Blessing of the baskets is Easter tradition

AUSTINTOWN

In the wicker baskets they brought to Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Saturday afternoon, parishioners could put anything they wanted to be blessed for their Easter feast.

Deacon Nick Moliterno was getting ready for the 4 p.m. blessing as people were filing in and dropping their baskets off in the front of the sanctuary.

“This is a celebration,” he explained as he placed a white, tapered candle near each of about 15 baskets that were there — a blessing at 1 p.m. had drawn even more people.

“We’ve been fasting throughout Lent,” he said.

Now, on the eve of the most important day in Christianity, the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead and gave Christians eternal life, parishioners’ baskets represented the heavenly feast that awaits believers.

See what they brought in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.