Easter in Moldova

Friday, the 13th of April:

On Friday, my host family made the preparations for Easter on Sunday. My host mother dyed eggs in a pot full of red dye. She put them in the pot using a mesh bag. The bag was red, but I am not sure if that was from constant use or if it started that color. I tried to ask, but didn't quite understand the response. She put religious icon stickers on some of the eggs, rather than the bunny stickers we use in the US. She also baked the lamb. The family purchased the lamb back in March. In addition, she baked bread called паска (pasca). It is a circular bread with an x in the middle. She put an egg and cheese mixture into the the quadrants made by the X.

Saturday, the 14th of April:
In Moldova, it is customary for people to attend mass at 10:30pm and stay there until three or four the next morning. Those who go to church have to stand for the entire service.  I didn't go this year, but maybe I will next year.

Sunday, the 15th of April:
In Moldova, Easter falls a week later than it does in the USA because Moldova uses a different calendar for most religious holidays. When I woke up, instead of eating cereal like I normally do, I was given an egg, a cutlet (very similar to a meatball, rather than what we think of as a cutlet), a pieced of meat, and some bread. Apparently you have to eat that in the morning before you can eat anything else.

Later, I went to my host father's parents' house in my village. We ate lunch there. They had sausage, cutlets (this time they tasted more like meatloaf), meat (I think it may have been lamb), and Cvas. Cvas is a wheat drink that tastes a little like beer if it weren't fermented and had more sugar in it. We stayed at my host grandparents' house for a couple of hours and then went home.

Tomorrow I head to Chisinau and then to Odessa. When I get back, I plan to update again with my experience.