Easter basket

An Easter basket is a special basket used in Easter celebrations. Easter baskets are typically filled with Easter eggs, food, toys, or other gifts depending on one's culture. As many people give up sweets as their Lenten sacrifice, individuals receive them in their Easter baskets after having abstained from them during the preceding forty days of Lent.[1]

Croatian Easter basket

Traditions

United States
Marshmallow rabbits, candy eggs and other treats in an Easter basket

In the United States, an Easter tradition involves the Easter bunny dropping off a basket of candy for good children overnight. Children leave a basket out overnight which the Easter bunny fills with candy, toys, and gifts on the night before Easter, and children wake up to find their Easter basket. Easter baskets are also used in Easter egg hunts, in which children try filling their basket with Easter eggs. [2]

Poland

In Poland, Święconka or "the blessing of the Easter baskets" is a central tradition on Holy Saturday. [3] The tradition dates back to the 7th century in its earliest form.[4] The basket is traditionally lined with a white linen or lace napkin and decorated with sprigs of boxwood (bukszpan), the typical Easter evergreen. Baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to church to be blessed on Holy Saturday. After the blessing, the baskets of food are then set aside until Easter morning.[3]

References
  1. Shoda, Richard W. (2014). Saint Alphonsus: Capuchins, Closures, and Continuity (1956-2011). Dorrance Publishing. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-4349-2948-8.
  2. Coleman, Marilyn J.; Ganong, Lawrence H. (2014). The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications.
  3. "The Treasured Polish Custom of Swieconka". Polish American Cultural Center. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  4. Ks, Marian Pisarzak MIC. Błogosławienie pokarmów wielkanocnych. Kontekst paschalny i postny. op. cit. Błogosławieństwo pokarmów i napojów wielkanocnych w Polsce. Studium historyczno-liturgiczne. Warsaw 1979, p. 378. [przypisy tamże]
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