Paști fericit (Happy Easter)! Today is Orthodox Easter in Moldova! Paști is the most important celebration annually in Moldova. Traditionally it is celebrated by going to church on Saturday night through early Sunday morning. Once returning home from church, masă (a meal) is served, which usually includes meat, eggs, and dairy products (because Paști marks the end of fasting from those foods).
Last night Mama-G and her son went to church for the whole night and returned at 5:30a, when we all had masă together! I went to the church around 12:45a and was home by 1:30a, when i went back to bed until Mama-G woke me up for masă.
Church was very similar to when i went to church in Băcioi (standing, singing, holding candles), except that it was at night and people brought baskets of food to be blessed by the priest before eating it for masă. I didn't stay very long because i forgot to wear a head scarf (women are expected to wear head scarves in the church), and i didn't want to offend anyone.
Below are pictures from the Paști observance at my school.
Like in America, they decorate hard boiled eggs in Moldova too. In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, shed on the Cross, and the hard shell of the egg symbolizes the sealed Tomb of Christ — the cracking of which symbolizes his resurrection from the dead.
When i got home from China last week, Mama-G had the below items waiting for me in my closet for my Easter gifts! How sweet!!
When i got home after being gone again at the end of last week, Mama-G had set up an Easter arrangement for me in my closet! You can see the red-dyed Easter eggs too!
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