Lviv, Ukraine – The day before of the most important Christian religious holiday of yearUkrainians clung to centuries-old Easter traditions in shadow of war that brought devastation and sorrow too much of the country.
In the Greek Catholic Church of Transfiguration in historical city center, line of parishioners stood next in the wicker baskets they brought, covered with embroidered canvases and filled with sausages, smoked meats, Easter cakes, butter and cheeses for consecration by the priest.
This ritual was celebrated all over Ukraine, in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches that follow Julian calendar and will celebrate Easter on this year on Sunday.
The food was destined to be eaten in gourmet Easter breakfasts after Mass on Sunday.
Other residents carried Easter baskets along the cobbled streets. on them way in the church of every denomination that is on the center line market area that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As air raid sirens wailed, cafes closed their doors and group of street musicians took rest from folk music they were playing on traditional Ukrainian string instruments.
At a nearby intersection, some residents laid bouquets of flowers at the feet of a statue of The Virgin Mary, next to piles of white sandbags designed to protect the statue from bombing. Insofar as start of war, churches sheltered religious statues in protective packaging and boarded up stained glass window windows.
Russia, which also predominantly Eastern Orthodox, rejected calls from Ukraine and the United Nations this week for easter stop-fire.
While most Ukrainians and Russians are Orthodox Christians, longstanding tensions between church leaders in two nations deepened in last years. Church in 2019 in Ukraine, which had been subordinate to Moscow since 1686, gained independence.
Russian airstrikes have killed at least seven people this week people in Lviv, but city was spared the most of raging battles in East of the country for in past two months. hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians found refuge here or passed through on in way to Poland, etc. countries.
At the central station of Lviv, volunteers presented out Easter sweets for displaced persons children arriving from other cities. One family who got treats walked for five days with there are four children from the devastated southern port of Mariupol on them way relative safety of western Ukraine.
Many Ukrainians said they stick to their traditions in in face of the pervasive sadness and fear that war has brought.
“This year not much happiness in peopleface and eyes,” said Miroslava Zakharkiv, an English teacher at the college. “Many people mourn, many men gone to the front.”
Ms Zakharkiv, 48, said she did traditional Easter cleaning of her home in village near Lvov. She is also baked Easter bread and prepared food for serving in basket for consecration in the church.
“We hope that there will be no bombs or alarms, but one knows what’s going to happen, so we’re a little scared,” she said.
For many of displaced persons, war also meant separation from the family.
Anna Mukoida, 22, said it was first Easter she would spend away from her family, who stayed in Belaya Tserkov, a city 50 miles south of the capital Kyiv, and she herself fled to the southwest city of Chernivtsi.
In spite of danger and uncertainty, many Ukrainians were determined on to tradition.
“Easter in time of war like sun on rainy day,” Ms. Mukoida said. “It is very important now that such days just feel alive and remember that there was life before the war.
Neonila Vodolskaya, 22 years old, was also displaced. She stayed in west city of Kalush, far from her family in Kyiv. To ease the pain of separation from her family she said she bought a white shirt with traditional dark red embroidery wear on Easter.
“Now I fully understand the importance of preserving such traditions,” Ms. Vodolskaya said. “Do something ordinary, celebrate something that reminds me of in good times, of my childhood gives me hope.”
In most parts of country, the curfew remained in place over Saturday night, when many Christians traditionally hold vigils and celebrate Midnight Mass. in memory of those who waited on Holy Saturday from Christ tomb. Instead of many people planned to watch mass on a television.
“We must understand that the assembly of citizens at a predetermined time of night service may be the goal for missiles, aircraft and artillery,” the Ukrainian ministry said. of The defense said in statement on Saturday morning.
In Lviv, the authorities initially announced curfew to be lifted but then reintroduced after receiving intelligence that pro-Russian saboteurs may be planning attacks in in city.
Previously in a week, head of Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius, asked the clergy to refuse nightly Easter services in areas of a war-torn country for fear of Russian bombing.
“Not hard believe that this will actually happen, because enemy trying completely destroy us,” he said in television speech.
