Art and Sausage

Easter Monday is looking like bliss with the obligations of a holiday weekend waning. It was busier than last year for us and we are exhausted. But it was everything it should be. I spent some time in the artful pursuit of the Ukranianest Easter eggs.



And for a few days we will gorge ourselves on A LOT of sausage, soft cheese and delicious babka. These are our traditions. I know not of this bunny and chocolate feast of which others speak. For me that holiday has always been about that big Lent-wrap-up breakfast. I really enjoy it. A few years ago we stayed with friends for Easter and being faced with the bunny stuff in the morning left me a bit vacant. When I turned up at my Auntie Olga's that afternoon I begged her for her breakfast leftovers even though she was going to serve me a nice Easter turkey dinner (cause ya know that's easy, she'd always say.). Please Auntie don't you just have a bit of sausage, bread and cheese?

I sure hope you all enjoyed some feasts as much as I enjoyed mine. And, tomorrow I can't wait. Hopefully we can get to the thoroughly stunning interview questions we have been sent by two fine inquiring Canadian minds.

Happy Easter

I do enjoy Easter. Drawn from the traditions of my mother's Ukrainian-Canadian family there is customarily, ha, a lot to do. First, of course, Lent then tons of food all interspersed with egg making. I was my family's one-woman Pysanka tradition preservation society. This means I used to make a dozen eggs up every spring for blessing and giving away. For weeks before hand I would sit crossed legged squinting into a candle heating my kistka of beeswax and thinking of the Uke chicks that came before me: my grandmother; her mother; my grandfather's sisters; and, others many of whom had lives laid waste by wars or by Communism. I would work long into these nights considering my good fortunes over those of my predecessors in the many years gone on. It involved a lot of legs falling asleep and good bit of smoking in my prenatal days. These eggs looked like this:


This year no 'official' Pysanky... Eggs made up were only hard boiled Krashanky, not blown; they were for our family not for others and they weren't trotted off to church for blessing by the priest I am currently in debate with over the concept of church 'membership' -- that is so another post! This year's eggs were painted by my nuclear family (what's that 78% Anglo?) and looked like this:


Most beautiful eggs ever! And, shout out a big hooray to Baba and Auntie Olga for coming through with the traditional breads to keep it all mystical without much work on my part for this year. I wish you all the very best in the coming spring and summer seasons. I hope many of you have enjoyed special time with your families over the holidays and more specifically Happy Easter to my compatriots in the Christian quagmire, where applicable.