Blessing of the baskets
Service celebrates traditions of the season for more than 100 years
While many made the last minute pilgrimage to a mall on Saturday afternoon for Easter eggs and bunnies for Easter Sunday, members of Cape Breton’s Polish community gathered instead in St. Mary’s Polish Church for their 104th annual blessing of the Easter baskets and Easter foods.
Everyone who came into the church was given a fresh tulip, a card and a copy of a program that included the words to special Lenten hymns that would be sung in Polish. In front of the church, before the altar, church members, many dressed in traditional clothing or wearing the Polish colours of red and white, laid dozens of brightly coloured baskets filled with special breads, spiced sausages, cheese, eggs, wine and yes, even those chocolate bunnies. According to Marjorie Ardelli, who handed out tulips to those who came into the church, having the Easter baskets blessed is a longstanding tradition for church members.
“The baskets are a Polish tradition,” explained Ardelli. “We have certain foods that we place in them and Father (Rich Philiposki) blesses them on the day of the Blessing of the Easter Baskets. Then the food is consumed Easter morning. We gather around breakfast and we share the food that has been blessed.”
Ardelli says she has always taken part in the ceremony, even as a child.
“My mother had us doing our baskets and coming down here since we were little ones,” she said. “It’s important because it’s part of our Polish tradition. It’s a very spiritual time and Easter is a very happy time. We’re celebrating Easter and the risen Christ.”
Philiposki said the tradition dates back to the 12th century and remains popular to this day.
“They’ve been abstaining from different foods during Lent and now they celebrate the joy of the resurrection and they enjoy partaking of these foods which are traditional to their diet,” said Philiposki. “The Ukrainian
people of Sydney as well do a similar thing. As long as this parish has existed, which is 104 years old, this has been celebrated every year on Holy Saturday.”
In addition to having their baskets blessed, parishioners were also encouraged to leave an item from their basket to be placed into baskets that would be taken to Loaves and Fishes as part of the parish’s ongoing commitment to community service.