Easter in Ukraine

From: Olenka

To: Jane

Subject: Easter in Ukraine

Hi, Jane!

Thank you very much for your letter. It was very interesting for me to read about Easter traditions in your country.

In Ukraine Easter is one of the most important holidays for many people. Traditional Easter egg is called pysanka - it’s a symbol of this holiday. Palm Sunday, the week before Easter, is known in my country as Willow Sunday. People bring home willow branches. They bless them in the church. This week all the people prepare for Easter. The Thursday before Easter is called Clean Thursday. The house must be clean on this day. Good Friday is the day when the women of the family bake “paska”, Ukrainian Easter bread. On Saturday children paint Easter eggs to add to the Easter basket. It also includes pysanka, salt, sausage, cheese, butter and ham.

In the evening people go to church for the Easter mass, which lasts all night. Easter Sunday is a day of singing songs and eating. Young girls dance and sing about nature and spring. People exchange pysanky.

All in all, Easter is a merry holiday in Ukraine. I’ll send you some pictures next time!

Best wishes

Olenka

Willow - |’wɪləʊ|  верба

branch - |brɑ:n(t)ʃ| гілочки

bless - |blɛs| святити

bake -  |beɪk| випікати

last - |lɑ:st| тривати

exchange - |ɪks’tʃeɪndʒ|   обмінюватися