Slovaks Celebrated Easter Sunday with Elaborate Rituals

Bratislava, April 20 (TASR) - In the Slovak Christian tradition, Easter Sunday is considered to be the culmination of Easter week and the Easter holidays. It is the end of the period of Lent, 40 days observed as a time of penance and fasting commemorating Jesus's fasting in the wilderness. In Slovakia, Easter Sunday – the day of Christ's resurrection - is an opportunity to sanctify Easter meals, and a time for their ceremonial fare. People used to carry ham, sausages, meat-jelly, butter, cheese, and salt as well as eggs, roll, and simnel cakes shaped like sheep to churches asking for sanctification during a morning mass. In reward, priests were given Easter eggs, with their shells painted, or even money. While returning from church in the morning, people also used to walk around their house in order to have a good harvest, and coming home first to perform this ritual enabled them to finish the work in the fields first. Housewives were reminded to circumnavigate their houses at least three times whilst carrying consecrated food in order to bring a prosperous year to the household. The ceremonially-decorated Easter table used to remind everyone of Christmas Eve. The colourful tablecloth, and the abundant food was considered as a symbol representing the well-being of the whole family throughout the following year. Before dinner, an egg was also used to be divided among all family members to remind them not to forget each other and keep sticking together. Even left-overs were kept and mixed, for instance, with seeds or left for medicinal use. Among other folk traditions were rubbing cattle with the lard from Easter dinner in order to protect them from snakebite. Left-over bones, or Easter eggs, were put in a furrow while planting potato. In the last century, Slovaks also used to put Easter eggs or rolls on their relatives graves en route from church to home, expecting some sort of help from them. mf