Does anyone remember this:

The Orthodox Bunny Cake

I always thought the Slavs would try to make a bunny out of cabbage leaves and piroghi.

Some days I have so much trouble during the Divine Liturgy. My youngest son found a recording he did of his dad serving the Liturgy. Such a treasure. My heart has always gone out to Penetheria ( sure I spelled that wrong), it must be terribly hard. I am so crying ight now.

Our human nature needs more than the assurance that some day and in some way we shall again meet our loved ones "in heaven." That is all gloriously true. But how does that help, us now? When we, then, view death in the light of the Communion of Saints and Holy Communion, there is no helpless bereavement. My loved one has just left me and has gone on a long journey. But I am in touch with her. I know that there is a place where we can meet. It is at the Altar. How it thrills me when I hear the words of the liturgy, "Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of Heaven," for I know that she is there with that company of heaven, the Communion of Saints, with the Lord. The nearer I come to my Lord in Holy Communion, the nearer I come to the saints. to my own loved ones. I am a member of the Body of Christ, I am a living cell in that spiritual organism, partaking of the life of the other cells, and sharing in the Body of Christ Himself.

There is nothing fanciful or unreal about this: Indeed, it is the most real thing in my life. Of course, I miss my loved one. I should miss her if she took a long holiday trip. But now. since she-is what some people call “dead,” she is closer to me than ever. Of course, I miss her physical presence bitterly. I miss her voice and the sound of approaching footsteps. But I have not lost her. And when my sense of loss becomes too great, I can always go to our meeting place at the Altar where I receive the Body and Blood of my Lord that preserves my body and soul just as it has preserved her unto everlasting life.

Do learn to love the Altar as the meeting place with your beloved who have passed within the veil. Here again the Sacrament is the heart of our religion. The Blessed Sacrament links us not merely to Bethlehem and Calvary, but to the whole world beyond the grave as well. For at the Altar the infinite is enshrined in the finite, heaven stoops down to earth, and the seen and the unseen meet.

Here we go! This is my first Easter lamb!

I've lived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country all my life.

For many generations the folks would dye eggs by cooking them either in red beet juice for red, or in onion shells for a deep chestnut brown.

On Easter Monday if a girl likes a boy she tosses some water on him. On Easter Tuesday if a boy likes a girl he tosses water on her.

When my husband and I were dating (my husband is of the same ethnic background) I tossed a shot glass of water on him and said Christos Voskrese. As soon as the water hit him I knew he had no idea what I did. When he got home later that evening he called his parents to confirm my story. his parents also laughed themselves silly.