Easter, 27 April 2008
An Easter greeting, and a word about the queue outside the church at six in the morning.
Christ is risen. A blessed Easter to everyone marking it today.
The thing that stays with me about Easter here is the queue. Long before the service ends, people are lined along the outside wall of the church with baskets on the ground in front of them, cloths folded back, waiting to be blessed. Paska, eggs, salt, sausage, butter, a candle in each basket.
Nobody hurries the priest and nobody minds the wait. It is early, it is cold, and the mood is unreasonably good.
I have come to think that this is the most characteristic hour of the Ukrainian year. Everything is homemade, everyone is outside, and the whole street is doing the same thing at the same time without anyone having organised it.
A good table to your family today, and a warm afternoon after the early start.
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