Memorial Easter (Pastele Blajinilor)

A week after the regular Easter holidays, Moldovans celebrate the Easter for the Dead, a commemoration of the lives of their deceased loved ones.  Families gather at the cemetery where a party atmosphere prevails as food, wine, and small gifts are spread out on the grave sites and on tables alongside.  While there is some solemnity especially for recently deceased relatives, all in all, family members drink their home brewed beverages and eat their traditional party food, all the while sharing stories/memories of their departed relatives.  It's all very colorful and pleasurable, not at all maudlin.  I'm reminded of the Chinese custom to visit their families' grave sites as well - Ching Ming which occurs in the third lunar month.  I noted a lot of similarities between the two cultures in terms of this particular observance.

We visited the cemetery on April 27, the one where Emilia's late husband is buried and some of his other relatives.  His son picked us up and helped us cart several bags of food, gift bags for the relatives, and other commemorative tokens for the grave sites.   Arriving at the cemetery we met lines of cars trying to enter the parking area, and throngs of people, walking in procession into the cemetery, laden with flowers and food baskets, making their way to their loved ones' grave sites.  Each family plot has fencing around it which makes the space more private for these gatherings but you can still socialize with the neighbors over in the next plots.

Grave of Emilia's late husband Vladimir

Each family in the clan brings food and we were all snacking on dishes brought by others.  It's also customary to share your food and drink with whoever comes by (strangers even) as you are honoring the deceased of that family.  It is considered impolite to refuse to drink with the family, so you learn to pace yourself when drinking alcoholic beverages, of which there is much.  The belief is that sharing the food with others is also spiritually feeding the deceased, hence the more food there is, the more bounty for their souls.

Besides the usual flowers laid over the grave site, bags of sweets (bomboane), a round bread loaf, placinta, and other foods are also placed there, along with a serving of wine and water.  Bags containing small gifts such as towels, handkerchiefs, and children's toys are also set down, which will be distributed to the appropriate guests and family members at the end.  Candles are inserted into the offerings and lit (until the breeze blew them out).

Dina lighting candles

Emilia poses with her stepson Vlad (left), cousin of her stephchildren Elena, stepdaughter Dina with Vlad's daughter Alina standing in front of her.  Emilia's sister-in-law Aurica and Aurica's son Vladimir as well as Dina's husband Maxim were also in attendance among others.

Tables overflowing with food

                            

Priest Nicolae blessing offerings to deceased

Priests make the rounds of the cemetery to offer blessings for the offerings being laid out for the deceased.  The Balti cemetery is the largest in the city and several priests are dispatched to ensure sufficient coverage.  Priest Nicolae was in our section, appearing around 11:30 to provide blessings to those families who wanted them.  He chanted some verses at each gravesite, swung the censer over the tombs, and recited prayers for the dead.  Emilia flagged him down and he performed those rites for the dearly departed in their family plot.  I took some video, which you can check out here:
http://vimeo.com/94226273?email_id=Y2xpcF90cmFuc2NvZGVkfDZiYzZjNGZjMmM4NGI3OTdkN2UxOTdkODk5OTA3MGQxODA5fDI3NzM3MDI0fDEzOTk0MDUyNDN8NzcwMQ%3D%3D&utm_campaign=7701&utm_medium=clip-transcode_complete-finished-20120100&utm_source=email

That closes out the Easter holidays in Moldova for this year.  During May, offices closed on May 1 (Socialists' Labor Day) and many will be closed on May 9, Victory Day when the Nazis surrendered to Russia after WWII.

June brings the new crop of Peace Corps volunteers to Moldova, and as I'm a mentor to two of the newbies, I'm sure I'll have some interesting things to report.  It's difficult to believe that I've been in-country for almost a year, experienced all the seasons!  I empathize with the new group coming in, who are asking exactly the same kinds of questions that I and my fellow M28s asked.  Summer will be fun!

Poftim!
Barbara

Paste (Easter) celebrations in the Eastern Orthodox way

In Moldova both Christmas and Easter are very big national holidays which are celebrated for more than just a day.  Because 95+% of the population is Eastern Orthodox, just about the entire country shuts down for these holidays.  I was looking forward to my first Paste here.

I spent an eventful 4-day weekend in Parcova, a small village in the raion (region) of Edinet about 55 km north of Balti.  My host "mom" Emilia grew up there, and her parents still live in the same house (over 50 years now).  Emilia invited me to spend the Paste (pah shtay) holidays with them and I was very enthusiastic to witness the traditional observances for this very holy of days.  Two days are observed, Paste Sunday itself and the Monday following.



We arrived Friday by noon at her parents', and Emilia immediately loaded up the refrigerator and stove with loads of prepared food dishes that she had cooked at home and transported there.  Her father Timofiu Turcan is a retired priest of the principal church in Parcova but still assists there.  Conveniently their house is right across the street from the cathedral.  Her mother Lidia tended the vegetable garden and home but her duties have diminished because farming is such a physically demanding endeavor. The house is charming but spartan, adorned with rows of beautiful red tulips in full bloom.  Both parents were very welcoming and caring individuals - they opened their hearts and home to me, just like Emilia did.


Home life
The house consists mainly of four rooms - off the entryway is the main salon, a smaller living room, a bedroom, and kitchen.  There is no indoor bathroom, neither is there an outdoor bathroom other than an outhouse. Like many other farm houses in the area built around the same time, cold water is retrieved from an outdoor faucet and heated when needed.  The rooms are extremely tidy (thanks to Emilia's visits).   A corner altar is situated in the main salon with the appropriate religious relics that you would expect a priest to have.
           

Sitting room

Hats for the priest

Colorful rug on wall

Preparing for Paste
The church is one of the more beautiful that I've seen in Moldova - it dominates the town and commands a good expanse of land.  The interior is adorned with multiple icon images and altars.

        

I was able to get inside the church before any activities started and took these photos.  They were preparing for Good Friday services which were going to start later that afternoon.

Returning to record the service, a procession was circling the church which commemorated Jesus' death on the cross and his entombment.

Emilia's father Timofiu is leading the small procession.  He has the most serene visage, and he actually stayed up all night on Easter morn but returned home for much needed rest about 5 AM. Although he's actually retired, he still helps out at the church when he can.

                                                                                  

      

Midnight Paste Service

The tradition is to attend church around midnight, and if you’re committed to the long haul, you stay throughout the night as the service continues with readings, incantations from the priests, chantings, and multitudinous signing of the cross from head to chest to right shoulder then left shoulder (opposite of Catholics), and even a few folks prostrating themselves and kissing the the ground before various icons. 

Emilia and I attended Paste midnight service for a couple of hours.  About 50 people were there, most standing since seating is not provided for all worshippers.  We happened to get seats, fortunately, and since I am a “senior”, it was perfectly acceptable.  We bought some candles, went up to various iconic images and I followed Emilia’s suit, lighting candles and placing them in the candle holder, bowing and signing the cross, and occasionally bending over the religious relic and kissing it.  A woman was reading from the holy book and every now and then the priest would come out from the back room, chant some verses, declare “Hristos a inviat!” (Christ has risen!), to which the parishioners would respond “Cu adeverat a inviat!” (Truly, he has risen!). 

Our food basket

We left the church about 1:30 AM with the services still continuing, and returned home to get a few hours of sleep, although once I’m up past my usual bedtime, it’s difficult for me to get to sleep, especially since I was also sleeping on the couch.  We arose around 5:00 AM, collected our food basket, and returned to the church to participate in the blessing of the food.  I was pleasantly surprised to see many more people (150 or so) who had arrived with their food gathering in a semi-circle in front of the church.  The night was cold but not frigid and there was no wind, and the stars were out – a serene, peaceful night.  People were chatting quietly but the mood was solemn.  Emilia’s brother Valeriu and his family gathered with us and we lit candles in our baskets.  It was a splendid sight, the row of people with their lit candles and food baskets gently lighting the silent night.  About ½ hour later, the priest came out, and more chanting and pronouncements were made.  Two men were holding a sheet, and two other boys were holding a collection box.  They passed along the line of people, the priest giving his blessings while the men collected portions of the food items in the sheet, and the boys collected money for the church.  Much of the food would be donated to the disadvantaged people in the community.  The final blessing came around once again, when the priest passed by the parishioners accompanied by a helper with a bucket of holy water.  Taking a large brush, the priest dipped it into the bucket and sprinkled the water on the baskets and the people.  Afterwards, everyone gathered their food baskets and returned home just as the sky was beginning to lighten up with the dawn breaking.  The first meal of the day comes from the blessed food from the basket.  People who had been fasting for 7 weeks (no meat, dairy, and fish) could now eat all they wanted of these foods, and indeed they did!

(Note: Unfortunately my camera was not functioning correctly during the midnight service and I couldn't retrieve the images that I took.  If I get it corrected, I'll post later :(  )

Scenes of Parcova

Parcova's casa de cultura and primarie

Beautifully ornate well

Foods

Moldovans have traditional food dishes that I have mentioned in the past which are eaten virtually at all celebrations whether it’s a religious holiday or a birthday.  There may be a new dish added to the mix, but usually the standby favorites are:  racitori (boiled chicken in aspic), salads (diced beets, potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, and other vegetables with mayonnaise; salted fish with a layer of julienne slices of potatoes and beets also with mayonnaise), sarmale (stuffed cabbage leaves), stuffed red and yellow peppers, pan-fried chicken fillets, pirjoale (ground chicken meatballs), vegetable platter, (tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, pickles), stewed pork or lamb dish (lamb is traditional for Paste), and of course, bread.  For dessert, there is an abundance of prajitori (baked pastries coated with powdered sugar), napoleon layered cakes, and cookies.  A Paste specialty also is a type of bread similar to pannettone, which was very tasty. 

 

After sleeping for a few hours, the family dining cycle begins and continues throughout the day.  We went to Valeriu’s house for lunch where we ate and drank much of the same food above along with house cognac and wine.  After returning to our house, we ate once again but I couldn’t eat more than just a small plate.  Emilia was preparing a few more dishes for the next day’s meal where Valeriu’s family in turn would be feasting at the parents’ house! 

One interesting tradition is “bumping” eggs.  Moldovans do dye eggs for Paste, but they stick with the color red, and I helped Emilia dye 30 eggs using the eggs from their own chickens, of course.  This dye is particularly deep red.  Unlike the American approach, water is boiled with the red dye, and the raw eggs are cooked in the dyed water.  On Easter day, guests take an egg and each takes turns to bump the other’s egg with the tip.  Whosever egg breaks, turns it over to the winner.  (Yes, my egg got cracked.) 

Bumping eggs

                                                               

Emilia and her wonderful, gentle parents.

I returned to Balti very satisfied with my first-hand experience of a Moldovan Paste.  One good outcome from my stay was that I had to speak more Romanian since no one spoke English.  I was able to get by and answered questions from the various family members whocould understand me reasonably well.  That was doubly satisfying!

This coming weekend is Memorial Easter where families commemorate their deceased loved ones with religious rites and feasts in the cemetery.   Maybe I'll have a story to share in my next blog.....

Noroc!