Blessing of the Graves

O and I drove up to Edmonton today for the annual Blessing of the Graves for Russian Orthodox Easter. It's where Orthodox Christians in Canada celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday - kinda. The Orthodox Christian date for Easter Sunday, also known as Pascha, is often at a later date than the Easter date observed by many western churches. This happens due to the fact that we follow the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian. Orthodox Easter tend to jump around a lot but Ukrainian Christmas stays put. I don't question it. I just show up - to both events!

Another tradition observed in Orthodox Christian churches is the blessing of food baskets.  The baskets are usually filled with bread, cheese, meat, eggs, butter, salt, and other types of food. The baskets along with flowers and candles are placed in front of the loved ones' graves and wait to be blessed by the Father of the Church. Once the food has been blessed and the ceremony complete, we hang out and have a bit of a tailgate party.

Whether you believe in God or not, it's a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon while paying respect to both family and traditional life ways.