Happy Easter Everyone!
Once again it it is that joyous time of the year when we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Like Christmas. this is a very special holiday for people of the Christian faith. In fact, it is the basis of our faith, and, speaking from a Ukrainian background, it is heaped in rich tradition and pageantry.
How well I remember the great anticipation and preparations which started a week before and culminated with that special church service on Easter Sunday. It was the highlight of the year, especially for us kids. Sometimes I wonder that the walls of that little country church did not explode from the sheer reverberation of the hymns, sung, not by any professional choir, but by sincere and enthusiastic ordinary (mostly uneducated) farm folk whose simple unpretentious faith gave such meaning to their life and lent them such lofty wings on which to soar.
After the church service and the traditional blessing of the Easter food baskets, we rushed home to partake of the delectable repast. When that special feast was finished, all the young kids hurried back to gather around that little church to play games and take turns pulling the long thick rope that rang the huge bell up in the bell tower above us. That bell could be heard for miles and miles through the countryside.
Easter was three days and while the adults celebrated with friends, neighbors and/or relatives, we kids spent those three days in the churchyard in carefree exuberance, singing, playing games and ringing that huge bell. Our folks always knew that as long as that bell kept peeling, we were safe and happy and in good hands.
We lost so much when we became "MODERN"!
No comments:
Post a Comment