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EASTER CUSTOMES OF THE HOMELAND

Easter is the greatest Christian holiday, celebrating the central event of Christianity: the resurrection of Christ. Repentant prayers, processions, ritual fires, festively prepared meals and cakes and their blessing in the Easter basket, coloring of Easter eggs, Easter congratulations and giving and songs in honor of Easter. they are only part of the folk Easter customs.

Maundy Thursday is a memorial of Jesus ’last night. On Holy Thursday morning, the Mass of Consecration of the Oil (Missa chrismatis) is celebrated, at which the consecration (oil for holy confirmation) is consecrated, and the oil for the anointing of the sick and catechumens is blessed.

Good Friday is a Christian memorial of Jesus ’passion and death. On Good Friday, the Eucharistic (Mass) celebration is not celebrated. The altar is without a cross, candlesticks, flowers and altarpiece, to symbolize Jesus ’passion and death, and the faithful gather in the church to reflect on Jesus’ suffering.

For Easter, children play games that involve Easter eggs, such as: pounding Easter eggs, shooting Easter eggs with coins, searching for hidden Easter eggs in the house or in the grass outside the house, etc.

TRADITIONAL ORNAMENT DECORATION IN OUR HOMELAND

For coloring Easter eggs, natural colors were used, which were obtained from flowers, spices or vegetables. Red color was obtained by cooking red onion peels, and black from elderberry or soot berries. Greens were obtained from various herbs, most often from spinach, nettles or leeks. In addition to complete coloring, the egg could be smeared with wax, and only then painted. After cooking and painting, a layer of wax is removed.

Often the egg was wrapped in a cloth inside which some grass or leaf was placed, so that the egg would get an interesting decoration by the same procedure.

Another natural way to color eggs. Darker eggs are colored in red wine and purple cabbage and lighter in white wine and onion peels.

Raw eggs are stained with a needle placed on a wooden handle, usually made of laurel. This tool, called a pen, is then dipped in melted beeswax and used to write a message. Such a procedure is called penganje, and it is still used in the vicinity of Dubrovnik.