Yesterday a new TV came here. It's a small teddy bear- Hellen. She lives in England. She is so-o lovely! We all like her very much!
Russians have their Easter today, so I wish you Happy Easter!
Yesterday we helped Oksana to cook cheese soup and to dye eggs for Easter.
There is a tradition in Russia to dye eggs with onion husks:
Our Easter meal:
One more tradition in Russia is to cook Paskha-special Easter meal made from curd. Oksana explained us that Paskha
means "Easter" in Russian. We didn't cook it, but Oksana showed us it's picture, so now we know how it looks like.
The traditional shape of paskha is a pyramid, symbolizing Christ's tomb. It is traditionally made in a wooden mould assembly called pasotchnitza that can be taken apart for cleaning, but more modern materials, such as plastics, are used nowadays. On the sides of the paskha are engraved (using the mould) traditional religious symbols, such as the "Chi Ro" motif (Labarum), letters "GW" (X and B in Russian letters, standing for Chistos Voskrese which is the Slavonic equavalent of the Paschal greeting "Christ is Risen!"), the Cross, eggs, and a lance, all symbolizing Christ's Passion and Resurrection.
Another traditional Easter food is kulich.
It is a kind of Easter bread, traditional in the Orthodox Christian faith — Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, etc.
Traditionally during the Easter service, the kulich, which has been put into a basket and decorated with colourful flowers, is blessed by the priest. Leftover kulich that isn't blessed is eaten with Paskha for dessert. Blessed kulich is eaten before breakfast each day.
It is baked in tall, cylindrical tins (like coffee or fruit juice tins), and when cooled is decorated with white icing (which is slightly drizzled down the sides), colourful flowers, and XB "Christ is Risen") is decorated on the side. Kulich is only eaten during the 40 days after Paskha (Easter) until Pentecost.
Today is our last day in Novosibirsk with Oksana, Budd and Helen. Soon Oksana will take me and Morado to the post-office and send to Moscow to Kristl. We had much fun here and feel a bit sad about our departure, but Oksana promises that we will have nice time with Kristl too and we will see many interesting things in Moscow. Hope to meet all together sometime again! See you!
