Easter and Lent

The celebration of Easter in our family does not occur during Holy Week only, it starts on Ash Wednesday and continues until Easter Resurrection Mass at 6am followed by Easter lunch and dinner. Following Ash Wednesday a date is set in church for Recollection/Reflection Week, the week starts during Sunday Mass and continues for three evenings of masses celebrated by a visiting priest from Poland or another country. This experience of Recollection/Reflection Week is always a learning experience. This week of reflection means reevaluating my purpose in life, my values and faith. Once Lent starts, we eat fish on Fridays. This may sound as if we are very religious, but we are not, this has been a tradition since my childhood, I am 44.

Read more: Polish Easter Tradition from Montreal Canada

Pisanki (Pisanky, pysanky) are colored and decorated Easter eggs. The art of pisanki is cultivated in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and many other East and Central European countries. The name pisanki comes from the word "pisac" means "to write" or "to print". Easter eggs are in Polish called jajka wielkanocne.

Read more: Art of Coloring Easter Eggs in Poland: Wax Flowing Technique

Growing up in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia was a wonderful experience. Like many of the ethnic groups in our area, lives and customs were connected to our churches.

Being a member of the Polish church - Easter was a special time to our family. I can remember Babci making puncki (pounchki, Polish donuts) on Shrove Tuesday. The aroma that came from the kitchen was wonderful.

Read more: A Polish Easter in Philadelphia

Lent and Easter in Hamtramck was not like the days before Christmas. It was the 1940's and WW2 was still in progress and there was that thing called rationing to me Lent was a sort of grey thing, not the beautiful haze grey that greets a fresh Spring morning but a dark grey that marks a funeral. I always think of holidays in terms of color.

Read more: Lent and Easter in Hamtramck