May 5th, 2013: Second Easter in Moldova
Because the vast majority of people in Moldova are Eastern Orthodox, the religious holidays follow a different calendar. So, Easter this year in Moldova was in May and not at the end of March. For the 40 days before Easter many Moldovans follow lent, or "post" in Romanian. During Lent, those who follow it give up meat. Others eat vegan for most or the entire time. On Easter, people can begin eating meat and dairy products again.
The Easter service in Moldova is different than most in the US. First, in the days leading up to Easter people bake special bread called "pasca" in Russian and I think in Romanian too. It is a a circular loaf of bread with a cross in the center dividing the middle into four quadrants. Each of the quadrants is filled with a mixture of eggs and cheese. People also roast kids and dye eggs. The night before Easter, when all the food is prepared, they put the food into a basket along with a candle. The service itself begins at 10:30 pm the night before Easter and continues until 5:00 am the following morning. People arrive between 10:30 and 5 to listen to the service. Near the end, the priest comes around with his attendant to bless the food. Once the food is blessed, the service is basically over, and people return to their homes. When they arrive, they eat a little bit of the blessed food, and then go to sleep.
This year, I went to the service with my host family. This entailed waking up at 3am, getting dressed in church-appropriate clothing, and walking the 20 minutes to the church. When we got there, we found a place in the circle to set down our basket and listened to the service. It was quite impressive to see a large portion of the village standing in a circle in the darkness with candles lit. The message of the service seemed nice too, although it was in Romanian so I only caught bits and pieces. When the sun began to rise, the priest came around and blessed the food and the people by splashing drops of water with a special stick. After that, when the priests had made the full circle, we left the church and made our way home. I had a little bit of cheese and then went to bed and slept from about 6 am until noon. Despite the lack of sleep it caused, I am glad I went to the service. I thought about bringing my camera, but it just didn't seem appropriate, so sorry there aren't any pictures.
Because the vast majority of people in Moldova are Eastern Orthodox, the religious holidays follow a different calendar. So, Easter this year in Moldova was in May and not at the end of March. For the 40 days before Easter many Moldovans follow lent, or "post" in Romanian. During Lent, those who follow it give up meat. Others eat vegan for most or the entire time. On Easter, people can begin eating meat and dairy products again.
The Easter service in Moldova is different than most in the US. First, in the days leading up to Easter people bake special bread called "pasca" in Russian and I think in Romanian too. It is a a circular loaf of bread with a cross in the center dividing the middle into four quadrants. Each of the quadrants is filled with a mixture of eggs and cheese. People also roast kids and dye eggs. The night before Easter, when all the food is prepared, they put the food into a basket along with a candle. The service itself begins at 10:30 pm the night before Easter and continues until 5:00 am the following morning. People arrive between 10:30 and 5 to listen to the service. Near the end, the priest comes around with his attendant to bless the food. Once the food is blessed, the service is basically over, and people return to their homes. When they arrive, they eat a little bit of the blessed food, and then go to sleep.
This year, I went to the service with my host family. This entailed waking up at 3am, getting dressed in church-appropriate clothing, and walking the 20 minutes to the church. When we got there, we found a place in the circle to set down our basket and listened to the service. It was quite impressive to see a large portion of the village standing in a circle in the darkness with candles lit. The message of the service seemed nice too, although it was in Romanian so I only caught bits and pieces. When the sun began to rise, the priest came around and blessed the food and the people by splashing drops of water with a special stick. After that, when the priests had made the full circle, we left the church and made our way home. I had a little bit of cheese and then went to bed and slept from about 6 am until noon. Despite the lack of sleep it caused, I am glad I went to the service. I thought about bringing my camera, but it just didn't seem appropriate, so sorry there aren't any pictures.
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