Quiet Activities for Holy Friday and Saturday

[source: Pravoslavie.ru]

When my kids were young, we tried to plan a few nice quiet activities for them to engage in with us in anticipation of Orthodox Pascha (Easter), between the church services we attended during the day on Holy Friday and Saturday.  I perused my Pinterest boards yesterday, and I think I found some pretty good resources to share with you.

Make an Easter Story in an Egg Carton - go here to learn how to make this easy project.

Read Bible stories with them.  There are so many great illustrated Bibles for children.  One of my favorites is the Children's Bible Reader, available here. 

Craft beeswax candles out of eggshells to give as gifts - step-by-step instructions here.

Or decorate candles for Pascha - source here.

Bake!  Make a cake for your Pascha (Easter) basket.  Lots of traditional recipes out there, but I'm going to try this Lemon/Ricotta/Almond/Flourless Cake because it's gluten free!

Decorate Eggs - I love these beautiful Easter Eggs dyed with lace...

These last days leading up to Easter are a good time to decorate your Easter Egg Tree - we let our children choose a glass or handblown egg from our collection to hang on our "tree" each day of Holy Week, so by Pascha it was full.

Easter Egg Symbolism and Trivia:

• The dyeing of Easter eggs comes from the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic tradition of coloring eggs red to represent the blood of Christ. The egg's shell represents the tomb of Christ, and after the Paschal liturgy parishioners crack their eggs against each other's proclaiming, "Christ is Risen!"
• Historically, as part of the Lenten Fast, eating eggs was forbidden. But this didn't stop chickens from laying, so households hard-boiled the eggs to keep them from spoiling and ate them quickly after Easter arrived.  
• In the Ukraine, during Holy week, women traditionally blew out the egg insides, and decorated the empty shells with dyes and wax, a beautiful folk art known as "Pysanky".
• Started by Dolley Madison in 1814, the annual "Easter Egg Roll" on the White House's South Lawn is a race in which children push an Easter egg across the grass with a spoon. However, rolling Easter eggs traces its origins to Europe as a symbol of the rolling away of the boulder from Jesus' tomb before the Resurrection. 
• The famous Fabergé eggs were intricately jeweled and gilded pieces created for Russian royalty before the 1917 revolution. The House of Fabergé crafted the first in 1885 by request from Tsar Alexander III as an Easter gift for his wife, Empress Maria.  The tradition was famously continued by the Romanov family, most notably, Nicholas II and Alexandra.                         [source]                                                        

Willows, Palms, Crosses, and Donkeys for Holy Week

When our children were young, during Holy Week they looked forward to hanging beautifully decorated eggs (that I collected) on our Easter Egg Tree each day.  By Easter - Pascha - the tree would be full.  I make my egg tree every year with pussy willow branches stuck into florist foam, which I nestle down into a pretty tin.

This past Sunday was Orthodox Palm Sunday, which is known as "Willow Sunday" in Russia. Since I'm blogging about Russia this month, I thought I'd share a little bit about the Russian tradition for Palm Sunday: If you remember, when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, the celebrating people lay down palm branches in front of him. In Russia, where the climate is unfavorable for palm, palm branches have always been substituted with willow boughs...(Read more here).

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev - source

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev - source

In my own Antiochian Orthodox parish we use the more typical palms on Palm Sunday, holding crosses made from palm branches as we process around the church.  You can learn how to make your own palm cross here - the step-by-step instructions are easy enough for kids, from the blog Good, True, and Beautiful!

Here's something I'd never seen: a palm donkey!  My husband has an employee who is Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox.  She gave one to him that she had made with her daughter, telling my husband, "Because Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey."  Isn't it cute? (note: the palm cross behind the donkey is ours - it's not attached to the donkey. Everything starts out green, but as it dries it becomes this straw color).

Here is a lovely picture book about Palm Sunday, The Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem, by Sister Elayne (now Mother Melania), with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Bonnie Gillis (order here from Archangels Books). It is part of "The Twelve Great Feasts" series...available here, from Ancient Faith Publishing.

I took the photo below of my daughter with my grandson at our church on Tuesday night at one of our Bridegroom services. (The name of the service is from the figure of the Bridegroom in the parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matt. 25:1-13) You can see how we adorn the icons with palm branches too.

"Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching, and unworthy is the servant whom he shall find heedless.

Beware, therefore, oh my soul. Do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the kingdom.

But rouse yourself, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy are Thou O God."

We sang this beautiful hymn the first three nights of Holy Week at the Bridegroom services (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday).  You can listen to a beautiful rendition of it by clicking here.

Pascha is getting closer...tonight we have the Twelve Gospels service, then Holy Friday. Saturday morning we have a service, and at midnight we will be celebrating the "Feast of Feasts": Christ's Resurrection, Pascha!

The Three Day Pascha-series, is a set of three books (also by Mother Melania and Bonnie Gillis). It features the books Great and Holy Friday, Great and Holy Saturday, and Pascha, the Feast of Feasts.  The set is available here.

Bright Colors in My Kitchen...Easter is Coming

So let us rediscover Lent. A journey, a pilgrimage! Yet, as we begin it, as we make the first step into the “bright sadness” of Lent, we see—far, far away—the destination. It is the joy of Easter, it is the entrance into the glory of the Kingdom. And it is this vision, the foretaste of Easter, that makes Lent’s sadness bright and our Lenten effort a “spiritual spring.” The night may be dark and long, but all along the way a mysterious and radiant dawn seems to shine on the horizon. 

–Alexander Schmemann

Orthodox Lent is almost over: these are the last few days until Holy Week begins and then...Pascha!  

My finds from Easter clearance sales!
This year Orthodox Easter and Western Easter are quite far apart - so if you've already
celebrated Easter, you can store my book recommendations (below) away for next year.

Lots of wonderful colors have been appearing in my kitchen this last week: flowers from my springtime walks, ingredients and teacups for some Lenten refreshments, and gifts for Pascha on my kitchen table, being gathered and ready to wrap...

St. Euphrosynos the Cook (read his story here) on my
windowsill with some Rock Rose Orchid flowers
gathered on a walk along the horse trail behind my house.

My favorite chilled drink for Lent: Sparkling
water with lemon, ginger, and cranberries -
sweetened with a little Stevia.

My favorite dairy-free hot drink for Lent: Vanilla Chai
tea with coconut milk and Stevia.

My Pascha cards arrived in the mail, along with two books that will be
paired with brightly wrapped German chocolates
for my sweet godchildren!

I adore the colorful illustrations in both of these books.  The first is a Pennsylvania Dutch story The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous, published in 1950...

One Easter morning, after seeing the Easter Rabbit, Katy and Carl went on an egg hunt in Grandmom's garden and through her house... 

Katy couldn't find anything until she went up to the attic. And there she discovered a very special set of eggs... Grandmom had painted them when she was a little girl. And now, she hung them from the branches of a tiny tree -- an Egg Tree! 

So began a very special Easter tradition.

I do an Egg Tree for Pascha every year! (more photos here)

Now here are some special eggs...in the story, Nina's Treasures, another cute book (1990), this one showcasing Ukrainian egg decorating (Pysanky): 

Although winter threatens starvation, old Katerina gives her hen ("Nina") her precious flower seeds, a gift that surprisingly results in some spectacular eggs for trading, in a folktale about the springtime ritual of egg decorating. 

"Katerina was so surprised at what she saw that she almost dropped
the poor hen. There in the nest were the most beautiful eggs. Each
was different from the other, and each looked like a miniature flower
garden laid out in gorgeous patterns of colors and borders."

Note at the end of the book: Many of the colors and patterns in this book are adapted from the work of Maria Primachenko, a peasant woman from Kiev whose briliant folk art was praised by Pablo Picasso.

Coming next on my blog:  Russia! I'll be observing Holy Week, but as I am able, I'll be working on posting some beautifully illustrated Russian books of Saints and Bible stories, photos from my trip to St. Petersburg, and some fairy tale books I brought back. 

HOLY WEEK: THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST

[note: I'm saying good-by to the blogopshere for about a week. If you are a Catholic or Protestant Christian, I realize you'll be observing Good Friday tomorrow, but in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Holy Week is just ahead of us.  Our Easter - Pascha - is April 15th this year.]  

Holy Week is the perfect time to focus on the miracles of Christ. The last Saturday of Lent (just preceding Passion Week - or Holy Week) is focused on Jesus' miracle of the Raising of Lazarus.  Of course, Holy Week itself, our journey with Christ to Pascha, ends with the ultimate miracle of the Resurrection, as Jesus frees the dead from Hades.

In my home, I display an Easter Egg Tree every year.  I made my own last year with pussy willow branches stuck into florist foam, which I nestled down into a pretty tin. (In Europe, pussy willow branches are used in place of palm branches on Palm Sunday, since palms are not available in that region.) When our children were young, during Holy Week they looked forward to hanging beautifully decorated eggs on our Easter Egg Tree each day.  By Easter - Pascha - the tree would be full.

This year I thought I would do it a little bit differently, decorating the tree for Holy Week with icon cards of "The Miracles of Christ" hung from the branches, and eventually adding in my Easter Egg collection for Pascha.. 

Pack of 18 cards. I got them here.

To all my readers:  I'll be back after next week. Blessed Pascha (Happy Easter)!

HOLY WEEK: JOURNEY TO PASCHA

During this last week leading up to Easter (we call it "Pascha" in the Orthodox Church), I won't be posting much about books, since Holy Week is in full swing!  Beginning over the weekend with Lazarus Saturday and then Palm Sunday, the week continues with many more services to attend, baskets to prepare, goodies to make, and an Easter Egg Tree to decorate...

When our children were young, during Holy Week they looked forward to hanging beautifully decorated eggs (that I had collected) on our Easter Egg Tree each day.  By Easter - Pascha - the tree would be full.  I made my own last year with pussy willow branches stuck into florist foam, which I nestled down into a pretty tin.  In Europe, pussy willow branches are used in place of palm branches on Palm Sunday, since palms are not available in that region.

A variation of this Easter Egg Tree would be to hang these beautiful little "Miracles of Christ" icon cards on the branches at the beginning of Holy Week (Lazarus Saturday).  Each card is about 31/2 by 4 inches and would just need a hole punched at the top with a ribbon threaded through it in order to tie it to a branch.  On each successive day of Holy Week, your children could take down a card, read the story from Christ's life on the back, and replace the icon card with an Easter egg.

"Miracles of Christ" icon cards are
available HERE at Orthodox Marketplace  

Tonight we will be attending the Bridegroom Matins.  Christ the Bridegroom is the central figure in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13); Christ is the divine Bridegroom of the Church as described in the Book of Isaiah (chapter 54), as well as the primary image of Bridegroom Matins. The title is suggestive of his divine presence and watchfulness (“Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night…”) during Holy Week and his selfless love for his Bride, the Church.

"Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching, and unworthy is the servant whom he shall find heedless.

Beware, therefore, oh my soul. Do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the kingdom.

But rouse yourself, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy are Thou O God."

To hear this beautiful Orthodox hymn, “Alleluia, Behold the Bridegroom”, click HERE.