Hi All Sorry this one is a bit late writing but so much happening around me at the moment. thought you may enjoy reading this. Christmas and Easter are the two biggest festive occasions in the year for us Christians. Whilst Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. Easter celebrates Christ's resurrection and his victory over death and the fact that he is once again amongst the living. Easter has its own special significance and is essentially celebrated in two stages. The period leading up to East is Korizma (Lent) which starts off with Ash Wednesday while the week leading up to Easter is known as Veliki tjedan (Holy week) and commences with "Cvjetnica" (Palm Sunday). For Christmas we give each other presents remembering the Three Wise Men who came to visit Jesus in Bethlehem bearing gifts. For Easter we also give each other presents but in the form of hard-boiled eggs. "Prisanice" (Painted Easter eggs) are a symbol of Easter. Not only are they given to children, but they were also given to boyfriends or girlfriends as a sign of mutual attraction or devotion. Giving "Sarena jaja" (checked or speckle coloured eggs) was seen as a symbolic way of warding of evil spirits. In other words, if you gave someone these eggs, you were protecting them from all forms of evil. Giving "Sareno jaje" was once seen as providing a token gestures, a key, which unlocked any doors that figuratively prevented good neighbourly relations in the villages. Therefore if you were in a dispute with your neighbour, by giving them these multicoloured eggs, it was a sign of a truce. In most households, people used to decorate a small table in the corner of the room by putting "pisanice" small flat bread loaves called "blagoslovnice" or "pogace", "kokice" (corn) tied up with a bow and "psenica" (wheat) on the table. Wheat being a sing of brad or food, meant that if you planted it in small containers or tubs on these specially decorated tables it would ensure that your household would always have an abundance of food for the year ahead. If someone else planted the wheat for you, it meant that others would bring you food all year round. Although it is a predominately a Christmas custom, in many parts of Croatia wheat would be planted prior to the Easter holidays as well. In many cases the 'blagoslovnica' (in some parts of Croatia known as a 'sirnica' or 'pogaca' would be baked in the shape of a lamb - a lamb being a sign of love and tenderness. On the same table, one would usually find a small basket made fromt he same yeast and flour as the 'blagoslovnica'. As far as eating breakfast on Easter Sunday morning was concerned, one was not allowed to eat at all until the food had been specially blessed. The tradition was that everyone in the household had to have breakfast together, irregardless of what time one had gone to bed the previous evening. Following the communal eating of the blessed bread, there would be other traditions such as 'tuckanje' (a competition between two people who knock their hard=boiled eggs together. Whoever's egg remained uncracked was proclaimed the 'winner') before the remainder of breakfast would continue. In some parts of Croatia, people would take meat, ham and prsut to the Blessing, as well as the staple bread and eggs. written by Tonci Prusac from New Generation caught up with Tonka Saric - Geelong Melbourne who holds a Croatian Culinary class at the Croatian Dom Geelong. regards Mary

Thank you so much. I have read much of that before in my Croatian cookbooks and it is much the same as my husband's Polish traditions. We do most of that except for the wheat and have a wonderful Easter every year. It is such a beautiful time and we love the traditions and the family gathering and the blessing of the food. The crowd grows bigger every year at our local parish that blesses the food and the younger generation is trying to return to those wonderful traditions. Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 7:15 AM Subject: [CROATIA-L] EASTER TRADITIONS CROATIAN STYLE > Hi All > > Sorry this one is a bit late writing but so much happening around me at > the moment. thought you may enjoy reading this. > > > Christmas and Easter are the two biggest festive occasions in the year for > us Christians. Whilst Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. Easter > celebrates Christ's resurrection and his victory over death and the fact > that he is once again amongst the living. Easter has its own special > significance and is essentially celebrated in two stages. The period > leading up to East is Korizma (Lent) which starts off with Ash Wednesday > while the week leading up to Easter is known as Veliki tjedan (Holy week) > and commences with "Cvjetnica" (Palm Sunday). > > For Christmas we give each other presents remembering the Three Wise Men > who came to visit Jesus in Bethlehem bearing gifts. For Easter we also > give each other presents but in the form of hard-boiled eggs. > > "Prisanice" (Painted Easter eggs) are a symbol of Easter. Not only are > they given to children, but they were also given to boyfriends or > girlfriends as a sign of mutual attraction or devotion. > > Giving "Sarena jaja" (checked or speckle coloured eggs) was seen as a > symbolic way of warding of evil spirits. In other words, if you gave > someone these eggs, you were protecting them from all forms of evil. > > Giving "Sareno jaje" was once seen as providing a token gestures, a key, > which unlocked any doors that figuratively prevented good neighbourly > relations in the villages. Therefore if you were in a dispute with your > neighbour, by giving them these multicoloured eggs, it was a sign of a > truce. > > In most households, people used to decorate a small table in the corner of > the room by putting "pisanice" small flat bread loaves called > "blagoslovnice" or "pogace", "kokice" (corn) tied up with a bow and > "psenica" (wheat) on the table. Wheat being a sing of brad or food, meant > that if you planted it in small containers or tubs on these specially > decorated tables it would ensure that your household would always have an > abundance of food for the year ahead. If someone else planted the wheat > for you, it meant that others would bring you food all year round. > > Although it is a predominately a Christmas custom, in many parts of > Croatia wheat would be planted prior to the Easter holidays as well. > > In many cases the 'blagoslovnica' (in some parts of Croatia known as a > 'sirnica' or 'pogaca' would be baked in the shape of a lamb - a lamb being > a sign of love and tenderness. On the same table, one would usually find a > small basket made fromt he same yeast and flour as the 'blagoslovnica'. > > As far as eating breakfast on Easter Sunday morning was concerned, one was > not allowed to eat at all until the food had been specially blessed. The > tradition was that everyone in the household had to have breakfast > together, irregardless of what time one had gone to bed the previous > evening. > > Following the communal eating of the blessed bread, there would be other > traditions such as 'tuckanje' (a competition between two people who knock > their hard=boiled eggs together. Whoever's egg remained uncracked was > proclaimed the 'winner') before the remainder of breakfast would continue. > In some parts of Croatia, people would take meat, ham and prsut to the > Blessing, as well as the staple bread and eggs. > > written by Tonci Prusac from New Generation caught up with Tonka Saric - > Geelong Melbourne who holds a Croatian Culinary class at the Croatian Dom > Geelong. > > regards > Mary > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.3 - Release Date: 4/5/2005 > >