It's a two for one: Easter(s) in Moldova

Easter (or Paste in Romanian) takes a very special form here in Eastern Europe, it is much more of a celebration than the Easter we celebrate back home. It is by far the largest holiday celebrated in Moldova and so the preparation and execution is very unique. I had the great pleasure of getting to experience all aspects of Easter in Moldova with my host family and the community.

In preparation for Easter the house gets a serious cleaning. Now, you should know that people in Moldova take great pride in their homes, these homes are almost always immaculate but, even so, they must be cleaned even more precisely for the Easter celebration. So last week I helped host mom dissemble rooms of their rugs and curtains to be washed and hung out to dry, washed the windows, the walls, the floors, the door frames, the cupboards and shelves. If it was in the house, it got cleaned. We spent entire afternoons meticulously going through each room cleaning. I have never spent so many hours ironing curtains in my life. Finally after a long week of preparation it was time to begin food preparation.

I came home from work on Friday and found host mom in the kitchen with a giant bowl full to the brim with dough waiting to be kneaded out and filled with salty sheep's cheese and baked to perfection. The next morning was no different, I found host mom out in the summer kitchen (that had also gotten the full cleaning) cooking up all kinds of delicious dishes. A sampling of the dishes includes: sarmale (grape leaves stuffed with rice, chicken, and veggies), zeama (a homemade chicken noodles soup), pergiole (ground meat patties), racetori (the infamous chicken jello), clatite (crepes filled with sweet cheese), red-dyed eggs, and of course the national dish; mamaliga (a basic dish made of cornmeal and water). Again, this is just a sampling of the many dishes we had over the long weekend. Basically, we ate well.

Besides the tradition of cleaning and making tons of food there is also the tradition of going to church for an overnight service. This part I was very interested in taking part in. Saturday night finally arrived, host mom bundled me up in layers before heading out to the monastery in the cold and rain. We drove to the Hancu monastery, a famous monastery in western Moldova.

We stood in the wind and rain with our little candles extinguishing as fast as we could get them lit. I stood silently listening to the chanting of the monks and the singing of the gathered visitors. We stayed at the Monastery all night, 11pm until 4am. It was my first time staying overnight at a church service. The large basilica on the grounds is under construction but, the under belly is complete and serves as a chamber for prayer and reflection. We found solace in this underground cathedral during the night, it was filled with pictures of saints, the space lit by the soft flickering of little candles held in sand basins beneath the portraits. It was a quiet escape from the wind and rain and cold of outside.

The time finally came to prepare for the blessing, we gathered our baskets of food and placed them to be blessed by the priest. At about 3:30am the priest came around with his bundle of branches and slapped water on our basket. What happened next I found rather funny, after standing around all night everyone was in an awful rush to get home, the moment after the priest had finished slapping water on us we grabbed our things and booked it to the car. It reminded me of the ending of a concert or sports game, that mad dash to the car to get out before everyone else has congested the exit. And so, we booked it to the car, hopped in and sped off.

When we arrived home we sat down to a big meal. Now, after not sleeping all night all I really wanted was my bed. Of course that didn't happen, instead I sat down with everyone else and ate and drank until my belly was full and my mind was fuzzy. After, I slept.

The next two days were dedicated to eating and sleeping. ...but Easter doesn't stop there.

The following weekend we celebrated memorial Easter (or Paste blajinilor in Romanian). This holiday is celebrated by going to the cemetery where family members and loved ones are buried and honoring their life by sharing a big meal and having their plot blessed by the local priest. My host mom grew up in a village just outside of Nisporeni, Leuseni. So, this is the village we went to for the holiday.

The cemetery we visited was very old, more than 500 years old, it is probably the most interesting cemetery I have ever been to. It is now considered a 'closed' cemetery and so, it clearly sees less maintenance than most cemeteries in Moldova. This has allowed the forest to grow up over it and trees to have grown-in around the plots. The timing of the holiday is perfect for when the cherry trees are in blossom so the entire slope the cemetery is located on is decorated in delicate white blooms. This holiday comes from old traditions, and with each plot of graves is an old wooden table, eating with the dead has always gone head in head with the cemetery.

It was truly a beautiful sight to behold. Families clustered at old rickety tables covered in linens and food, plots covered in tulips and lit candles, big iron crosses towering over plots in some instances serving as arch-ways one must duck-under to get around, cherry trees in full blossom and birds whistling and swirling about after a long cold winter.

After a few hours of paying respects and chatting with family members we all sat down to a big meal. We all ate and drank, making toasts to the family members who have passed. Neighboring tables brought over wine, and more toasts were made in their families name. It was a really neat celebration to have been a part of, and quite easily my favorite holiday in Moldova.

Why have one Easter, when you can have two!