Saturday, March 26, 2005
Parishioners bring elements of their Sunday dinner in a basket, and the priest blesses them in a service.
A S SHE HAS EVERY EASTER SATURday for 40 years, Jane Orlo is rushing into the Campbell church, a wicker basket on her arm.The people sitting around her at St. Joseph the Provider change from year to year; the priest celebrating the service this year was a toddler when Orlo brought her first basket into the church.
But the contents of her basket are the same year after year.
A candle. Horseradish. Butter. Eggs. Ham. Kolbasy. Cheese. Shakers of salt and pepper. In a separate basket, her son is carrying Orlo's handmade, saucer-shaped loaves of pascha, the traditional Easter bread.
The ritual is true to her Slavic roots, and it's a tradition she embraces.
"I can't even think of not doing this," she said.
Orlo and about 200 other parishioners gathered at St. Joseph on Saturday for the annual Blessing of Easter Foods, a tradition brought to the area by European immigrants. Two other Campbell churches, St. John the Baptist and St. Elizabeth, also held Blessing of Easter Foods services on Saturday.
Church members who have fasted during Lent bring elements of their Easter dinner to the service in a basket. The priest blesses the contents of the baskets, with specific blessings for everything from candles to meats, breads, dairy products, cakes, pastries and wines.
There's even a blessing for children and their candy-filled baskets.
Orlo, like many who worshipped with her Saturday, can't remember an Easter when she didn't bring food to church for blessings. As a child, she went with her mother; for the past 40 years, she's carried her own basket.
Now, the basket she brings is a family heirloom, a 100-year-old basket given to her by her mother-in-law. Even the bright ribbon on the handle has a family tie -- her mother-in-law put it there 40 years ago.
"We always do it the same," she said.
Familiarity
It's that familiarity that brings many people to the service annually. Beverly Mordocco, now of Canfield, lived in Campbell until she was in high school. She went to the Blessing of Easter Foods at St. John the Baptist 50 years ago with her mother. Now 56, she comes back to the Campbell church for the service each year with her daughter, Danielle, 17.
"I really do it for her," Mordocco said, nodding toward Danielle.
Mordocco is revisiting her roots, but with modern compromise. She goes to various bakeries to buy the traditional breads -- pascha and cheese-stuffed kolache -- and she places those in a basket filled with Danielle's hand-dyed eggs and a framed photo of her family.
For Gerrie Terek, homemade is the way to go. Her basket contains butter in lamb-shaped molds and cheese and bread she makes by hand. On Saturday, she came to church with her daughter and granddaughter, each with a basket lined up in a row on the aisle beside their seats.
The Rev. Michael Swierz has been blessing Easter foods for 20 years. His parishioners, he said with a smile, will happily go home and dig into the feast he will bless. He grew up in Poland, just a few miles away from his church, and the Easter Saturday tradition is one that he remembers warmly from his own childhood.
In Campbell on Saturday, families chat and greet one another warmly as they move into the sanctuary and place their baskets along the floor.
It's a tradition Ruby Peltz holds dear.
"There's too many sad things in the world not to come to the good things," Peltz said.