Almost four years ago (WOW!), I wrote about Traditional Romanian Food for Christmas and how my family celebrated when I was little. I also mentioned how have been doing it lately, in our “new” family.

With a couple of weeks until the Catholic Easter and little more than a month until the Orthodox Easter, it’s time to do the same and tell you some insights.

I was born and grew up in an Orthodox Family. I went from going to the Church almost every day during the week before Easter to going to the Resurrection festivity at Midnight on Sunday Easter to not going at all. Yes, we only visit churches as sights now.

Before Easter

Technically the eggs are colored on the Thursday before Easter. Practically, we always did them on Saturday. Most of the time, we colored them naturally with onion skins. Sometimes we used colors from the store. Traditionally, the eggs needed to be red.

At one point during my childhood, I even did eggs the very traditional way: “painted” models with heated wax and when you dunk the eggs in the hot color, only the not painted parts will color.

Good Friday was always a day of fasting. And again, for me it may have been fasting with toast and olive oil, eating potatoes salad or not bothering at all. I still fast, but I am a vegetarian nowadays so it’s not that hard.

Saturday was also the day when my late grandma would bake and cook. Traditionally lamb tripe (“drob de miel”), lamb sour soup, babka ( “cozonac” ) and a sort of a cheesecake (“pasca cu branza”) were cooked. I always hated lamb but seldom I’d taste what was made – and reminded myself fast why I hated lamb.

Resurrection Festivity

If we were going to the Church, when we came back home we would “knock” boiled eggs and eat them with boiled ham, along with radishes, scallions, and mustard.

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Easter Day Lunch

The meal always started with the appetizers. Boiled eggs, boiled ham, radishes, scallions, sometimes a salad would turn up on the table like eggplant salad.

We had to “knock” the eggs between us and say “Christ Has Risen” (the one who “knocked”) and “Indeed He Has Risen” (the “attacked” party). Technically you can collect all the eggs you broke. That was your loot. We would just eat them and keep the one which “won” (never got broken).

Following the appetizers was the soup. Lamb soup for those who like it; or chicken soup …for me. Or another sour soup maybe. But not lamb.

The second course was the lamb roast, again for those who liked it. With a side of mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes and some salad. For me, it mostly was chicken or turkey roast.

Dessert was the sponge cake and cheesecake, along with some other sweets. It really depended on what I was craving at the time because my grandma would always ask me what I wanted.

Trivia: Did you know that the proper way to greet fellow Christians for the next 40 days after Easter is “Christ Has Risen”? And the proper way to answer is “Indeed He has Risen”

Easter Nowadays

Since 2011, we celebrate both the Catholic and Orthodox Easter. So I color eggs on both occasions and I only do them in onion skins now. And sometimes I make some cupcakes at home.

Easter lunch does not have lamb as main dish. My parents still make lamb sour soup or lamb tripe at times but only for dad and grandma from dad’s side. Since mom, me and Alex pretty much hate lamb. So, various soups are made: chicken soup or some sort of a sour soup.

The appetizers are still the same with the exception of lamb tripe. Which, thankfully, is nowhere to be seen lately.

The second course is some sort of a roast, but usually chicken or turkey with a side of potatoes and a salad.

For dessert, various easy sweets show up on the table. It may be tiramisu, it may be cupcakes or cheese cake.

Vegan Easter

I’ve been a vegan since August 2017. This , of course, means our Easter meals have changed quite drastically. My extended family is not vegan, although they do enjoy vegan food.

Personally, each Easter, I’ve been preparing: vegan roast, hummus, eggplant dip, veggies soup, vegan cabbage rolls, and vegan babka. Sometimes I’d just buy some vegan filo with various fillings to bake.

The holidays are pretty relaxed and mostly a time to spend time with the extended family. Dad usually go to the church service on Sunday morning but the rest of us don’t (anymore).