Sunday, May 2, 2021
This is an Un-Orthodox Easter story.
Orthodox Easter is an important holiday in Ukraine. It falls on a different day than "Western" or Catholic Easter. This year is was on Sunday, May 2nd. Orthodoxy is the majority religion in Ukraine. More than 60% of the population identify with a type of Orthodox Christianity.
Calling my Easter this year "unorthodox" is merely a clever play on words. Unorthodox means, "contrary to what is usual, traditional, or accepted; not orthodox." My Easter this year was not the first part of the definition, but the second part. In fact, my Easter in Ukraine was very familiar and similar to the Easters that I had growing up in the United States as a Roman Catholic. I call my Easter this year unorthodox not because it was contrary to what is usual, traditional, or accepted, but because it was literally not orthodox.
My friend Greg invited me to Easter church. He is Baptist. I graciously accepted the invitation. I met him and his wife at 8:00 in the morning and they drove me to the church. I was a little nervous at first because I was the foreigner, and I felt a little underdressed with blue jeans, a button up shirt, and hiking boots. Everyone was very kind to me and greeted me with a smile and a handshake.
I sat with Greg in the back of the church. You know the section of the church where the crying kids sit? That's where we sat. Behind the soundproofed walls. I spent a lot of time there when I went to church when I was growing up, so it felt familiar. We sat there so Greg could translate what was being said from Ukrainian to English. Before church started, we were joined in the soundproofed cry chamber by Victor, another American visiting Chernivtsi. There were speakers in the roof so we could hear what was being said. The choir at the church was amazing. I was really impressed by the talented musicians and singers at this church. Overall it was a cool experience.
After church we went to Greg's parents house for Easter lunch. It was around 11am when we all showed up to the house. They were putting the finishing touches on all of the food when we arrived. I met the family and I shared the story of how I met Greg because I met his sister in Boise. There was 15 of us in total and we sat around the table. The food was amazing with different meats and salads and drinks. There was plenty of food to go around and everyone had a smile on their faces. I felt very fortunate to be able to eat this grand meal with such amazing people.
After dinner we had some desert and tea. There were three different cakes, each one of them fantastic. It was tough finding room in my belly for each cake, but I managed to make some space. I was stuffed, but satisfied. We sat around and played games in the living room. Then a little bit later we played some soccer in the yard. Greg's parents didn't speak English, so I made sure to have him translate to them how thankful I was to be able to have Easter lunch and that everything was delicious.
Around 2:30 we loaded up into one of the vans and drove back to the city center where my apartment was located. I got back at around 3:00, I was full and a little sleepy. I wasn't able to take a nap, however, because the church outside my window was ringing its bells... Eventually I managed to fall asleep.
The next day, we continued the Easter festivities. Greg invited me to a BBQ. They picked me up at 8am and we drove about 30 minutes out of the city. We get to a smallish church and park in the back. There were a few grills set up and we started fires on them to get some coals. I mostly chopped some firewood while Greg did the cooking. Luckily there was another guy there that spoke English. His name was Roman and he actually took classes from Americana a few years ago. The three of us were on grill duty. Vadim would come out for a little while as well to taste some of the meat and then head back inside.
There were some women in the kitchen that would prepare the skewers of meat, then there would be younger kids that would bring the meat out so Greg could cook it. At 12:30 in the afternoon, the meat was ready to eat. We brought it into the church kitchen so it could get ready to be served. About 15 minutes later, there was a long table set up on the grass field next to the church. There were all different types of meats, salads and vegetables, and an assortment of drinks. There was a long line of people eager to get some food. I stood in line with Roman and then we ate our meals. Once again, it was delicious.
After we at the food, people started playing games. There was soccer and volleyball going. I jumped in on the volleyball game and it was really fun. We stood in a circle and just ralleyed the ball back and forth. If you do a bad pass or miss the ball, then you have to go into the middle of the circle. The only way out is if you catch the ball or if someone hits you with it. Not a lot of people spoke English, so it was interesting learning this game. Everyone was nice to me and included me into the games. We played for a few hours until the weather started to get bad. We then loaded up into the van an drove back to the city center. I think I gained a few pounds over the last two days.
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