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Easter is celebrated in Ukraine

April 16, 2023

Easter is celebrated in Ukraine

Happy Easter to all celebrating today! In Ukraine, there is a long-standing tradition of celebrating Easter. It’s a holiday marked by family gatherings, baking of the Ukrainian paska bread, making of pysanky (Easter egg-decorating) and sanctifying of the Easter basket at church on Velykden’ (“the Great Day” in Ukrainian, also known as Easter Sunday).

Pysanka is one the most outstanding elements of the Ukrainian Easter tradition. The word pysanka comes from the verb “pysaty” which means to write. Traditionally, pysankas are made during the last week of Lent. Their creation is an elaborate process of using beeswax to draw on the egg and dipping it into dyes to create sophisticated patterns. The art of pysanky was traditionally performed solely by women.

Today, despite Russia’s aggression Ukrainians continue to celebrate Easter – some at home with family at one table, some in trenches, some far away from home, but regardless of where we are, on this day – as our (pagan) predecessors believed – we celebrate the victory of life over death.

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