Easter basket has strong religious roots, significance among ethnic faithful

Maribeth Joeright/MJoeright@News-Herald.com

Marilou Suszko kneads dough for her traditional Easter bread.

Maribeth Joeright/MJoeright@News-Herald.com

Paska, or Easter bread, is a traditional part of Marilou Suszko's Easter basket along with brightly colored eggs. Each color has it's own significance and the bread is braided to symbolize Christ's crown of thorns.

Today at 1 p.m., the Rev. John Betters, pastor of Sts. Robert and William Catholic Church, will bless an estimated 200 or more Easter baskets that have been placed in the Euclid church's sanctuary by parishioners.

They won't be baskets filled with candy, Peeps or cute toy rabbits, although some might have eggs in them.

These are the original Easter baskets, filled with foods that were given up during the 40 days of Lent. After they've been blessed with incense in the half-hour Easter Saturday church ceremony they'll be reclaimed by their owners and taken home so the contents can be eaten, either today or on Easter Sunday.

"Many of the baskets will be covered with a beautifully embroidered cloth, used only at Easter," explained Marilou Suszko, a Vermilion-based food writer whose Slovak relatives observe the annual blessing of Easter foods.


She was invited by Betters to give a March 20 food symbolism class at Sts. Robert and William, one of the area's most ethnically diverse churches.

The blessing of Easter foods has long been a tradition in Polish households, but it's also been embraced by Catholics of Slovenian, Slovak and German heritage, she said.

"I think people are looking for traditions to reintroduce into their family celebrations," Suszko said.

During the 1700s, when the tradition likely began, people faced stark times during the 40 days of Lent without meats and fats, she explained. So being able to return these indulgences to the table was a big part of the Easter celebration.

The symbolism of various foods varies with the ethnicity, but most agree that pagan celebrations of spring were the historic roots. The egg symbolizes that rebirth or in some more specific traditions it symbolizes Christ in the tomb. When the egg is broken open and shared on Easter morning, it not only symbolizes the resurrection, but the unity among Christ and his followers.

"Many different ethnic groups make an Easter bread that in my heritage is called paska," Suszko said.

"It's a rich yeast bread made from eggs, butter, raisins and milk -- many of the forbidden ingredients during Lent."

The bread is often braided to symbolize Christ's crown of thorns and is one of the first things served on Easter morning.

She taught those in last month's food symbolism class how to make Easter bread and each person took a loaf home to let rise, and then bake.

"Another thing my Slovak relatives do is make a custard-type cheese called Cirak for Easter morning," Suszko said

It's also made of milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla -- ingredients often given up for Lent.

A red egg plays an important role at Easter in Greek Orthodox churches.

Legend says that when Mary Magdalene told the Emperor Tiberius about the empty tomb, she used an egg as a symbol of it. The emperor replied that was about as likely as the egg in her hand turning red.

The egg she held did turn red and ever since a red egg has been a part of Greek Orthodox tradition. In some churches, a basket of colored eggs is blessed by the priest at midnight and then passed out to the congregation members to be cracked open.

Symbolic foods that Suszko revealed to her class included butter in the shape of a lamb to represent the goodness of Christ, salt to remind Christians that it is their duty to flavor the world and red horseradish made with beet juice to remind of the blood and suffering of Christ.

"Sometimes people add personal things to their baskets before they are blessed," she said. "I always put in a picture of my grandmother because it is her traditions we are continuing," she said.

She also includes a bottle of Ohio wine to remind her of the agricultural bounty we enjoy as Ohioans, and a candle to represent that Christ is the light of the world.

Many Easter baskets, she said, don't even make it to Easter.

"Some people take them home and have it all for Saturday lunch," Suszko said.


1 p.m. today, blessing of Easter baskets

Sts. Robert and William Catholic Church

367 E. 260th Street