#8 Orthodox Easter

April 20, 2014 marked as the holy day of Easter - feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Orthodox calendar, the most important holiday of Orthodox Christians .

Entire period before Ascension is celebrated on the 40th day after Easter , is considered as Eastern , and the Orthodox greet each other with "Xhristos Voskres!" or " The Lord Hath Risen! " and the response "He is Risen Indeed! " In Church Slavonic, this phrase is represented by the Cyrillic letters “XB,” a which appear on eggs, kulich, and the paskha. 

     It has long been assumed that the first meal after the Lent should 

be sanctified colored eggs, Easter cake (Kulich) and Easter curd

(Paskha) .

Custom of exchanging colored eggs has firmly entrenched in the life of the church. 

Red Easter egg symbolizes conquering Divine Love.  

Easter cake's (Kulich) shape resembles artos . Easter artos is a symbol of Jesus Christ. In Easter Paskha there are: a pone, sweet, raisins and nuts. 

 Properly prepared cake smells great and looks beautiful, it does not get stale and can stay for weeks without spoiling, all 40 days of Easter. Sweetness, pone, and beauty of Easter cake show the Lord's concern of every human being, His compassion and mercy to people.

    Another main dish on the Eastern table is Easter Paskha. But apart from its symbolic value, Easter Paskha is just delicious, exquisite dessert.

   Paskha is the image of endless joy and bliss of the saints, sweets of heavenly life, and blissful eternity. Mountain shape of Paskha represents the base of the new heavenly Jerusalem.

    Its main ingredients are: grated farmer cheese, butter, sour cream or cream, eggs (or just yolks) and sugar. People can also add raisins, candied fruits, jams syrup, lemon zest, cinnamon - it all depends on person's taste.  

Easter Paskha can be prepared in three ways - baked in the oven ; brew - when the ingredients are brought to the boil ; and cooled and compressed . 

All three types taste slightly different . But the taste does not depend on the method of cooking but on the quality of the ingredients and some fine process.

Recipe of Traditional Paskha:

Ingredients: 800g of farmer cheese, 100g of butter, 2 tbsp. of powder sugar, 0.5 tbsp. of sour cream, 5 eggs, 1 tbsp. of blanched almonds, 1 tbsp. of steamed raisins. 

1. Drain farmer's cheese of all moisture by placing cheesecloth in colander and weighting down with bricks or other heavy items. Drain overnight in refrigerator.
2. Beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until creamy.
3. Whip 1/2 cup sugar with the 5 egg yolks until white.
4. Add the insides of 2 vanilla beans to the egg yolk. (cut in half and scrape inside out.) Chop the outside of 1 vanilla bean as finely as possible and add to egg yolk mixture.
5. Mix the butter-sugar mixture and the yolk mixture together.
   
   Add cheese and mix thoroughly.
6. Whip the whipping cream until firm and fold into above.
7. Line container of choice (wooden mold, clay flower pots or kitchen colander with damped cheesecloth.
8. Fill mold with cheese mixture, wrapping excess cloth over top. Make sure to place plate to catch drips underneath mold.
9. Refrigerate at least 6 days before you unmold the Paskha. Paskha should be firm to touch in order to hold the shape well.
10. Turn mold upside down onto decorative plate and gently pull the cheesecloth off.
11. Decorate with candied fruits, nuts, raisins or any other edible item you choose. Traditional decorations includes Christian symbols such as crosses, etc. This dish is only served during the Easter season in Russia.

Recipe taken from www.food.com

#7 Keep Calm and Easter is Coming

We celebrate Easter every year. 

But have we ever thought of how people celebrate this holiday in other parts of the world? 

I got interested in easter traditions of three exact countries: England, USA and France

England. 

For many people this holidays is even more religious than Christmas. Schools are closed for 2 weeks. The last Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday.  

Traditionally, people give each other hot cross buns and chocolate eggs filled with caramel.

Many citizens attend the evening Easter service that finishes at midnight. After the ceremony everyone congratulate each other on the end of Lent and the beginning of new life. 

Many churches are decorated with tree branches with swollen buds, narcissuses and painted bunnies. Traditional at Easter time people cook lamb with vegetables, bake Easter cakes, make different salads and dye eggs. In a Easter Period English people dance their famous Morris Dancing, where they are wearing costumes of Robin Hood. The most famous British Easter symbol is the Easter Rabbit, that can be seen everywhere in the shops and streets.

USA. 

On Easter Sunday American families obligatory visit church, where is held Easter service. The

Service is followed bib collective singing in honour of this holiday occasion. Traditional American Easter dinner consists of ham with pineapple, potato, fruit salad and vegetables. 

Children get a basked from the "Easter bunny" that in the early morning filled it with bright eggs, chocolate and sweets. 

In America there is a popular game named "Easter Egg Roll". The biggest competition is usually held in the South Lawn close to  White House. This year on Monday, April 21st, 2014 will be held the 136th  annual Easter Egg Roll. The event features live music, cooking stations, storytelling and many other activities. Thousands of children come with their Easter baskets, filled with bright painted eggs and roll them down the lawn near the president's  palace.

France. 

In this country Easter is a family holiday. French people make a tableful with traditional prays and gifts. 

At Easter time all french people necessarily go to church. In the Easter Sunday morning parents hide chocolate eggs in children rooms, and later children have to find them. It is a very old and funny tradition, coming from one generation to another. 

The main traditional dish is a fried chick. For dessert they serve cakes with chocolate filling. The main symbol of French Easter is a bell. On that day the bell's jingle can be heard from everywhere, which symbolises the continuation of life and fun.

#6 Keep Calm and Let Me Take a Selfie

    Nowadays hardly anybody does not know the word "selfie", except those who are really far from the  Internet or TV. At this moment millions of people in the whole world take selfies on their smartphones. Some people don't like selfies, but others became popular in the internet due to showy photos.  The photo, where a person takes a picture of himself is getting more and more popular in all social networks. Selfie - is a cultural phenomenon of the XXI century.

   Self-portrait genre has been known since a long time ago. Earlier it required several smart manipulations to take a picture of oneself, now it is just about to reach out a hand and press the camera  button on the phone. According to the research of the phenomenon, the word "selfie" appeared in Australia in 2002 on ABC forum.  Nowadays a selfie can be found on every social network, but perhaps it is more common in Instagram.

     As it turned out, not only ordinary people have a a temptation to take a picture of themselves but also the world leaders and celebrities. 

"Selfie" became more popular in the Internet after the Oscars Ceremony. 

The "selfie" taken by Ellen DeGeneres with such stars as Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep and others became the most popular photo in the history. 

In twitter this selfie was shared by two million users in less than 2 hours.

Another selfies that are famous all over the world:

Heaven selfie taken by the Pilot Of Swiss Air Force

Cosmic selfie by Akihiko Hoshide. 

Japanese astronaut took selfie ​in the open space, leaving the ISS, he picked the perfect angle with the sun glowing behind and Earth reflected on a spacesuit.