Happy Easter!!!

Surprise, surprise: just like the winter holidays, you may think it's over but it's not! Easter in Ukraine falls on Sunday, April 15th so while my friends in America have already gone to church (or just hunted for eggs and stuffed themselves with candy) and are gearing up towards Cinco de Mayo and Mother's Day, people here are preparing to celebrate the holiday this weekend.

Or continue celebrating, maybe. I'm no Orthodox Easter expert but there's definitely been a lot of hullabaloo going on recently. Last weekend grandmothers were on every corner, selling candles and branches. The willow branches appear to be a substitution for the palm fronds that I remember seeing in church as a child. Anyways, this weekend it's Easter cakes and brilliantly colored fake flowers. I think the flowers are for visiting the graves of relatives. As for the cakes, all I can say is that they are MEGA-TASTY and thank you, D, for buying 4 of them! It just wouldn't be Easter without a large dose of sugar.

Cost: about 90 cents

with raisins!

These can be cut and wrapped around hardboiled eggs; dip them in hot water and they'll shrink to fit. A lot of them have the letters ХВ for "Christ has risen".

This blue truck is stuffed with Easter bread.

Another woman selling Easter bread, this time out of the yellow crates.

If you'd like more info and a quick Russian lesson, I'd recommend Transparent Language's excellent blog entries on this topic:
Celebrating Russian Easter
Even More About Russian Easter

С праздником Пасхи! Happy Easter!

Update: Easter 2013