Russian Easter display in Australia
April 11, 2008
The Russian Orthodox Easter exhibition will be on display at Fairfield City Museum and Gallery until April 27. The exhibition is part of the Rituals and Traditions series.
With such a multicultural community, several festivals and holidays are celebrated, but Fairfield City Museum and Gallery is paying tribute to the Russian Orthodox Easter. For some Christians, they may see Christmas as the most important celebration, but for the Russian Orthodox, Easter is the most significant period of the year.
As part of the Rituals and Traditions series, the Russian Orthodox Easter has a dedicated exhibition in the museum. It is the fourth exhibition of the series, with Ramadan, Christmas and Lunar New Year already commemorated. The latest exhibition includes artworks, clothing and intricately patterned Easter eggs, a symbol of birth and resurrection.
Photographs by local photographer Danny Huynh will be on display, illustrating the ritual transition from Great Lent to Holy Week to midnight mass. The exhibition was officially opened by Father Boris, from the Cabramatta Russian Orthodox Church, on March 8. The exhibition is now in its final stages, ending on April 27 at corner of The Horsley Drive and Oxford Street, Smithfield, Australia.
Lamb for Greek Easter
April 11, 2008
Lamb is the meat most associated with Easter. In the Greek Orthodox religion, lamb certainly plays a central part in proceedings.
After the traditional midnight mass on Holy Saturday, congregations will eat mageiritsa, a soup made from the liver, lungs, heart and intestines of a lamb - with wild greens, herbs and an egg and lemon sauce thrown in for good measure.
Then, on Easter Sunday, they will burn an effigy of Judas on a bonfire and gather to roast a lamb on a spit. The resulting dish is called arni pashalino tis souvlas. The Greeks will also eat tsoureki, a sweet Easter bread baked on Maundy Thursday, braided into long loaves, laced with orange zest and black cumin seeds and then studded with hard-boiled eggs that have been dyed red. The bread’s origins go back to Byzantine times and it has remained more or less unchanged since.
