconka, the tradition spread widely across Eastern and Central Europe. Millions of immigrants later carried it overseas, where their descendants have lovingly maintained the practice for generations, including here in Pennsylvania.
“I’ve been coming since I was a kid with my grandmother, so this is something very special to us,” said Brittany Moser as she stood surrounded by members of her family and their baskets.
Many of the baskets at St. Mary’s contained similar items, especially Paska bread, a slightly sweet round loaf topped with religious symbols, often a cross. Its name comes from the Greek word for Easter.
Meats, nuts, and sweets were in abundance, along with some distinctive recipes such as hrudka, an “egg cheese” custard also called cidek. And then there are butter sculptures shaped like lambs to represent Jesus, the lamb of God.
“If you move from one Eastern European country to the other – from Poland to Slovakia, to Ukraine – the traditions change very slightly, but it’s all generally the same,” said Father Kerestes, noting that his last name is Hungarian.
Topping off the baskets were sentimental family items, such as cloths and religious figures.
Moser’s grandmother, Eugenia “Cookie” Jenkins, a Wilkes-Barre native who now lives in Mountain Top, stood next to a basket that was carefully lined with delicate lacework created decades ago by her own mother.
“Oh, we’ve got the kielbasi, the nuts, the Paska bread, horseradish,” Jenkins said as she surveyed the contents.
Suzanne Sedon of Wilkes-Barre waited for the basket blessing alongside six members of her family, including three grandchildren.
“We have everything that we’re supposed to have” for Easter dinner Sedon said, including Paska, cidek, easter eggs, kielbasa, ham, horseradish, and butter.
Sedon made assembly of the impressive feast sound simple when asked about prep time.
“Not too long. I usually start on Thursday, and we’re done,” she said.
Also on the table to be blessed with the family’s basket was a special item treasured by youngest grandson Roman: A stuffed plush Jesus doll.
“We actually found him in a grocery store,” daughter-in-law Mary Jo Sedon said. “Right as we walked in we saw Jesus, and the boys fell in love with him.”
Around the waiting families, altar servers sang and swung censers, filling the room with fragrant smoke as Kerestes intoned prayers and sprinkled holy water toward each basket.
“The baskets are absolutely beautiful. They decorate the bread, and they decorate the butter lambs and things like that,” Kerestes said. “It’s not just delicious food, but it’s also beautiful food.”
