Home preparation for Easter. Holy Week - how to spend Preparing at home for Easter by day of the week

Everyone loves Easter, regardless of the strength of faith. On this festive day, the sun sparkles and plays in a special way, the house smells of baking and goodies, the tables are bursting with treats, the rooms sparkle with cleanliness and delight the eye with festive decorations, relatives exchange gifts, and joy and enlightenment rejoices in everyone's soul.

Easter: preparation for the holiday, what you need to do

But this joy was preceded by the most difficult week of preparation for Easter - Holy Week.

And difficult, first of all, in the spiritual plan. However, the period of spiritual preparation for Easter coincides with the time of important household chores. How to manage everything, how to properly prepare for Easter, so as not to miss the most important thing, so that household chores do not overshadow the most important thing - a full-fledged spiritual and physical cleansing, which allows you to restore the original harmony.

Let's try to prioritize what needs to be done during Holy Week.

Try to attend at least one service, preferably several.

Forget about resentment and irritation. Whatever you do this week, do it with joy in your soul. Therefore, you have to follow your emotions.

Make time for your loved ones and family.

Not only to the closest ones with whom you live together in the same house, but also remember your sisters, brothers, and maybe parents, good old friends. Just give them a call and chat.

Apologize for the insults, and forgive the offenders yourself.

There are unfinished business or unfulfilled promises, think about what can be fixed before the great Easter.

But it is better to refuse stupid communication. And not only because chatting on the phone and correspondence in social networks takes a lot of your time, but in order to stay with yourself for a while, think, comprehend, and pray.

Don't forget good deeds. Take care of other people. And you can help those in need not only with a certain donation or financial support, but also with a kind word, participation, and a smile.

If you set yourself up in a positive mood, it's time to think about how to beautifully prepare for Easter: make new decorations, pick up gifts, prepare an Easter basket and set the festive table.

Only with faith in your soul and spiritual peace you will be in time for everything, you can do everything. Do not spray on trifles, prioritize, and even better, make a plan for preparing for Easter by the days of the week. Or use our tips, which were collected specifically for the Zatusim website.

This calendar will help prepare for Easter for those who do not depend on the work schedule and try to strictly adhere to church canons.

A list of all the services that take place during the Holy Week before Easter will help simplify planning.

The time that is free from visiting a church or a temple is distributed to perform household chores.

Great Monday

Morning. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is held in the church. Therefore, we do not plan household chores in the morning.

Day. The day is dedicated to cleaning and repair work. Earlier on this day, the architraves, the ceilings in the house were whitewashed, the yards were cleaned, and minor repairs were made.

Today, on Monday, you can do work that requires time and physical costs associated with the order in the house.

Wash windows and chandeliers, sort out things in closets, put away winter clothes and shoes.

Evening. So that the last days of the week are not loaded with household chores, some housewives are on Monday, Tuesday. Sweet pastries are perfectly preserved for a long time. They say that Easter cake baked with soul will remain soft for up to 40 days.

Therefore, you can safely put the dough on Easter cakes in the evening, which we will bake on Tuesday.

Maundy Tuesday

Morning. We leave for the church, where the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be held.

Day. After the service we go shopping. You need to purchase products for the festive table, decorations, gifts, as well as paint for eggs. Upon returning home, we start baking Easter cakes.

Evening. Preparation for Easter can be devoted to needlework. Make new home decorations, DIY gifts for relatives. Be sure to involve the children in this exciting process.

Great Wednesday

Morning. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served in the church for the last time.

Day. Preparing the house for Easter: doing a general cleaning.

According to church canons, the name Maundy Thursday has nothing to do with restoring order.

Therefore, you should not go in cycles in the fact that the cleaning in the house needs to be done on this particular day. It is desirable that by Thursday your house is already shining.

Evening. Confession before Easter in the church.

Maundy Thursday

Morning. The church hosts the liturgy of Basil the Great, as well as the memory of the Last Supper.

Evening. Matins of Good Friday begins in the church yesterday, during which the 12 Passion Gospels are read.

Those who bake Easter cakes at the end of the week put a dough for baking. This can be done after the service.

Morning. Many people bake Easter cakes and paint eggs on Friday morning. If the pastries are already ready, put the cottage cheese Easter.

Day. After 14:00, Vespers begins, during which the Shroud is carried out.

Evening. Great Saturday Matins begins, during which the Burial of the Shroud and the procession take place.

Holy Saturday

Morning. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the church. Immediately after the service, the coverage of the Easter meal begins.

Important! Baskets can be blessed throughout the day. The consecration will continue on Sunday.

Day. Getting the house ready for the holidays. We carry out light cleaning, decorate the premises, prepare gifts. Don't forget to buy fresh flowers. This can be done on the way home from church after the morning service.

Evening. Getting ready for the Easter service, which starts at 23:30.

It is always much more difficult for working women to make plans. And to give unequivocal advice on how to prepare for Easter with your own hands, in this case it will be incorrect.

In that case, you will have to start preparing in advance, without leaving all the important things for the last week.

10-14 days before Easter

At least two weeks before Easter, you can draw up a menu, write a list of necessary products, think over gifts. Put all plans and lists on paper. This will make it easier to navigate in the future.

At the same time, you can gradually start preparing at home for the holiday. Do not put off for the last week such things as cleaning winter clothes, putting things in order in the kitchen, in papers, in closets.

7-8 days before Easter

Even the windows can be washed and the curtains washed on the Saturday before Palm Sunday.

Make big purchases directly on Saturday or Sunday. Given that it is on weekends that various traveling fairs are held, where you can buy high-quality farm products, without which good pastries simply won’t work: Easter cakes and Easter, it’s better to buy everything these days.

5-6 days before the holiday

On Monday-Tuesday, finish all major cleaning work, and start preparing jewelry and gifts. Think of activities for kids. Let them also make crafts that can be used for home decoration or gifts.

On Tuesday, check if everything is ready for baking Easter cakes. Take out the molds, check the availability of products according to the recipe, check for powder, decorations, baking paper and other little things. Immediately check the availability of ingredients for coloring eggs.

On Wednesday, buy all the missing little things for baking Easter cakes. Be sure to plan a route and make a list so you don't forget anything.

In the evening, wash baking dishes, prepare dried fruits, peel nuts. If you plan to bake Easter cakes on Thursday, soak dried fruits.

Try to finish cleaning the house, especially things that require male help.

On a clean Thursday morning, it is better to start with a shower before dawn. Immediately put the dough for Easter cakes. After work we bake.

And let the family help to finish the cleaning: wipe the dust, vacuum, wash the floors. If there are no assistants, you will have to do the cleaning in between baking.

On Good Friday, it is better not to plan household chores. A good reason to visit the church. Moreover, on this day the Shroud is taken out, and the procession takes place.

And in the evening you can paint the eggs. Some housewives transfer the baking of Easter cakes on this day.

We do cosmetic cleaning in the house and decorate it. It remains to make purchases of perishable products: meat, fish and vegetables, fruits.

We make blanks for holiday dishes and fold the Easter basket. If everything for the Easter basket is ready, you can visit the church to bless the products. But many prefer to attend church directly on Easter.

It doesn't matter in what order you do your homework. Various prohibitions, such as baking Easter cakes on Good Friday or cleaning the house before Maundy Thursday, have no basis.

Do not worry that you do not have time or did not do well enough.

After all, Easter is, first of all, a celebration of the triumph of life over death, compassion over indifference, good over evil.

Therefore, devoting the entire week of preparation for Easter to a marathon of cleaning and cooking is not worth it. It is better to do less things, but keep your peace of mind and good mood.

Believe me, if you don’t have time to wash the windows before Easter this year or cook 2-3 dishes instead of 15, the holiday will come anyway. Learn to live in harmony with your inner world and see the beautiful, believe in miracles and receive spiritual satisfaction from life. After all, this is what the great feast of the Resurrection teaches us.

How to prepare for Easter: video

The video material tells about the great path to the culmination of the Lenten feat - Easter breaking the fast:

” a press conference was held on the topic: “Holy Week. How to properly prepare and spend Easter. The conference was attended by: Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, rector of the home church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov; Vladimir Romanovich Legoyda, Chairman of the Synodal Information Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. Nadezhda Ruslanovna Raeva, head of the nutrition supervision department of the TUFS department for supervision in the field of consumer protection and human well-being.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov spoke about how Passion Week goes

- The week that has begun is called in the language of the Orthodox tradition the Great or Passion.

Holy Week, bearing in mind the Slavic meaning of this adjective, is most accurately translated into Russian as a suffering week, a week of suffering. This is passion not in the sense of the passion of passion, but passion in the sense of suffering, suffering, torment, what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ on the eve of Easter almost 2000 years ago.

In the worship of the Orthodox Church, each of these days is highlighted separately, but in general they can be divided into several cycles. For the first three days (Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday), day after day, we go almost by the hours of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, while highlighting several key points. Yesterday it was about the drying up of the fig tree, the tree to which Christ approached, saw that it did not bear fruit, and predicted to him that it would wither. The interpreters of this place, the holy fathers, say that this was a very important action. Christ showed the people around him that He, as the Son of God, can not only do good, but can also punish. But at the same time, being a philanthropist, he chose not a person for punishment, which he could do, but a soulless creation - a tree.

The second moment, which is especially remembered these days, is a sinner woman who, having bought precious oil and sat down at the feet of the Savior, anointed his feet with this oil, preparing him for a future burial. We can say about such a curious moment associated with the place. We are sometimes reproached for gender chauvinism, which is not in Orthodoxy, the woman occupies a secondary place.

It must be said that for a number of the most important Holy Week in the divine service, very important hymns were written by a woman, the nun Cassia, who lived in the 9th century from the birth of Christ. The main hymns of the Great Wednesday were just written by this nun.

Wednesday is the day of remembrance of the betrayal of Judas, the closest disciple of the Savior, who, nevertheless, bears in his heart the plan to commit this villainy. For all the significance of the first three days of Holy Week, the next three are undoubtedly the most important.

Maundy Thursday is the day when Christ, together with his disciples, both for them and for all who will bear the name of Christians in the future, establishes what will become the center of the life of the historical Christian church for two thousand years and will be such as we believe throughout the history of the earth. The Sacrament, which is called the Eucharist in Greek, or in Russian translation - Thanksgiving. It is called differently - when, under the guise of bread and wine, a Christian unites with God himself in an extremely real way, becoming one with him not only spiritually, but also bodily. This is a great gift of God, which is perceived by the entire Christian historical tradition not only as the center of Christian worship, but also the life of the church in this earthly world, and this event is associated precisely with Thursday. This day is also called Maundy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday.

About some superstitions that in the popular mind accompany church tradition, but are in no way connected with it

- There is a strange, sometimes for some reason replicated idea that Pure (Great) Thursday, when you need to wash everything.

The development of thought is easy to imagine, but no special day beyond the bath, in which you definitely need to immerse yourself in bath foam and also do a general cleaning of the house, is not implied. Church tradition does not presuppose concentration on everyday life either on this day or on the following days, but directly warns us against overestimating everyday preparations.

The evening of Holy Thursday is associated with the service, which is also very famous, including in the Russian literary tradition, repeatedly described in classical works, this, or service, where the sufferings of Christ are remembered in sequence - at this service, 12 passages from all four evangelists are read in sequence, then the narrative Holy Scripture, which tells about the events of the earthly life of Christ from Thursday evening to Saturday morning, when he was already in the tomb. And these 12 passages are called the 12 gospels. This, I repeat, does not in any way mean an increase in the number of evangelists or the introduction of some kind of apocrypha into worship. This is a very significant service, just like the Thursday morning service, to which everyone who is somehow aware of themselves as church Orthodox Christians is called to participate, and, of course, those who do not recognize themselves as church, but strive to join the church tradition are also invited.

Holy Easter coming next Sunday for Christians - fasting and not fasting - is a whole week of holidays lasting until Tuesday of St. Thomas' week, when it is customary to commemorate the dead and visit cemeteries on Radonitsa. Preparations for Easter begin on Great (Clean) Thursday.

It is customary to make all preparations for the Easter table on Thursday of Holy Week, when people go to confession, receive communion and listen to the reading of the 12 Gospels. On this day, the house is cleaned for the last time, the windows are washed and the table is prepared. But if you didn’t have time, don’t be upset, but hurry to prepare everything in the remaining days.

The dough for Easter cakes is "long", they put it the night before, lower it several times in the morning, let it rise and start baking. From the many recipes, choose the one that suits you, but remember a few tips. Close all the windows - this dough is afraid of a draft. Oil for Easter cake cannot be heated, it can only be rubbed. When adding nuts and raisins, wash them, dry them, roll them in flour, and then put them into the dough. Put the whites in the freezer for two minutes, and then beat by placing the container on ice.

For Easter cake, you need a form made of thin tin, which is filled 1/3 for a "light" cake or 1/2 for a "heavy" cake. Such forms are usually passed down from generation to generation, since there is no industrial production of them. Some people use tin cans - their edges need to be made smooth, and it is important that the tin is not corrugated and without a plastic film inside. The jars are coated with oil, an oiled circle of paper is placed at the bottom, and dough is placed on top, allowed to stand warm and put in the oven. When the cake rises, it is pierced with a thin wooden stick to check the readiness, and shaken out of the mold.

You can use an unenamelled aluminum high pan made of thin tin - its height should be twice the diameter of the bottom.

Some bake so many Easter cakes to last for a week. Easter cakes are distributed to the poor, given to neighbors and relatives. Properly baked Easter cakes do not get stale and do not deteriorate, they are decorated with icing, sprinkled with millet dyed with beets, laid out with candied fruits and nuts, crosses or the letters ХВ ("Christ is risen!") and placed in wooden chests. In the absence of a chest, you can store Easter cakes in a box, pots or jars, the main thing is to let the Easter cake cool down under a towel first.

If you buy Easter cake, look what it is made of: it must contain yeast (and not soda, baking powder, improver, or anything else). Easter cake is supposed to be "heavy", with nuts, candied fruits and raisins, his hat should not move on one side, and his decorations should not be poisonous flowers. It is better to buy the "correct" Easter cake and decorate it yourself than to buy the work of an unknown confectioner in a dazzling package.

Cheese Easter is also prepared on Maundy Thursday. Experienced housewives make cottage cheese themselves, others buy it in the market. It is important that the cottage cheese is crumbly - "cool" - and not sour. The finished Easter is placed in cheesecloth and hung up for a day so that the serum is glassed, or in gauze they are placed in a special pyramidal pasochnik - a form of four planks. If you got such a beanbag from your great-grandmother, you are lucky. You can try to look for them in rural bazaars south or east of Moscow, you can order from carpenters, but for this they will need a sample. If there is nothing, do not despair. On Saturday, put your Easter on a pyramid-shaped plate and decorate. Easter can be made from cottage cheese mass (not in a paper wrapper, but in foil, with raisins, and not with other additives). Put nuts, candied fruits and raisins in it at least half a day in advance - they will take away excess liquid.

Paper flowers are sold at the entrance to temples, Easter candles are usually red, waxy. But you will have to paint the eggs yourself - or rely on gifts.

Eggs should also be taken care of in advance - diet eggs from a store with an indelible seal will not work for you; Preferably white rather than dark. It is best to buy them on the market - they have a stronger shell, and they themselves are fresher and tastier than the combine ones. By this time, you should have collected dry bright red onion peel (from about three kilograms of onions). In a low and wide pan, this husk should be boiled, and then the eggs should be very carefully lowered into boiling salted water (not from the refrigerator - otherwise they will crack). The color depends on the duration of cooking - from bright yellow to dark ocher. Eggs should be cooled in water, wiped and brushed with vegetable oil for shine. You can roll wet eggs in rice, wrap with gauze and cook like that, you can just wrap them tightly with threads - a white pattern remains on the shell. Food coloring should not be trusted, but stickers, decals can be used. You need to glue with food adhesives made from starch or protein.

Eggs are usually laid on sprouted oats, wheat or watercress. True, this should have been taken care of on Sunday. You can’t buy this green grass, you can replace it with lettuce or dill, but if you have time, put it on dishes, decorate the edges with paper flowers and lay out colored eggs.

On Bright Week, eggs are "rolled" - they compete to see who breaks the shell of whom. The winner takes the broken egg for himself. If you have preserved special slides-grooves in your family, then your duel will be more interesting. In any case, eggs are not just eaten - they are exchanged, they are given, they are treated, they are sacrificed. Giving an egg, they usually say "Christ is risen!" in memory of how Mary Magdalene came with the good news of the Resurrection of Christ to Emperor Tiberius and gave him a red Easter egg. If the person answers "Truly risen!" Feel free to kiss with a triple brotherly kiss. For many shy people, this is generally the best way to discover their feelings.

Kissels, jelly, special figured gingerbread in the form of lambs and birds are prepared in advance for the Easter table. They make paper flowers, Easter cards and cards for seating guests.

It is necessary to consecrate Easter cakes, Easter and eggs on Saturday - not all that you have prepared, but a part, taking into account the fact that you will donate to the parish meal to the poor.

It is not customary to sit down at the table before the procession - it is announced by a particularly joyful bell ringing. Lighted candles are carried home from the procession. This is another custom - to compete who will inform. Candles are not thrown away, they are not stuck to the fence of the temple, but they are thrown into special baskets for cinders. The Easter table is laid on a white tablecloth, Easter cakes, Easter cakes and eggs are placed, all the lights are lit. Before breaking the fast, according to the old custom, many people drink a spoonful of vegetable oil. First of all, they taste kissels and fruit drinks. Easter cake is cut, Easter is spread on it. Mayonnaise is now served with eggs, although this was not the case in the old days. After they eat aspic, jelly, cold goose, veal, lamb, boiled pork. Hot and fish, as a rule, are not served.

Sharply lean on meat in the night meal should not be at all. In the old days, meat was not put on this pre-morning Easter table. But from Sunday, during the entire Bright Week, the table should be laid, on which wealthy people keep 40 dishes (according to the number of days of fasting), hot and cold, for guests who visit each other, congratulate, christen and move on. Neither invitations nor special gifts are allowed on Svetlaya. In the villages, men still visit on Mondays, and women on Tuesdays.

And the last. Every year, the Fathers of the Church vainly ask the Orthodox for three things: not to go to the cemetery on the very first Sunday, not to stick candles to the fence of churches, and not to put glasses on the dead. While in vain.

Easter is one of the brightest and brightest religious holidays. Easter should be celebrated in the family circle with all relatives and children. Easter must be ready. The main element of physical and spiritual preparation for Easter, of course, is the Great Lent that precedes it. Easter is the long-awaited day of the end of the fast, when any food is allowed, you can celebrate and have fun.

Easter traditions

The Easter holiday has more than 2000 years and is the day of the resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ, as many people know. However, the meaning of Easter for most people has long been lost, and people celebrate this day as another in a long line of holidays. Many, out of inertia, bake or buy paska, paint eggs, without thinking about what lies at the basis of these traditions, but because it is customary and everyone does it.

Easter was considered one of the most massive and popular religious holidays. A seven-week strict fast, spent in restrictions, reflections and prayers, ended with the Easter holiday, when nationwide festivities were announced. All-night church services, the religious procession on the holiday were held brightly and solemnly, and all believers, without exception, were present at them. People consecrated dishes specially prepared for Easter and then served them on the table. On Easter, people necessarily christened and congratulated each other on the Resurrection of Christ. They said "Christ is Risen" and heard in response - "Truly Risen", while exchanging triple kisses. Today, this tradition has been preserved, and even non-believers congratulate each other in this way.

Palm Week - the time to prepare for Easter

The last week before Easter is called Palm Sunday. The last Sunday before Easter has the same name. On this day, believers took willow branches with them to the service and consecrated them in church, and returning home they “beat” their relatives with branches and said something like this: “I don’t beat, the willow beats, in a week it’s Easter; grow big like a willow, healthy like water, rich like earth.” The tradition of holy willow originates from the biblical legend about how the Jews 6 days before his execution met Christ in Jerusalem with date palm branches in their hands. The date palm is also called the Jerusalem willow, which is why the Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday. From time immemorial, among our people, willow has been considered a holy and beneficial tree: it blooms early and transmits its strength and health to people. Sprigs of consecrated willow were laid behind the icons in a place specially designated for them in the house. Many beliefs are associated with the consecrated willow. So, it was believed that the willow has magical powers. If a branch stuck in the ground sprouted, then there will be a wedding this year. It was considered a good omen to plant a consecrated willow near the well - the water will always be good and healthy. The branches set fire to and fumigated the house with it from all evil spirits and misfortunes. Also, on St. George's Day, cattle were driven out to pasture with a willow. Sick and weak children were bathed in the willow, they drank a decoction from it in order to recover. The willow was brewed and washed with a decoction on Maundy Thursday before Easter to cleanse itself.

Palm week was also called pure or white. At this time, they prepared the house for Easter, cleaned the windows and walls, whitewashed and painted the facades, laid carpets, hung elegant curtains and towels, set the table with the best tablecloth. Special towels were hung on the icons - “imaginatives”. Parents prepared gifts for their children: for girls of marriageable age - jewelry or some new thing, and for kids - sweets, whistles, honey gingerbread.

Pure Thursday

The last Thursday before Easter is called Pure or Holy. It used to be customary to cast three wax candles - the Trinity - to. Some families do this even today. One candle was intended for the sun, the second - for the deceased relatives, and the third was placed for the happiness and health of the living. At the service, a candle was lit and the lit one was carried home. Such a candle was called passionate. Not bringing a lit candle home was considered a great misfortune. A passionate candle was used for several years in a row, and every year the candle "acquired" more and more strength.

On Maundy Thursday, it was customary to wash, bathe, put on clean clothes and put yourself in order for Easter. Children were bathed before dawn, the girls washed themselves in a stream, lake or river, even went into the water in their clothes. If the whole week passed under the sign of literal purity and preparation for the holiday, then Maundy Thursday assumed spiritual and symbolic cleansing.

On Thursday, preparations began directly for the celebration. It was, and still is, the main day for baking paska. The last day is Saturday; on Good Friday, baking is prohibited.

Good Friday

This is a day of remembrance of the execution and death of Jesus Christ. The entire Christian world on this day is grateful for the atonement of sins and mourns for the torment and death of the Savior. On Good Friday, you cannot work, sew, bake, clean, or engage in other worldly activities. This day should be dedicated to prayer and spiritual deeds. People visit the church, where the shroud is kept for three days, and kiss it with their lips.

Saturday is the last day of preparation for Easter. Housewives prepare food, pack baskets for the consecration of food in the temple, bake paska and color eggs. Previously, the whole house was decorated with special Easter napkins and bouquets of flowers, which symbolized resurrection and new life.

Easter cakes were baked in pre-Christian times. The round shape itself had a sacred meaning. The egg and the rounded top of the paska were symbols of fertility and the beginning of life. But the tradition of baking Easter cakes has survived to this day, and many housewives bake lush muffins with a round hat for Easter and decorate it with elegant icing. However, the traditional pasca (or easter) is not baked. This is a cottage cheese dish, which was prepared in the shape of a pyramid and with the letters ХВ on it (Christ is risen). Various spices, nuts, candied fruits, raisins, eggs and cream were added to the pasca. Pasca was made small, because it was impossible to store them for a long time, they had to be eaten quickly.

Each family has its own traditions of preparing for Easter and celebrating it. Some housewives bake Easter cakes, others buy them, some paint eggs using edible paints, others, together with their children, stick colored stickers with pictures on the eggs. Someone makes hand painting, and someone uses an old recipe for dyeing eggs in onion skins. The House of Soviets will tell you about such old recipes for coloring eggs.

Mistresses began to collect onion peel long before the Easter holiday. In order to color the eggs, all the collected husks were poured with water and boiled for half an hour. Then raw eggs were put into the boiling broth and boiled for 10 minutes. In the same way, eggs were dyed with beetroot juice, red cabbage, blueberries and turmeric. To better fix the color, the eggs had to cool in the same broth. The cooled eggs were dried and wiped, and then smeared with oil to make the egg shine. They also carved various patterns on paraffin. To do this, the egg was wrapped with thread, filled with paraffin, and patterns were cut out, after which the egg was wrapped in cloth and boiled in a natural dye. Of course, food-grade paints give a faster and brighter result, the color range of paints is almost unlimited, however, eggs dyed with natural dye look much more beautiful and natural.

The main decoration of the festive Easter table is, of course, elegant Easter cakes and bright, multi-colored eggs, beautifully laid out in pretty baskets and plates. Colored eggs look very beautiful on bright green grass, which you can specially grow for Easter on your windowsill. Choose a deep dish of a suitable shape and size, fill it with earth and mix it with grass seeds, wheat or oat grains. Pour the mixture with water to the consistency of liquid mud and keep warm. Soon the seeds will germinate and the sprouts will begin to reach for the sun. Rotate the plate so that the blades of grass grow straight. As a result, by Easter you will have your own small green lawn, on which you can arrange eggs in a picturesque way.

Do not be lazy to decorate Easter cakes, even if you just bought them. Put a cross on the white glaze, sprinkle with colored sugar. By Easter, a lot of ready-made figures of angels, chickens, bunnies, flowers, crosses and other attributes and symbols of Easter are usually sold, which are tasty, edible and will look beautiful on your Easter cakes. Use these little helpers. You can also insert small bright candles into glazed hats. Passes will look attractive and original.

What other symbols of Easter will help decorate the table and house for Easter:

• Candles are a symbol of light, place them in Easter candlesticks and light them;
• Easter still lifes and Easter baskets;
• The Easter Bunny, the main symbol of Catholic Easter, is already actively used in our tradition of celebrating. It is quite possible to seat such a fluffy in the most prominent place.
• Decorative eggs: painted, pasted over with rhinestones, beads and beads, sheathed with braid, fabric and lace, carved from wood and cast from colored glass. All this beauty can transform your home.
• Easter wreaths, nests and trees with birds, decorated with ribbons and flowers;
• Fresh spring flowers: tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, hyacinths.

To consecrate food in the temple, prepare a convenient basket, cover the bottom with colored napkins and carefully lay out the food. On Easter, it is customary to give small gifts to children and relatives: usually these are small Easter eggs, eggs, postcards, figurines of birds and rabbits, Easter wreaths and decorative baskets. You can buy ready-made cardboard boxes, put a small paska there and decorate beautifully. Attach a flower, a butterfly, a sugar bunny or a chicken on the edge, and any child will be delighted with such a gift.

editor-in-chief of the site "M.Vkus"

Holy Week (“passion” - suffering in Church Slavonic, - ed.) is also called White or Pure - this is a time of spiritual purification and prayer. These days it is not customary to have fun, conduct loud conversations, sing and laugh. Everything should remind of the last earthly days of Christ, of how he was betrayed by one of his disciples, of his trial and of his martyrdom. The six most severe days of the year should prepare us for Easter, the day of the Resurrection of Christ, the oldest and most important Christian holiday. This holiday and the traditions and customs accompanying it did not disappear even in anti-religious times. It turned out to be so firmly inscribed in our culture that even non-believers, sometimes without knowing it, follow these traditions. Today we will recall the most basic of them.

Monday

On the first day of Passion Week, which follows Palm Sunday, you need to start preparing for Easter - clean up the house, get rid of old and unnecessary things, and repair the broken. Make sure that cleaning does not become an overwhelming task. To do this, you need not to deviate from it during the day - the only way you can complete what you started. Be sure to involve household members in cleaning - a common cause brings the family together and allows you to work much faster. Choose a cleaning scheme: either put things in order in each room separately, or do the same type of work in the whole apartment at once: for example, wipe the dust or remove scattered things all over the house at once.

Tuesday

On this day, restoring order in the house continues: you need to wash, iron and sort out things. It is worth preparing clothes for the solemn service, it is advisable to choose a red outfit, because red is a symbol of life.

Trying to have time to do everything in one day, remember the rules for safe washing. Do not overload the washing machine: it is worth laying laundry, taking into account its maximum capabilities (remember that this indicator is indicated for cotton fabrics, you can fill the tank halfway with synthetics, and with woolen fabrics- only a third). Ironing clothes and clothes can be helped not only by an iron, but also by a steam generator or a steamer: about gadgets that simplify the care of clothes,.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, the last garbage and unnecessary things are taken out of the house, preparations for the Easter table begin. On this day, it is worth buying all the necessary products, including eggs, flour, dried fruits. Choose a way to dye Easter eggs: traditionally, those made with the help of are considered the most beautiful. Before painting, the eggs must be washed well, and the water for cooking should be strongly salted. Onion skins give a rich yellow to red-brown color, beets or blueberries give a beautiful light red color. Turmeric (seasoning) will turn bright gold, spinach or nettle - bright green, red cabbage - deep blue. After staining, be sure to smear the egg with vegetable oil: this will make the color bright and the surface glossy.

Thursday

Thursday is called clean - it is believed that the water on this day has healing properties, so you must definitely wash yourself and clean up the house again. On this day, they begin to cook Easter cakes and paint eggs. The dough for Easter cake loves warmth and the absence of drafts, it is better to use live yeast for dough, with them a heavy dough (it will be made like this by a large amount of butter and eggs) will rise faster. To achieve a beautiful golden hue, use fresh village eggs with an orange yolk and add a little turmeric to the dough.

Friday

Good Friday is the saddest day of Holy Week. On this day, it is not customary to work at home and cook - all the forces of a person should be directed to prayer and spiritual work. This is also the strictest day of Lent - ideally, you need to spend it without food, on water alone.

Saturday

At the end of the service in the church, the dishes of the Easter table are consecrated: Easter cakes, eggs, Easter. The latter is also prepared on Thursday: the dry, plastic Easter does not spoil for more than a week. On this day, they decorate the house and prepare for the celebration: they lay eggs on the “Easter hills” from sprouted oats or wheat (recently we have grown decorative greenery for the Easter table), arrange Easter decorations: wreaths, bouquets, prepare tablecloths, arrange cutlery and dishes , put fresh flowers ( about decorating the house for Easter).

Sunday

You can start the meal after returning from the church: they eat the egg and a piece of Easter first, then they start the rest of the meal. The Easter table is rich in a variety of meat dishes, so desired after Lent. Previously, in wealthy families, more than forty dishes were served on the table, according to the number of days of Great Lent. Meat dishes should be cooked "without blood", that is, well fried or boiled, as dishes cooked "with blood" quickly deteriorate and cannot be prepared in advance. Easter is a holiday of great joy, kindness, light, after a meal it is customary to visit, congratulate friends and neighbors, exchange colored eggs, the main symbol of the holiday.

The week following the Holy Week is called Easter: for seven days it is customary to congratulate each other, treat guests with Easter cake and Easter. The Easter week is devoted to fun and joy: it was customary to celebrate the wedding on Krasnaya Gorka - the Sunday following Easter, it was believed that this would bring happiness to the newlyweds. After the onset of Easter, spring is considered fully included in its rights.