Orthodox Easter in the USA: Traditional Meals, Recipes, and Fun

On April 8, Orthodox Christians will celebrate one of the biggest Christian holidays - Easter. There are many traditions associated with it, including culinary ones. What must be in the Easter basket during the service, what decorations can be placed on the table and how to prepare for the holiday - we have collected the main Easter traditions, games and signs.

Фото: Depositphotos

Painted eggs (painted eggs and painted eggs)

Easter eggs believers give each other as a symbol of the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ. According to legend, when Mary Magdalene presented an egg to the emperor Tiberius as a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ, the emperor, having doubted, said that just as an egg from white does not turn red, so the dead do not rise. The egg instantly turned red. Although at Easter eggs are painted in different colors, the traditional is red as a symbol of life and victory over death.

You can buy kits for decorating Easter eggs that are familiar to us in your home countries in the US online store. Russian Food USAselling goods produced in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

The site offers a wide selection of paints and stickers for decorating eggs worth from 3 dollars. Also in the shop you can find wooden eggs with images of icons that will be a great decoration for your Easter table and basket. And if you have time and desire to paint eggs with your own hands, then the site sells kits for easter creativity for every taste.

If you are preparing a festive dinner for relatives and want to surprise the guests, or simply wish to decorate the house brightly and in an original way for the Easter holiday, then Russian Food USA offers decorative wooden eggs on stands with images of christian saints or bright and original Faberge style eggswhich will definitely not go unnoticed by your guests.

Photo: russianfoodusa.com

Kulichi

Kulichi at the Easter table was made to bake in memory of the meal of Christ with his disciples, so that they would believe in his Resurrection. Kulichi are baked in high cylindrical forms, decorating with sugar confetti, multicolored coconut flakes or colored sugar icing.

For a long time, the preparation of Easter cake was approached very seriously and responsibly, they tried not to introduce a draft where the dough was standing, and after baking, the Easter cake was placed on down pillows so that the dough did not fall through. Like all Easter traditions, this one arose for a reason - so much effort was spent on the Easter cake, because it was believed that if it was a success, then everything would be fine in the family, and if the Easter cake did not fit in the oven, the crust would crack, it would burn, or didn’t work out at all, then you should expect misfortune.

Old recipe for kulich

These Easter cakes will especially appeal to those who like moist, slightly sticky dough, share tips those who constantly use this recipe.

Let's start with the dough:

- 1 liter of milk;

— 1 pack of pressed yeast (100 g);

- 12-15 yolks;

- 0,5 kg of sugar;

- 1 teaspoon of salt;

- 1,0 - 1,3 kg of flour.

Everything needs to be mixed (the dough should have the consistency of thick sour cream) and left to ferment. This process lasts at least 3 hours - the dough must have time to rise and fall.

Knead:

— 1 pack of margarine (250 g);

— 100 g butter;

- 0,5 kg of sugar;

- half a pack (50 g) of compressed yeast;

— 200 g sour cream (not less than 20%);

- raisin;

- candied fruits;

- vanilla;

- 1,7-2 kilograms of flour.

Preparation: dissolve the yeast in warm milk, add the yolks, beaten with sugar, salt and flour. Put in a warm place for 3 hours. Then melt butter and margarine, crush the yeast with 1 a tablespoon of sugar and mix with sour cream, pour boiling water on 1-2 minutes with the sour cream, dry and mix with 1 tablespoon of flour.

After 3 hours, the dough should be stirred with a wooden spoon, and this should be done carefully - in one direction. Then add butter and margarine, sugar, vanilla, yeast with sour cream, raisins, mix everything well and gradually add flour in small portions.

When kneading the hand, it is required to lubricate abundantly with vegetable oil. Knead not steep, slightly sticky dough, leave to approach for an hour and a half. When the dough increases in volume, knead it and leave for another hour.

Ready dough. Photo: TSN.ua

Then spread out the dough into oiled molds, filling in half, and put in a dough to fill the mold. Heat the oven to 220 degrees, set the cakes and reduce the temperature to 180 degrees. Bake 40-50 min depending on the size of the molds.

Ready to bake cakes. Photo: TSN.ua

After the cakes are baked, they can be decorated. Here everyone can use their imagination. It is better to apply icing on hot cakes.

The already baked cake is aromatic and incredibly tasty. Photo: TSN.ua

Nowadays, because of employment, many people prefer to buy ready-made cakes, because they do not have time to follow all the traditional cooking procedures that take a lot of time.

Find us familiar, delicious cakes can be on the online store pages Russian Food USA.

The site offers Easter cakes of different sizes and weights, so you can pick up what you need for your family holiday.

Easter

Cottage cheese Easter is another traditional Easter dish. It is considered a symbol of the Holy Sepulcher and is intended to remind that the time of bloody sacrifices has passed. Cottage cheese Easter is made from cottage cheese with cream or sour cream and served in the form of a truncated pyramid. In Rus', it was customary to cut off a piece of Easter and store it as medicine, so the best, soft, fluffy cottage cheese and very heavy cream were used to prepare it.

Recipe for classic cheese raw Easter

– cottage cheese – 500 g

– butter – 200 g

– sugar – 1 glass

– cream – 1/2 cup

– egg (yolk) – 2-3 pcs.

- raisins (pitted), almonds (chopped) - 1 tbsp each.

- candied fruits, cardamom (ground), vanillin - to taste.

So, How to cook cheese Easter: Grind butter with sugar until white, adding yolks one by one. Grind the mass until sugar crystals completely dissolve, aromatize with vanillin or finely ground and sieved with cardamom. Add twice-grated curd, raisins, almonds, crushed orange candied fruits or grated lemon zest.

Mix thoroughly, add whipped cream, mix from top to bottom, fill in a bowl with a little damp gauze, close with a saucer, load with a little pressure, put in the fridge.

Фото: Depositphotos

For those who want to cook this dish site Russian Food USA offers a wide selection quality farm cottage cheese и sour cream.

Fun and games for Easter

After many days of fasting, as well as the rejection of a variety of pleasures and amusements, the festive day of Easter was welcome and loved by absolutely everyone. In this regard, it was invented a lot of popular fun and entertainment, which have survived to this day.

One of them is the fight with painted eggs: someone is holding the egg in the palm with the spout up, and the other participant is pounding on it with the spout of his Easter egg. Who has the pysanka remained whole, he continues to compete with others.

Фото: Depositphotos

One of the fascinating fun - rolling eggs. It should be played on a table or any other level flat surface. Additionally required gutter and blanket. The players had to roll their egg along the gutter in such a way that it collided with another egg lying on a blanket.

Among the girls practiced the "game of piles." The painted egg was hidden in one of several sand piles. After that, participants who did not see this process had to guess exactly where the egg was. It was believed that the winner will be lucky.

Easter signs

The celebration of Easter is associated with many popular traditions and will take. Here are the most interesting of them that have survived to this day.

If you want to be beautiful, on Easter morning, after breaking your fast, pour water into the basin, dip consecrated Krashenka into it, roll around the bowl, then wash it with water and roll it over the face - it will bring beauty and relief from skin diseases.

And if you wish yourself wealth, dip gold and silver jewelry and coins into the water to the egg.

If an unmarried girl really wants to get married, she should quietly whisper to her during the festive matinsday: “Resurrection of Christ! Send me a single groom! “.

It has long been customary at Easter to leave the house with an egg and, meeting with friends, to beat Krashenkas. Whose after the strike will remain whole, that whole year will be healthy and happy. At Easter, you can not do any homework, otherwise the happiness will go away with the hassle. The exception is the education of children and the care of animals.

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