Easter Preparations
Artist: Sergey Miloradovich
Year of creation: 1910
Owned by: private collection
Since food made for Easter needs to be blessed at a church, preparations for the holiday typically start off early. This includes painting/dyeing and decorating eggs, which is especially fun for children as they get to be their most creative selves. In the painting, the artist portrayed the scene warmly, drawing inspiration from his own childhood memories and paying attention to detail to convey the authentic atmosphere of the holiday. Eggs aren’t the only core symbols of Easter – there’s also willow, branches of which you can see in the painting, as well.
Russian Easter
Nicholas Roerich, Russian Easter, 1924, Nicholas Roerich Museum, Moscow, Russia. Credit: CC-BY-SA-4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Artist: Nicholas Roerich
Year of creation: 1924
Owned by: Nicholas Roerich Museum (Moscow, Russia)
Prayers and services lay at the heart of Easter. On Saturday, people start to bring their Easter food to church; this mostly concerns eggs and kulichi (an Easter cake typically made with dried fruit and sugar icing). However, the climax of this event is the Easter Liturgy, which takes place at or about midnight on Sunday. Easter services often include processions (like the one we can see in the painting); they are held on the day of the holiday, but also continue on for 40 more days.
Easter Table
Alexander Makovsky, Easter Table, 1916, Tver Regional Art Gallery, Tver, Russia. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Artist: Alexander Makovsky
Year of creation: 1916
Owned by: Tver Regional Art Gallery (Tver, Russia)
Come Sunday, the Easter table is stocked with foods, including those strictly verboten during the Great Lent, such as meat or dairy. In the spotlight, however, are: a kulich and a paskha (a sweet pyramid-shaped dish made from cottage cheese), as well as eggs. Aside from the holiday’s main attributes, Makovsky’s table also features fruits and flowers, which perfectly manifest the warmth and brightness of the season.
Easter Greeting
Boris Kustodiev, Easter Greeting, 1916, Boris Kustodiev House Museum, Astrakhan, Russia. Credit: PD-Art / Wikimedia Commons
Artist: Boris Kustodiev
Year of creation: 1916
Owned by: Boris Kustodiev House Museum (Astrakhan, Russia)
Like many other holidays, Easter comes with its own traditional greetings. When greeting someone on Easter, you should say “Hristos Voskres!” (“Christ rose!”); the reply will be “Voistinu Voskres!” (“Verily (he) rose!”). As the old tradition had it, after exchanging their greetings, people were supposed to kiss three times. This, however, is more often than not skipped nowadays. For Easter, people used to – and some continue to – exchange eggs (see the painting); other gifts are possible, as well.
Children Rolling Easter Eggs
Nikolay Koshelev, Children Rolling Easter Eggs, 1855, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Artist: Nikolay Koshelev
Year of creation: 1855
Owned by: State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia)
There are plenty of egg-cellent things to do during the Easter holidays. People not only decorate and exchange eggs, but also tap, spin, and even roll them. What we see in the painting are kids competing over who will get the most eggs. The rules of this egg game are simple: push your egg down a small slide; if you hit another egg, you take it. Egg rolling used to be big among kids and adults alike.
Why are there two Easters and how do they differ? Learn more about the story here – and find out even more about Easter activities here.
