Easter in Ukraine: Church and Vodka at 3 a.m.

Easter in Ukraine

Yesterday, I was dropped off with my host family in a tiny Ukrainian village for two years of service in the Peace Corps. They don’t speak English, I don’t speak Ukrainian and Easter is tomorrow.

At 2:45 on Easter morning, my host mom, Hannah knocks on my door. I show her what I’m planning to wear to church, and her facial expression says, “you crazy Californian, that won’t do here.” She goes to her room and brings back a sweater she knitted herself. I throw it on without question, layer up, and grab my scarf (all women must cover their heads in church). We leave the house at 2:55 a.m. to walk to the village church for my first Easter in Ukraine.

Hannah is carrying a basket full of Paska (Ukrainian Easter bread), eggs, salami, cheese and fruit, covered with a delicate white blanket and a single, unlit, white candle in the middle.

As we walk down the gravel road, it is pitch black, no street lights, no house lights, no car headlights. I can see every star in the galaxy. I swear everyone in this tiny Ukrainian village is out, silent silhouettes walking to the bright blue church in the center of town.

My host mom takes my hand and leads me to the front doors. She makes the cross, and shows me how to do it, intuiting my lack of religious upbringing.

3:00 AM: Easter in Ukraine

We walk through the church doors and per Eastern Orthodoxy protocol, all the worshipers venerate each of the golden-framed saints that line the wall floor to ceiling. Venerating is the act of kissing the religious icons as if they were physically present.

Hannah lights a candle as she says a prayer. Standing, we listen to the priest’s melodic and hypnotic Ukrainian tone in perfect coordination with the five choir singers draped in white to his left. The priest comes out to address the crowd a few times and there are some altar boys that come out and perform traditional rituals.

There are no pews in the church, typical of “old world” churches, not often found in western orthodox churches. Everyone is huddled together, shoulder to shoulder, some crying, all seemingly spiritually present. It is so ceremonial and moving. My senses are ignited: the sound of the music, the smell of the old church, the sight of a hundred golden frames all around, the feel of my host-mom’s hand in mine.

4:00 AM: Easter in Ukraine

We make our way outside. As I walk through the church doors to the outside world, I was taken aback by the visual – the church was encircled by hundreds of local men, women and children, in the pitch black, each with large baskets filled with food and a single lit candle on the ground in front of them, illuminating their faces against the dark night background.

I felt each of them looking at me as I walk out the church, all of them sending their energy to me, feeling like I am surrounded by light and community in this foreign place. It was breathtakingly beautiful and like nothing I’ve ever seen. I stand for a moment and take it in.

We find our place surrounding the church, light our candle and place the basket at our feet. Moments later, three men carrying a large cross, two babushkas and the priest pass by preaching and blessing the baskets, and us, with (very cold) holy water. He wears a beautifully white embroidered gown and tall hat, sparkling in the moon and candlelight. He circles the church two times. As I am surrounded by my new community and feeling the love, I make sure to look around and take in this experience, knowing that this is once in a lifetime. But it’s not over yet.

5:00 AM: Easter in Ukraine

After receiving the holy water shower, we go back to the house to start preparing the newly-blessed food and start filling our shot glasses with vodka. There goes the first shot. Host parents, kids, neighbors – we sit, we eat, we drink, and they talk.

Refilling our shot glasses as soon as the last one goes down, munching on Paska, fish, salad, bread, eggs and sausage in between. While at the table, 4 shots in and with no idea what the people around me are saying, I was thinking this is kind of crazy.

I am alone with this family, in rural Ukraine, at 5:00am, on Easter, and I have no idea what they are saying, not even one word. I am just sitting here, smiling. Lots of Paska, vodka and laughing later, I roll back into bed at 7:00am.

What an experience I have opened myself up to.

Easter in Ukraine