ALL THIS WEEK: Christians won’t be observing major holidays, but this is a traditional period of ongoing celebration often called Eastertide or Paschal Time. In these weeks leading up to the Christian holiday Pentecost, believers are supposed to keep Easter joy alive.
One flavorful way millions of Eastern Orthodox families mark these weeks is with Kulich, a traditional Easter bread that typically is baked in a coffee can. Kulich may be blessed by a priest during the Easter service, and the blessed bread is eaten before breakfast each day while unblessed Kulich is eaten for dessert.
Most Kulich is decorated with white icing, flowers and two letters, “XB.” The letters stand for: Христос воскресе. That’s Church Slavonic, a liturgical language in many Orthodox churches, for the words “Christ is Risen.” If that’s not your language and you want to check out other ways this Eastertide greeting is voiced acround the world, Wikipedia has a long list of translations.
The traditional Kulich recipe is quite complicated and time-consuming, but this version from RecipeZaar is a bit easier to handle.
(By ReadTheSpirit columnist Stephanie Fenton)
(NOTE: To see more short articles about upcoming holidays, festivals and anniversaries, you can click the “Our Magazines” tab at the top of this page and select “Religious Holidays.”)
