П а сха (Easter) in Russia and Easter in are not equal:

there is no Easter bunny and whole Easter basket for kids in Russia.

Easter in Russia is not about hiding eggs or giving out candy-filled baskets.

Russian Easter boils down to stopping at church at some point of the day, dyeing eggs, baking кулич и and getting together with family for a meal.

Lunar calendar is used to determine the exact date. Russian Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. This year, spring fool moon is on Tuesday, April 15th. That means Russian Easter will be celebrated on April 20th.

People begin to actively prepare for Easter on Thursday. The Thursday before Easter is called Ч и стый or Св е тлый Четв е рг (Clean Thursday). On this day many people go to church to ask for forgiveness, to cleanse themselves from the sin, so to speak. It is also typical to clean the house, start кр а сить я йца (dyeing eggs), and печь кулич и (baking kulichi).

Easter kulichi & eggs

Traditionally, Russians use onion peels for egg dyeing. People usually start saving regular yellow onion peel a month or two before Easter. When the time comes, the eggs are boiled with the onion peel for quite some some; a reddish-brown color that develops as a result is rich and 100% natural. Today many people also use artificial dyes and decorative shrink wrap.

shrink-wrapped eggs (the sleeve goes on the boiled egg, then the egg is dipped into boiling water, which causes the wrap to conform to the egg)

Кулич и , along with eggs, are the two staples of Р у сская П а сха. Кул и ч is a special type of sweet bread made with yeast dough and decorated with egg-white frosting.

Vsenoshnaya

During the week preceding Easter, a lot of Russian churches hold всен о щная — a service that lasts most of the night and includes ritual walking around the church for quite some time.

Easter is a family holiday in Russia. Armed with eggs and baked goods, you either go visit your family, have them visit you, or get together with friends if family is not around.

When greeting somebody on Easter, you would say “Христ о с воскр е с!” (Christ has risen!) and the other person would respond “Во и стину воскр е с!” (Indeed he has!). You would then also exchange eggs.

Blessing of the kulichi & eggs

Освящ е ние кулич е й и я и ц (blessing of the kulichi & eggs) is another typical ritual that takes place during Easter week. You can bring your own food to church to have it blessed.

Lastly, most people play the egg game: two people smack the tips of their eggs together, the person whose egg survived the smack wins. The winner proceeds to smack eggs with other participants.

I have now officially mastered making yeast dough, but I am not baking any куличи this year; however, I will try to make some onion-dyed eggs!