Easter Joy...

Happy Easter!!

Since I reached Moscow (Russia), I have known that Easter Sunday always comes with Easter Bread and Easter eggs.

Kulich (кулич) - Easter Bread
Honestly speaking, kulich is just simply a plain hard (depends where you buy it) raisin bread with sweet toppings.


However, whenever the season of Easter celebration is around, you will see it everywhere, and you will like to stop by the roadside to pick a few and have them home. Sometimes, the bread itself don't even look nice, but the packaging might be a bit prettier for those that you have paid more.

For me, personally, I love having it, simply because the joy of celebrating Easter Day. I love having easter bread and painting easter eggs during that particular weekend.

Христос Воскрес! (Christ has arisen!) - That's what "XB" stands for.
Usually people will come to you and say "Kristos Voskres (Christ has arisen!)" and usually you will answer "Vo istina Voskres (Indeed He is risen)" if you believe.

We are having our facultative surgery class in a missionary hospital (as I feel it is). It looks more like a half temple hospital. On Monday, the pastors and sisters from the temple were walking around singing praises to the patients and giving out easter breads and eggs. Having one, to me, is like simbol of receiving the blessings of easter celebration.

Baking it!
I have wanted to make one by myself, but I couldn't make it last week. Some days later may be? Here is one of the websites I found - http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/Russian-Easter-bread-recipe.html


Tsoureki Paschalino (Greek Easter Bread)

I have never tried this before, however, I guess it tastes much better than the one we having in Russia. According to the articles I read, Easter bread usually is made using 3 dough braiding together representing the trinity God - God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the sweetness of the bread representing God grace.





Italian Easter Bread

Italian Easter Bread is even different by surrounding an egg using the braided dough. And the alphabets "BP" - Buona Pasqua (Good Passover/ Happy Easter) is usually written on it. For Italians, bread itself is a symbolic of life.

A peasant proverb mentions, "Chie hat pane mai non morit - one who has bread never dies"

Without bread, without life. These are all the symbols being told through the generations and what does the bread actually represents?



During the Lord's supper (the night he was betrayed), Jesus broke the bread and gave them to his disciples and claimed that it represents His body and telling them to take it as a remembrance of Him. I am not sure how much it actually relates, but taking the Easter Bread do reminds me that Christ has arisen! (1 Corinthians 11)