Paska ( uk, пáска, , "

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

"; ka, პასკა, , "

"; ro, pască; ultimately from arc, פסחא, , "

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

") is a Ukrainian

Easter bread In many European countries, there are various traditions surrounding the use of bread during the Easter holidays. Traditionally the practice of eating Easter bread or sweetened "communion" bread traces its origin back to Byzantium and the Orthodo ...

tradition and particularly spread in countries with predominant

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

religious or cultural connections to the ancient

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. Paska breads are a traditional element in the Easter holidays of Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Romania, Russia, Georgia, Moldova and parts of Bulgaria, as well as Turkey, Iran and the Assyrian–Chaldean–Syriac diaspora. Due to its geographical closeness, it is also widespread in Slovakia. Meanwhile, it is also eaten in countries with immigrant populations from Eastern Europe such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Etymology and origins

Easter is called in the Ukrainian language () whilst in Russian it is spelt (). The Ukrainian word () is traditionally used to describe the Easter bread in Ukraine whilst Вели́кдень () is used to denote the day. Whilst Russia has its own Easter bread called () and the word () is used to denote the day. The word is connected to Ancient Greek word () and Georgian: (, "Easter"), derived from the Orthodox believers in

. The name is connected to the Jewish holiday of ''Pesach''. In Finland the name ("Easter bread") is used, because is an obscenity in Finnish meaning "shit".

Christian symbolism

The Christian faithful in many Eastern Christian countries eat this bread during Easter. Christian symbolism is associated with features of paska type breads. The inside of paska can be a swirl of yellow and white that is said to represent the

resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...

while the white represents the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

. Other versions include chocolate, rice, or even savoury mixtures based on cheese. A version is made with maraschino cherries added to symbolize royal jewels in honor of the resurrection of Jesus.

Traditional ingredients

Paska is made with

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...

, eggs,

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cul ...

, and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

, except for the Romanian pască where the recipe most commonly includes sweet cream,

cottage cheese Cottage cheese is a curdled milk product with a mild flavor and a creamy, non-homogeneous, soupy texture. It is made from skimmed milk by draining the cheese, as opposed to pressing it to make cheese curd—retaining some of the whey and keep ...

, and/or

sour cream Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial cultu ...

along with eggs,

raisins A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the dar ...

, and

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

. An egg and water mixture is used as a glaze.

Ukraine

In Ukraine it is tradition to fill your Easter basket (koshyk) with Easter eggs (pysanky), Easter bread (paska), sausage (kovbasa), butter, salt and other ceremonial foods on Holy Saturday (Easter Eve). On Easter morning, after the liturgy and the blessing of the paska and other staples, everyone returns home to feast on the eggs, cold meats, and other goods that were blessed at church. After the matins all the people in the congregation exchange Easter greetings, give each other ''krashanky'', and then hurry home with their baskets of blessed food (''sviachene''). In eastern Ukraine they go home, place the ''sviachene'' on the table, and the oldest member of the family opens the cloths in which the food is wrapped, slices pieces from each item, and distributes them to members of the family along with a piece of unleavened bread that has also been blessed. In Western Ukraine, especially in the

Hutsul The Hutsuls (sometimes the spelling variant: Gutsuls; uk, Гуцули, translit=Hutsuly; pl, Huculi, Hucułowie; ro, huțuli) are an ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). They ...

region, the people first walk around the house three times. Only then do they enter the house, ceremoniously open the bundle (''dorinnyk'') over the heads of the children, and sit down to the table to break their fast. Modern pasky usually have a white glaze made from sugar and egg and are decorated on top with coloured wheat grains or poppy seeds. However, an old custom, which is still practised in some Ukrainian regions and diasporas, is to create dough ornaments for the paska. The symbolism of these ornaments is connected with spring themes: the awakening of nature, resurrection and rebirth. Birds, especially larks, as heralds of spring, took a much-deserved place on pasky.

Assyrian paska

In Iran and the diaspora, Assyrians will eat a paska cake on Easter, ''Ida Gura''. The tall cake is decorated with a cross on top to represent

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early medie ...

, the place of Jesus' crucifixion, and surrounded with colored eggs to symbolize the people who visited Jesus during his death and were at his cross.

Eaten with other foods

Paska is eaten with ''hrudka'', also called ''syrek'', a bland sweet custard similar to cheese made from separated eggs and milk and beets mixed with

horseradish Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwi ...

(''chren''/''hrin'') and kovbasa.

Pască

Pască is a traditional Romanian and Moldovan pastry. Especially made for

, pască is a

tart A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes wit ...

with a cozonac dough base filled with fresh cheese like

urdă Urdă (; sq, urdha, indefinite form ''urdhë''; sr, / ; bg, урда, извара, urda, izvara; mk, урда, изварка, urda, izvarka; uk, вурда, vurda; hu, orda, zsendice) is a sort of whey cheese commonly produced in Southe ...

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...

s, eggs and sugar. Other variants include

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

, or

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, ras ...

fillings.

References

External links

* * {{Cuisine of Romania Sweet breads Yeast breads Easter bread Assyrian cuisine Iranian breads Moldovan cuisine Romanian cuisine Russian cuisine Slovak cuisine Ukrainian cuisine Cuisine of the Midwestern United States Slavic Easter traditions Braided egg breads Cheese dishes