Holy Week & Polish Traditions

Well, I intended to blog at the beginning of Holy Week, documenting all my plans for the week with an update on how my Lent and the Magnify reading was going. It is now Holy Saturday and I'm just getting around to it.

Holy Week is always an interesting time. I always get stuck between a strong desire to sacrifice more in the final days of Lent, while also, on the other hand, struggle with temptations to give in to little pleasures because it seems like it's been forever since I've eaten meat or had a glass of wine... To remedy this, I've busied myself with Spring cleaning for the past couple years in the days leading up to the Triduum. It's satisfying when completed and it allows my body to join the mind and the senses in preparing for the most solemn and sacred days ahead! 

There have also been many Easter preparations to tend to; one of my favorites being the Polish Easter basket blessing, (Święconka in Polish, but don't ask me how to pronounce it!) which took place this morning at the Cathedral in our diocese. 

It's a tradition that goes back to the 15th century! 

the only photo I managed to get this year...

All the food is traditionally what was eaten on Easter Day. The baskets are filled with different things that have a meaning behind them: ham, sausage, and bacon symbolize joy and God's blessings as well as relief from abstaining from meat all of Lent, butter is shaped into a lamb, symbolizing Christ as the paschal lamb, eggs for new life in the resurrection, horseradish for the bitterness of the passion, bread for Christ as the bread of life, salt reminding Christians to be the "salt of the earth", and a candle which symbolizes Christ as the light of the world, just to name a few. 

my baskets from last year

I've tried to make it a tradition to make an extra basket for a friend or family member. Last year we made one for my in-laws, this year we made one for our pastor. We never really did Easter gifts (besides Easter baskets as children) but there's something about this holy season that makes gift-giving feel necessary. 

The days that weren't spent at church or cleaning, I devoted to cooking and baking. Most of it had to be done before the blessing this morning. I did bake bread on Good Friday though, and it's something that I've really enjoyed the past two years. It gives me something to do with my hands, while silently considering the passion. Silence is another thing I've been thinking about. Yesterday we kept silent from 12 to 3, the hours of the Lord's passion. I'd never done that before. It was beautiful. It made me think of how important silence is in our lives. Not necessarily silence from everything, like children or nature, which will never be completely silent, but a silence of self and of worldly influence, music and YouTube videos. It's only when we're silent that we can truly hear God. And in this modern world it's so easy to just constantly have something playing in the background. Even good things like podcasts or religious music. As a homemaker, I have lots of opportunity for quieting the noise and working or resting in the quiet with God. I'll definitely be doing so more often. 

Tonight we get to attend the Easter vigil, which is my all-time favorite liturgy! If you've never been, go to the Traditional Latin Mass! The first year we went, I really didn't want to go because it was going to be long, longer than the Novus Ordo Mass which is already quite long... But I went! And although it was as long as I anticipated, it was absolutely amazing! The music, the light and darkness, the prayers and readings, everything was just wonderful! 

Well, I think I should make this a short and sweet little update. The next time I write, it will be Easter! I am so excited for the new season full of rejoicing and hopefully lots of fun home projects and homesteading endeavors!

May you have a good Holy Saturday and a Happy Easter Day!

Gina💕