Hello again from Gary. Alla and I wish for you to have a beautiful and joyous Easter.

In Russian countries, the celebration of Easter is THE major religious holiday of the year. Easter, through the symbolism of Christ’s resurrection, represents a time of renewal. The sense of celebration for Russia is heightened by the fact that Easter comes at the end of the long, cold, frozen Russian winter.

For Russian people that are of a more religious nature, attending church services is more likely for Easter than for any other occasion during the year. But overall, it’s a period of not one, but several days of observing renewal. And like many other Russian holidays, a key focal point of Easter celebrations is a gathering together of friends and family for feasting on special foods and maintaining social closeness.

It’s not a season of gift giving, though gifts are given and appreciated. Rather, being a season of renewal, it’s an opportunity to acquire (or accept) new clothes. Gifts of chocolate are well received as are living plants that will provide spring blooms (or better yet, summer vegetables).
 
But as far as bunnies go for Easter in Russia - - I think they may make it as table fare, but beyond that they have no place in Russian Easter lore.
 
The “bunny thing” came to early America from Western Europe and was even represented such to children that rabbits lay eggs to produce their young. A seemingly preposterous notion on the surface: yet, the rabbit (being a lagomorph and able to conceive while still pregnant) is truly a symbol of fertility and associating it with an egg, a major symbol and fact of fertility, is perhaps not too “stretchy”.

And in Russian culture, the egg occupies the top spot as the cultural icon of Easter’s renewal symbolism.

Children in Russia, as in America, go on Easter egg hunts to find hidden eggs, candy and money. They have egg decorating parties too, though not with the same commercially available egg decorating kits that are used in the West. In Ukraine for example, the eggs, after being boiled, are colored a deep orange by dipping them in boiled onion skins. When dry they can then be painted with scenes or figures using other naturally derived colors.

Suffice it to say that for my money, the Russians are the undisputed masters of Easter egg decoration. Witness the work of Peter Carl Faberge. Following is a photo (courtesy of Wikipedia and without copyright restrictions) of the “1903 Peter The Great Egg”.

 peter-the-great-egg.jpg

This is  one of 50+ jewel encrusted art eggs produced by Faberge for Russian Czars (Caesars) between 1885 and 1917. This one, the “Peter the Great Egg” is a jewelled Easter egg made in 1903 to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703. It was made for the last Csar of Russia, Nicholas II who presented the egg to his wife, the Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna.
This particular work is perhaps not the most dramatic of Faberge’s art. But it’s a favorite of mine because of it’s recognition of Peter The Great, a larger than life figure who changed the history of the world.

So, enough for now. Want to learn more? Check Wikipedia with keywords, “Russia” or “Faberge”

We close for now, but again, Happy Easter!!!

Gary and Alla

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