Easter

I celebrated Easter last Sunday with Roma and his family. We had planned on going to the village and spending the night with his grandparents Saturday night, but that didn't happen. I can't say I was all that bummed either. I love going to the village, but I almost always have to pee at least once in the night and, well, it's a treck to the outhouse.

So Saturday and Saturday night were spent in Bar. Friday, in the day, I went to Vinnystia and met up with Sharece and Sandy. Sandy had invited Sharece and I to go to a Ukrainian Cultural Museum and make Pisenka, traditional colored Easter eggs.

The three of us arrived at the museum around eleven o'clock. Inside, women were already hard at work making Pisenka. (And by women I mean three ten-year-old girls.)
We joined them at a small table and started working on our eggs. Pisenka are made every year at Easter time, traditionally by women. Also, traditionally, when you make Pisenka, you are supposed to think only peaceful, good thoughts. So we did. Or at least tried.

Making Pisenka requires using an archaic looking tool, much like a stick with a tiny, tiny metal funnel on it. Using this tool like a pen, you heat wax over the flame of a candle and then draw a pattern or design on the egg. Everywhere that the wax touches remains the color of the egg. After drawing a pattern or design, you put the egg in dye, starting with the lightest color you wish to use. When you remove the egg from the dye, you then cover with wax everything you want to remain that color, then you drop the egg in another dye. You pull it out, cover with wax everything you want to remain the second color and so on and so forth. It's very tedius, but enjoyable. In the end, when the egg is covered with wax and you're done adding color, you hold the egg over the flame and wipe the wax off with a clothe.

We were at the museum making our eggs for nearly three hours. Midway through our Pisenka session, a group of school children came to the museum to watch and learn about this traditional Ukrainian art. In the blink of an eye, we found ourselves swarmed with kids, eyes all watching our every move. We were the "experts" working on our craft. Yes, us American "experts" (along with our ten-year-old couterparts) demostrated for these school children how to make Pisenka. It was pretty funny.

In the end, I made two eggs. They weren't as perfect as I had imagined in my mind, but they're nice. In all, coloring Pisenkas was really fun, and a veru nice way to spend the day.

With my Pisenka in hand, (or mor acurately delicatly wrapped in a plastic bag), I returned to Bar ready to celebrate Easter. I told Roma that I really wanted to go to church. I didn't go to church last year. In fact, I don't believe I did anything to celebrate Easter and if I recall correctly, it was depressing.

Early Sunday morning, at 5 o'clock, Roma, I and a basket of special Easter meats, cheeses, eggs and breads, went to church. There were hundred of people at the church when we got there all standing outside with their baskets of food. Everyone stood in two orderly, perpedicular lines that faced each other. These lines wrapped around the church and into the street, like a cue line that never moved. Everyone had their basket on the floor with a lit candle sticking out. As it was early, and still dark, this made for a very beautiful, very moving sight.

We waited with our basket for about thirty minutes for the Priest as he slowly walked the lines blessing people and their baskets with water. He walked by and blessed us and our basket of food. He was followed by women from the church choir singing songs a capella. The songs were beautiful. After we'd been blessed, we went back to Roma's house and waited for his parents to wake up.

Around 9 o'clock, we headed for the village. In the village we ate (a lot) and drank (a little) with Roma's Grandparents and his Uncle. Then we went to the cemetary. There were many people in the cemetary and, as always, it was bursting with the vibrant colors of floresent fake flowers which people had left on graves. We went to the graves of Roma's great uncle, great aunt and great grandparents. At each grave we too left fake flowers. We also stopped for two minutes to place speacial Easter bread and easter candies on each grave. I had no idea what to expect during our visit to the cemetary. I thought perhaps we would spend a fair chunk of time there, but as it turned out, we didn't. This is how our 10-12 minute visit went:

We walked to the first grave. Nadia layed down a napkin (which, to be specific, was a Christmas napkin that said 'Feliz Navidad') and placee the food on the grave. This food consisted of Paska, a special cake they bake only on Easter, a handful of individually wrapped chocolate candies and an orange. We then stood by the grave, for a minute or two, until Nadia collected the food and we moved on to the next grave, repeating the process. At each grave, we left a cup of water, a single chocolate candy and, of course, a bouquet of vibrantly colored fake flowers.


After the cemetary, Roma, his parents, his grandparents, and me all squeezed into the Lada and headed for another village to visit their cousin who had just had a baby. (And by just, I mean 5 days earlier.) It was a pretty funny sight, me, squeezed in the back seat between Nadia, and Grandma AND Grandpa. (Though to be fair to your visual image, Grandma was riding on Grandpa's lap.) We spent a few hours oogling over the baby and eating (a lot) and drinking (a little) and watching (uncomfortably enough for me and Roma who are NOT talking marriage) his cousin's wedding video. (A two tape set!)

We dropped Grandma and Grandpa off at the farm around six and returned to Bar around seven in the evening. Roma and I then went to visit his Godson, Dima, and our friends. We ate more and drank more and ate more... I ate so much on Sunday that I'm still full.

All in all, Easter was a nice day. It was nice to go to church, even if it was different than what I'm used to. It was nice to spend the day with a family, even if it wasn't my family.

Tomorrow I'm going to Vinnystia to say goodbye to my friends Sandy and Eric. Their service is up next week and they're returning back to the states. It's always sad to say goodbye to volunteers, but I'm happy that I got a chance to know them and I'm happy that they finished their service successfully.

Next weekend I've been invited to play in a "regional tournament" with the girls basketball team in Bar. The tournament, conveniently enough, is being held in Bar. I'm excited. It should be fun. I'm not sure the ages of the girls that I'm playing with, though I'm fairly certain they are 16 or 17. I keep joking that I've been recruited to play with the 12-year-olds. Regardless, I'm excited. It should be really fun.