Easter....at last

On May 1st we celebrated Easter or “Paskha” here in Russia. We wanted to share some of their traditions with you. We also told them about American traditions. Wish you could have seen their faces when we told them a big rabbit comes and brings candy to children and hides plastic eggs (not available here)! In Russia, everyone dyes eggs and then two people each take their egg and they tap each other’s until one cracks. Whoever’s egg cracks has to surrender their egg to the other person. From what we understand, if you are Orthodox, you take all your eggs to church with you, get them blessed by the priest, and then eat them. Last week on Palm Sunday, people on the sidewalks were carrying pussy willow branches (no palms available in Russia). They either take them to church and the priest blesses them with holy water or they just take them straight home and put them in a vase. From the outside, people here appear very religious. The Orthodox churches here are gorgeous. However, if you asked them the reason they take branches or eggs to church, they are speechless. Since the priest sings and Most of them are surprised that there is nothing about eggs in the bible. There is a special bread that is baked only for Easter called Kulich. You can make it at home, but all of the stores sell them already made. Someone told me that even during the communist years when all of the churches were closed, families still celebrated Easter in their homes. We praise God for the many doors He has opened so that we can share about how we celebrate this holiday. We are thankful that our eyes have been opened to the truth. Jesus did rise from the dead and He will come back for His followers one day. In John 20:29, Jesus told Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If the resurrection weren’t true, we would have left our families and friends for nothing. Even the non-believers proclaim this as a greeting every Easter, “Khristos Voskress! Vaeeshenoo Voskress!” (Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!)