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Festive table for Bright Easter
Orthodox Christians all over the world are waiting with bated breath for the most important holiday — the Bright Resurrection of Christ. The last days of Lent are at an end, which means it’s time to take care of the festive meal.
First course of Easter
The dish with which believers traditionally begin the Easter Sunday morning is colored eggs. In the old days, they were laid out on a large beautiful tray and decorated with wheat sprouts, herbs and flowers, put on the table. And before you eat the eggs, it was customary to break them against each other and kiss Christ. The egg was considered a symbol of new life, and the ritual represented the resurrection.
The eggs were invariably painted red. This custom, as well as the tradition of giving eggs at Easter, came into use thanks to Mary Magdalene. Holy scripture says that it was she who presented the Emperor Tiberius with a chicken egg as a sign of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Doubting this news, the ruler replied that no one is able to rise from the dead, just as a white egg is not able to turn red. And at the same moment, the white egg suddenly turned bright red in front of the astonished emperor’s eyes. Since then, this color has become a symbol of the victory of life over death. However, today at Easter you can see eggs of various colors, decorated with various patterns, ornaments with Christian symbols and even whole story compositions.
Another important symbol of Easter is artos (or prosphora), made on the basis of yeast and kvass. This bread is usually used during the sacrament of the sacrament, after which it can be stored at home for a whole year. Christians believe that the consecrated artos has miraculous properties and helps the sick to heal from ailments.
The wisdom of Easter baking
One of the main dishes of the festive meal is cottage cheese Easter. It is prepared, as a rule, from cottage cheese mashed with butter, eggs, sour cream and sugar. Often, dried fruits, berries, candied fruits, nuts or chocolate are added to this mass. Easter is baked in special pasochnits in the form of a four-sided truncated pyramid. Very often, Easter is decorated with the letters “H. V.”, as well as images of crosses, spears and flowers — symbols of the great sufferings and resurrection of the Son of God.
In Russia, women collected and stored the remains of sour milk throughout Lent, and on the holiday they prepared Easter from the resulting sour mass, very soft and light in consistency. Today, there are a dozen or two recipes for cooking this dish: from cream, melted milk, egg yolks with flour and homemade jam, custard and raw dairy products, and even cheese.
At Easter, they also bake cakes-a sweet muffin in the form of a cylinder with a rounded top, smeared with a glaze with a multi-colored sprinkle. Dough for cakes is kneaded from eggs, butter and sugar with the addition of raisins and nuts.
It is noteworthy that in Russia, cakes were baked in large wooden tubs, almost the size of a bucket. These days, the preference is given to miniature forms, although some chefs still prefer to create with scale. So, in 2004, in Nizhny Novgorod, the world’s largest cake was baked with a height of 1.75 m and a weight of 641 kg. Its taste could be enjoyed not only by the citizens, but also by the impressed experts of the Guinness Book of Records.
Whatever the size of the cakes, the dough for them is prepared in advance, usually on Thursday night, and they are baked on Friday. On Saturday, along with other food, cakes are taken to the temple for consecration, and on Sunday they are served on the table and treated to friends. By the way, few people know that you should cut the cake across, not along, removing the top and covering it with the rest of the crumb: so it stays fresh longer. And there is also a happy omen associated with the cake, which many housewives eagerly strive to fulfill. If the cakes turned out to be lush and beautiful, then until the next Easter, the family will live in prosperity and harmony.
What else to serve
The festive menu, in addition to traditional pastries, includes a variety of dishes and snacks. Perhaps the main rule here is: a well-fed and delicious abundance. And yet, do not forget that the Easter meal is not an unrestrained feast. The table on this day is usually covered with a white tablecloth, decorating it with icons, lighted candles and vases with willow branches.
And only then are the festive dishes displayed, primarily various meat dishes, which the faithful denied themselves during the fast. As a rule, this is meat without blood, thoroughly fried or baked: fried veal, roast beef with potatoes or baked chicken. Some housewives, paying tribute to the traditions of antiquity, are happy to cook goose or duck with honey for Easter. Fish in all its forms is also welcome. The festive table is not complete without colorful meat and fish snacks, aspic dishes and jelly, homemade pickles and marinades.
The hardiest ones have enough strength for desserts. Most often in the old days, sweet cakes were prepared in the form of figures of small animals, plentifully watering them with icing. A special treat with meaning was considered a sweet lamb made of shortbread dough. It is still baked today: from flour, eggs, sugar and margarine, sometimes adding prunes or white chocolate. The carefully sculpted figure of a lamb is a symbol of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for human sins.
We wholeheartedly congratulate you on the Easter of Christ! Let the family feast succeed in glory, and the bright holiday will bring happiness, peace and grace to your home. Christ is Risen!