A wicker basket containing foods from which we have abstained during Great Lent is brought to church on Easter night.  After the midnight Paschal Liturgy, we all gather together to bless the Pascha baskets. we light the candles and wait for the priest to offer the special Paschal Blessings so we can continue to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ!

These baskets have been carefully prepared with many of the foods from which we've been fasting for the past month and a half during Great Lent. There are several foods traditionally included in the basket. These are: a yeast bread, a bitter herb, wine, cheese, meat, butter, salt, and a red egg. Each item in the basket has symbolic significance.

Pascha: The Easter Bread, a sweet, yeast bread, rich in eggs and butter. Symbolic of Christ Himself, who is “the Bread of Life.”  John 6:35.  This bread is usually a round loaf baked with a golden crust and decorated with a cross.

Cheese and Butter remind us of the Promised    Land, which has been reopened to us by Christ’s Resurrection and which we find in the Church, is “a land of milk and honey.”  Exodus 3:17

Meat – Usually ham or lamb (lamb was always   offered in the Temple and eaten on the Passover), meat comes as a rich reward after our season of fasting.  Lamb reminds us of Christ, whom John the Baptist calls, “the Lamb of God” John 1:36.  The meat is usually cooked so the festivities of the day will not be burdened with preparation.

Sausage: a spicy, garlic sausage of pork    products is indicative of God’s favor          and generosity.  Smoked and fresh kielbasa are customarily included in the basket.

Hard Boiled Eggs: As the chick emerges from the confinement of the shell,             so Christ resurrects from the tomb.  St. Mary Magdalene appeared to Tiberius Caesar and greeted him with a red egg and the words, “Christ is Risen!”

As we crack our hard-boiled eggs on Easter, it is traditional for two people to crack together.  The first says, “Christ is Risen!” and the second replies, “Indeed, He is Risen!”

Those who are able often include psanki (Ukrainian-decorated eggs) in their baskets as well.

Horseradish, colored with red beets is symbolic of the passion of Christ, still in our minds, but sweetened with some sugar to remind us of the Resurrection.

Bacon: A piece of uncooked bacon cured with spices, the fattest of foods, symbolizes the super-overabundance of Him who says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundance.”  John 10:10

 Salt.  Christ calls His disciples “the salt of the  earth.”  Matthew  05:13.  To be followers of Christ, we, too, must spread the ‘seasoning of Christ’, the good news of His Resurrection throughout society.

 While this is the traditional Slavic basket, an Easter basket may contain your own preferred items.  Vegetarians have been known to bring baskets to church to be blessed with their own treats.  The only limitations to what can be included  are your imaginations and the sizes of your pocketbooks and of the basket.