Easter is the time of the Christian year when Christians remember the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus, who they believe was the son of God, died for everyone's wrong-doings and then came back to life three days later to defeat death and evil: so if you believe in Him you will live forever in Heaven.
In Ukraine Easter has been celebrated over a long period of history and has had many rich folk traditions.Ukrainian Easter is a historical combination of heathen and Christian traditions. Velykden was celebrated thousands of years ago as the victory of the Light over the Dark, Day over Night, Spring over Winter. The Resurrection was celebrated only from 988 when Kiev Rus was baptized. For some time these two systems coexisted, for some time it was forbidden for people to follow heathen traditions, but later the church decided to use in its Easter ceremony the heathen customs like painting eggs and backing Easter cake. Easter cake and painted eggs (‘Krashanki’) are the symbols of Ukrainian Easter and obligatory food on the table this day. On this Day Ukrainian kids play their favorite Easter game: knocking the eggs. If you knock somebody’s egg and you egg is not broken than you are the winner.
