Easter 2012 (Ukrainian Style)

The Blessing of the Easter Baskets 2012.
This took place at 12am on Easter Morning. The crowd gathered around the priest performing the mass in front of a store. We were originally going to go to the service outside of a huge Orthodox church closer to the center of town, but when we left our apartment and started walking we noticed other people walking to this location. So... we followed them (for fun) and ended up here. It turned out good as it was less than 1 mile from our apartment. Hundreds of people were at this "satellite location".

The priests performing the mass. This mass turned out to be Catholic. The Orthodox churches were also holding services.

The service was about an hour long. When we arrived at 12am, there were already SO many people lined up along the sidewalk with their Easter Baskets.

At a certain point during the service, everyone lit the candle in their basket. This is the view to the left of where we were standing...

... and to the right of where we stood. It was very beautiful to see all the candles lit. The next day, when we walked to church, we saw spots of melted wax all along the sidewalks and some streets.

The priest beginning his procession down the sidewalk. He had this long stick-like-broom-thing that he dipped in a bucket of Holy water and sprinkled on the people and their baskets.

Our basket to the left. Our neighbors 2 baskets on the right.

Neighbor's basket: bread, sausage, cheese, eggs, apples, pears, bananas, walnuts, chocolate, wine, etc...

Our basket: bread, chocolate bunny

Mission accomplished: Able to see first-hand some very unique cultural traditions. After this service, people go home and eat the different foods in their baskets. When we got home we went to bed.

Solomiya held up really well throughout the service. She was awake the whole time: 11:30pm - 1:30am!

And... she still managed to look great for church on Easter Sunday! Here she is wearing a traditional Ukrainian shirt and a pink Easter bow!