What time do Easter cakes begin to be blessed on the Saturday before Easter?

When does the blessing of eggs and Easter cakes take place?

The most appropriate time to bless eggs and Easter cakes is the Easter service. The festive service takes place in the church on the night from Saturday to Sunday and ends at approximately three o'clock in the morning.

Of course, for many people this is very late, so there is nothing wrong with coming to the temple not in the evening, but on Easter day and blessing the food. This must be done before noon - after all, the celebration begins early in the morning, and during the day it is better to be at home and congratulate each other with a joyful greeting: “Christ is risen! Truly risen!”

It would be useful to know that consecrated food should not be thrown away. Therefore, you should not take a lot of food in the basket.

Making Easter cake

To prepare Easter cake, you don’t need to be a chef; the simple recipe can be easily mastered by an ordinary housewife. Step-by-step Easter cake recipe.

Pour a glass of warm water into a large container and add a packet of dry yeast. Add a glass of flour, mix thoroughly and put in a warm place for half an hour.

Melt and cool 100 grams of butter. Add four chicken eggs, half a teaspoon of salt and 160 grams of brown sugar. For a pleasant aroma, you can add a couple of teaspoons of vanilla sugar. Pour 120 ml into the resulting mass. 20% cream, beat everything thoroughly with a whisk.

Gradually add 500 grams of sifted flour to the resulting liquid mass; the dough should be thoroughly kneaded until the dough comes away from your hands. Let the dough rest for a couple of hours in a warm place.

Fill special cupcakes or cake pans halfway with dough and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. You can easily check the readiness of the baked goods using a toothpick; if it remains dry, it’s time to remove the baked goods.

After cooling, each cake can be decorated with powdered sugar or poured with sugar syrup. If desired, you can add nuts, raisins and candied fruits to Easter cakes; this will give the cake a more subtle and original taste.

What time do Easter cakes begin to be blessed on Saturday?

You can come to church to bless eggs, Easter cakes and other holiday food on Saturday, the eve of Easter. So, people often go to church on the morning of Holy Saturday with Easter baskets.

On this day, they begin to bless food in churches from 11-12 o'clock until 21 o'clock , that is, before the start of the Easter service.

In many churches you can also come on the following days during Easter Week (Monday, Tuesday). In any case, it is better to inquire in advance about the operating hours of a particular temple.

So, in many churches they post a schedule in advance: what time, at what time and at what hour does the consecration of holiday food begin. The corresponding schedule can also be found on the information board or on the church website (for example, here is the schedule indicating when Easter cakes can be blessed in churches in Grodno, Belarus):

Methods for dyeing eggs

There are a lot of ways to paint eggs (more than 30). The most interesting and popular methods are highlighted.

1. Onion shells give eggs a rich, classic brown color. The color saturation is controlled by the volume of the peel.
2. Turmeric is used to produce yellow color.
3. A decoction of cranberry juice gives it a bright pink color.
4. The beige color is achieved by boiling it in ground instant coffee.
5. Ready-made food colorings.
6. To get a design in the form of inclusions, wet eggs are sprinkled with rice, wrapped in gauze and sent to the dye.
7. Patterns are obtained using ready-made stencils, dill or parsley leaves. They are glued on and then the eggs are boiled in dye.
8. Rubber bands help get lines on the shell.
9. A beautiful design is obtained using wax. The required elements are applied with a molten composition, and then kept in a non-hot coloring composition.

On a note!

To add shine to the shells of painted eggs, after cooling they are rubbed with vegetable oil.

Anyone can get beautiful, original Easter eggs if they use their imagination and spend a little free time.

Easter is an important holiday for Orthodox believers. Prepare for it in advance. The main symbols are Easter cake and beautiful eggs. Since ancient times, they have believed that if you follow all the rules and traditions, then the current year will be successful and favorable for a person.

Is it possible to consecrate eggs and Easter cakes at home?

The consecration of eggs and Easter cake in the temple is a solemn preparation for the holiday. Although many people do not come to church, it is right to go to the temple and fulfill the ancient tradition.

Every believer can come to church on Easter, or at least ask a loved one to do it instead. It is important to understand that these products are not just food, but real symbols of the bright resurrection. The egg represents life, rebirth, and the Easter cakes are the image of the body of Christ.

Well, after everything is ready, you can come home and sit down at the table. Usually in churches there is a religious procession at midnight.

Afterwards they solemnly announce that Easter has come, and from that moment on you can eat the blessed Easter food. The holiday begins and Lent ends.

Rite of Consecration

You decide to go to church on Easter to bless food before the meal, then collect a basket. Be sure to put in it:

• Easter cake Bake it the day before on Maundy Thursday or on Holy Saturday just before the celebration;
• colored eggs. Paint them on Thursday;
• cottage cheese Easter prepared the day before;
• black salt. Previously, it was baked in ovens, but now this is rare.

Place all the products in a wicker basket, place the eggs in a container, the shells should not be broken during transportation. When you arrive at church, purchase a candle or bring your own from home. At the end of the service, leave money for a donation to the temple. You don't have to put in a large amount, give as much as you can. Do not refuse beggars who ask for alms near churches, Easter is a good holiday, so show mercy and be responsive.

If you take a child to church with you, give him a small basket of food, he will be interested.

Products not suitable for consecration

Not all people know that it is forbidden to bring alcoholic beverages into the shrine, even church Cahors. No priest will bless it for you, because it is sinful. There are no prayers for blessings on drunkenness. You cannot sprinkle meat, sausage, cheese and other foods with holy water, so do not take rash steps. Take only the main symbols of the holiday to church, there will be enough of them.

The meaning of Easter cake and Easter

Kulich marks the presence of the Son of God in your home. This symbol has been around since ancient times. Jesus came to his followers during lunch, the disciples waited for him and, in honor of veneration, placed a piece of bread in the center of the table. When Christ was crucified, his followers preserved the tradition, which has come down to our generation. Only instead of bread, the dough became sweet, with various fillings.

Easter, unlike Easter cakes, is made from curd mass. It has the shape of a truncated pyramid, which symbolizes the tomb of the Lord. It identifies the resurrection of the Son of the Lord and his suffering before death. You can insert a candle into the center of the Easter cottage cheese, and carve the letters “ХВ” on the sides, which means the phrase “Christ is Risen!”

The meaning of eggs

According to legend, after the death of Christ, his follower Magdalene came to the ruler of Rome himself to tell about the imminent resurrection of Jesus, and brought him a boiled egg as a gift. The emperor accepted the gift, but did not believe the woman and became very angry with her, and at that time the egg in his hands changed color to red, as if it had been dipped in blood. This meant one thing: Christ is Risen.

Boiled eggs symbolize rebirth to life, and they began to be painted several centuries ago. Each color has its own specific meaning, blue color is a symbol of heaven, gold is wealth, red is reverence and faith, and white marks a bright beginning, bliss. Nowadays there are special dyes, stickers and even coloring kits for painting. Involve the little ones in an interesting activity; they will learn about traditions and learn how to make drawings on shells.

Performing the ritual at home

If you are sincere in your feelings to God and share the joy of the celebration, you can consecrate the food at home yourself. You will need a church candle, holy water and oil. Read the pre-dinner prayer, bless your family members and yourself for eating, light a candle and pray again. When the candle burns out, sprinkle the sweet bread with eggs with holy water, perform the anointing and begin the meal.

What to do when you don’t remember prayers by heart or say them uncertainly. It’s okay, find any blessing for eating food in the prayer book and read it out loud. When the ceremony is completed, cut the Easter cake, knock your eggs and enjoy the food. You cannot throw away the remains of consecrated foods; eat everything to the end, and give the remaining crumbs to birds or animals. Happy Easter, peace and goodness to your home!

Be sure to read what other Easter customs and traditions exist.

What other products can be blessed on the Saturday before Easter?

Of course, believers may be interested not only in when Easter cakes and eggs shine on Easter. People also ask: Can other foods and drinks be illuminated?

The Church does not prohibit parishioners from lighting, for example, meat, wine, and meat products. You can also put salt, seasoning, and a piece of cheese in the Easter basket. You should not take alcoholic beverages for consecration.

The corresponding commentary is given by Hieromonk Job Gumerov:

The tradition of consecrating Easter cakes in the temple allows a person to tune in to the bright waves of the holiday. It is no secret that a special atmosphere develops in a congregation of believers that can hardly be felt at home. That is why you should definitely visit the temple on such a day.

Proper cutting of Easter cake

According to tradition, Easter cake is cut crosswise into round slices, the resulting bread rings can be eaten in any order, without touching the very top of the cake, it is left until the last piece of the cake is eaten, and only after that you can enjoy the top of the bread. A separate cake is baked for each family member, which should be completely eaten. Orthodox Easter cake has a light structure, which facilitates rapid absorption after long-term abstinence from heavy foods.

Transport work in Moscow on Easter night

Transport work in Moscow on the night of Easter usually changes: the metro and MCC usually accept passengers until 2.00, and buses run until about 3.30.

Photo mos.ru

But if believers living far from the church do not leave immediately after Easter Matins, but stay until the end of the Liturgy, you should not rely only on public transport. It’s a shame to nervously look at your watch all the time instead of praying. And even more so, it’s not the best option to celebrate Easter - tired and hungry, waiting for the metro to open far from home or facing unplanned expenses on a taxi. So it makes sense to think about alternative ways to get home, calculate your finances, or choose a not-so-distant temple for night worship.

What are the restrictions during the holidays?

During the blessing of Easter cakes this year, it will not be possible without support measures aimed at combating coronavirus infection. The authorities have recommended that those at risk of infection, as well as people who have recently returned from abroad, not go to church during the Easter service.

The Russian Orthodox Church said that they had introduced sufficient measures to protect those people who would come to the service. But at the same time, the church asks people to stay at home if possible, since now most services will be broadcast over the Internet.

Subject:

• Russia
• Church holidays