My Polish Easter

Traditional Polish Easter Basket

Let me start by saying that I am neither Polish nor Catholic, but my husband was raised in a Polish Catholic home where the blessing of the Easter Basket was an annual ritual. As adults we’re progressive Quakers, a religion that eschews “ritual”. It’s a bit if a guilty pleasure that we take part in the annual blessing of the Easter Basket.

Easter us such a religious holiday-  Celebrating the risen Christ… But don’t think about it too much… What does Jesus have to do with Dying eggs, eating chocolate bunnies, or putting Peeps in the microwave? For me, the spirit of Easter comes in the re-birth of our spirits.  It comes with spring and the awakening of the earth.  When I make Pysanky, I enjoy the meditative centering it brings me.  The scent of the melted bee’s wax, the candles, the warm eggs, the colors.  It’s really a delightfully centering practice…

Part of what draws me being a “Celebration Specialist” is a love of tradition. I love marking the passage of the year with celebration. Next week, I hope to dance around a May Pole.


So here are some pictures of my Polish Easter Basket that we’ll take to St Maria Goretti to be blessed by a generous priest tomorrow.



/4 Comments/by
4 replies
  1. Jill
    Jill says:

    Your eggs are gorgeous Marilee. I have the honor of being both Polish and Catholic:)
    Happy Easter and Happy Spring!
    Jill

  3. richardsrussell
    richardsrussell says:

    Jesus doesn't have anything to do with eggs and bunnies and greenery. Those are all nature symbols of fecundity, appropriate to spring, season of rebirth and holy to the pagan goddess Oestre, whose name was appropriated by guess what major religion.

    For my money, the thing that truly blesses the basket is the person who assembles it, and to THAT person we should be properly grateful.

    Your eggs are simply beautiful, BTW.

  4. Marilee
    Marilee says:

    I did a bit of web-search on the spring goddess Oestre… I found several articles both pro and con.

    I like this one best for it's amusing combination of scholarly rigor and neo-spirituality. Basically they say there is little evidence of the ancient goddess Oestre, but we like her anyway and this is how we celebrate…
    http://www.manygods.org.uk/articles/essays/Eostre.shtml

    It appears that the first written account of the existence of Oestre was between 673 and 735 by a monk named Bede… Most other accounts refer back to Bede, but there seems to be no independent verification.

    Here are some of the more interesting/informative links I found.

    http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-Ostara.htm
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
    http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/bede_on_eostre.htm
    http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/ostarathespringequinox/qt/Eostre.htm

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