Baran-Unland: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’

For many people, chocolate rabbits and Easter baskets are already a dim Easter memory.

But my family – and other local Eastern Orthodox Christians – have yet to unwrap one, since Easter for us is Sunday. Still, we’re happy with the good deals we got on Easter candy last Saturday.

But the burning question Thursday when I chatted with Ukrainian native Iryna Baker of Plainfield was whether she bakes her Pascha (sweet Ukrainian Easter bread encircled with braided dough) with or without golden raisins.

Absolutely with golden raisins, as well as dried apricots and even cranberries, simply because she likes them, Baker said.

“You can do anything you want,” Baker said, stressing the flexibility of the traditional recipes. “You can add your favorites.”

Baker makes her cheese Pascha (a spread to top the bread) with farmers cheese. (We make ours with homemade ricotta). She also cooks a homemade meat roll and, like us, prepares ham and sausage.

“And, of course, poppyseed rolls,” Baker said. “That’s our favorite.”

Baker will dye hardboiled eggs as many families did last week. But she won’t make pysanky, hard-boiled eggs beautifully dyed with a batik method.

“I’d love to do it,” Baker said. “But, you know, I don’t have the time.”

She brightened when I told her we’ve resorted to the shrink wrap versions.

“I did buy some on Amazon,” Baker said with a laugh.

[ Ukrainian refugees find connection and hope in Will County ]

On Saturday night, Baker will place the food in a basket and then bring it to midnight services at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Joliet to be blessed, she said.

Baker said she will cover the food with a beautiful cloth her grandmother made.

“I’ve lived here almost 10 years. And every year I take it,” Baker said. “I feel like she’ll always be around me. And I hope my kids keep this traditional when I go away.”

Two Easters?

The date when people celebrated Easter fluctuated among the various churches during Christianity’s early years until 325 AD. That when the Council of Nicaea said Easter must be celebrated the Sunday after the full moon following the vernal (spring equinox). If the full moon fell on a Sunday, Easter would be celebrated on the following Sunday.

In addition, the celebration of Easter must not precede or occur on the same day as Passover, but always be celebrated afterward. So for many centuries, Easter fell on the same day for all Christians. Discrepancies arose with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century. Before that time, calculations were based on the much older Julian calendar.

Because of those discrepancies in the way that dates are calculated, Western Christians (Roman Catholics and Protestants) typically celebrate Easter anywhere from one to five weeks before Eastern, or Orthodox, Christians celebrate.

Many food traditions, same celebration

The traditional foods also vary among the different cultures. For instance, Kathy Macris of Joliet, who belongs to All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Joliet, also makes a sweet, braided bread – Tsoureki – that’s topped with almonds or sesame seeds, she said.

Instead of pysanky, the Greek Orthodox dye their eggs one color – red – to symbolize the blood Jesus shed on the cross, she said. After hard-boiling the eggs, Macris adds a special dye with a little vinegar into the pot with the eggs, which the eggs absorb, she said.

“After they cool, we take a little paper towel or cloth and dip it into a little olive oil,” Macris said. “Then we go over the egg to give it a little sheen.”

A game is played with the eggs before eating them, she said. Tap an end of an egg against the end of another’s egg and say, “Christ is risen!” Then, turn the eggs around and tap the other ends, she said.

“If you end up with the end not broken – or if you’re really lucky and both ends aren’t broken – you’re supposed to get good luck for the year,” Macris said.

Macris said the family still gathers at her 93-year-old mother’s home for Easter. Dinner will include spring lamb; roasted Greek-style potatoes; traditional Greek salad with feta cheese, olives, tomatoes and onions; and a variation on a Greek Easter soup.

The traditional soup include the intestines, lungs and stomach of the lamb, Macris said.

“You can’t find those ingredients at a market anymore,” Macris said. “And so, people learned to adapt.”

Macris’ mother now boils a lamb shank, strips and chops up the meat, and then returns the meat to the broth along with rice and tomato sauce, she said. The soup is finished with avgolemono, a lemon and egg sauce that is stirred into the soup, Macris said.

“We prefer it that way,” Macris said. “The old way is the way that my grandma or my grandfather would make it. There’s nothing wrong with taking a traditional food item and adapting it to a modern kitchen.”

Among the desserts is the koulourakia, a sweet butter cookie flavored with orange zest, which symbolizes Jesus’ shroud, she said. The dough is pliable, so Macris said she will roll pieces into long strips and braid them.

Circling back to Ukrainian Easter foods, our family also makes homemade pierogies (also called pirohi), as well as hrudka, an Easter cheese made with milk and eggs and flavored with salt and white pepper or sugar and vanilla. They are made in a double boiler, transferred to cheesecloth and then hung to drip-dry. Hrudka are served cold and sliced.

Since a traditional Orthodox fast eliminates meat, eggs and dairy during Lent and Holy Week, the Easter banquet is heavy in these items so body, soul and spirit can simultaneously rejoice in the glory of Jesus’ resurrection.

Denise M. Baran-Unland is the features editor at The Herald-News. Contact her at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.