Easter in Russia 18.04.2017

Easter is one of the holidays which is celebrated by the majority of Russian people, it is almost the same as New Year’s Eve and Birthday. It is always celebrated spring time, the date is determined by the Moon calendar. This holiday is very old, however the traditions and customs are still followed by Russians.

History of the Russian version of Easter Holiday

Before the baptism, Russian people were celebrating a spring holiday in honor of the Spring Revival and Resurrection of Gods. Nations who lived in the territory of Russia used to be pagans before the Orthodox baptism. Easter is celebrated in Russia from the 10^th century, the meaning of the holiday is happiness to resurrection of the Christ Savior.

How do we celebrate it here in Russia?

Women start cooking and preparing the house long before the holiday. The week before Easter is called a Holly Week. People are cleaning the house, washing window frames, taking a bath, clearing the thoughts before such a saint date.

Traditions to celebrate Easter:

A lot of people in Russia do not believe in God, however even they perform a ritual by printing eggs, baking special Easter cakes and cooking nice Holiday food. These are the most common symbols of Easter here in Russia. Also people visit each other’s houses, give each other printed eggs and Easter cakes, play funny games and eat good food.

There is a tradition to break an egg shell a special way: two people hold two eggs and beat each other’s egg. There is a believe that if the shell of your egg stays unbroken, you will be healthy and happy this year.

For many people Ester is a happy holiday which symbolizes a revival of nature and soul.

You say certain words this day: «Christ is risen.» And you expect an answer: “Truly risen”.

This year, the date of Catholic and Orthodox Easter coinsides and Moscow met a lot of tourists from different countries to celebrate Easter here in Moscow.

Welcome to visit our city!