Parishioners carry on longtime tradition of the Blessing of Easter Baskets

Continuing a tradition that dates back centuries in countries such as Poland and Ukraine, parishioners gathered at Holy Trinity Church in Lisbon Falls, St. Louis Church in Portland, and St. Mary Church in Bangor on Holy Saturday for the blessing of Easter baskets, known as Święconka in Polish.

Parishioners of all ages brought in Easter baskets filled with meats, breads, eggs, wine, chocolate, and other items that will be served for Easter meals.

“We bring an orange, salt, pepper. We bring Polish sausage and bread and eggs, and we also got this cake called a babka,” says Ania Slawiec, age 10, a member of St. Louis Parish.

The Easter basket blessing at St. Louis, which dates back more than a century, was led this year by Bishop James Ruggieri, the first time that longtime parishioners said they could remember the diocese’s chief shepherd joining them for the celebration.

“My dear friends, throughout Lent, we have been preparing for the resurrection of our Lord by prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. Our Lenten fasting is a reminder of our hunger and thirst for holiness, which is satisfied only by Christ, who feeds and nourishes us by his word and sacraments. When we gather at our first meal of Easter, may this food be a sign for us of the heavenly banquet to which the Lord calls us," the bishop said. "The baskets we bless this afternoon represent the mysteries of the Lord's Passion, death, and resurrection. Their contents are signs of God's goodness and of his generosity."

Many of the foods have symbolic meanings, which the bishop explained to those gathered in the St. Louis Parish hall.

“The baskets are lined with the cloth of the risen Lord. The bread we bless, itself having been kneaded and risen, is symbolic of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who gives his risen body as the bread of life. The salt we bless is a symbol of the spiritual prosperity we enjoy as sons and daughters of God. It is also a reminder to us that we are indeed the salt of the earth, called to preserve the holy faith that has been handed on to us and to season the world with this same Catholic faith. The eggs we bless are a symbol of the new life we receive from the one who is risen from the dead,” the bishop said. “The ham we bless is a symbol of the joy we share and the abundance of the grace that has been showered upon us. The kielbasa and other meats are a sign of God's incredible generosity, and the fish is a reminder that we are called, like the first apostles, to be fishers of men.”

In addition, horseradish is reminder of the bitter Passion of Christ, but chocolate and candy are reminders of the overabundance of his goodness and his sweet love for his people.

The bishop offered a prayer that the foods would grace "our tables, our homes, our families, and our lives," and he prayed that people would share the bounty they have received with others.

The bishop then walked around the tables full of baskets, sprinkling them with holy water.

More than 100 people participated in the blessing of the Easter baskets at St. Louis Church. Some who remember coming with their parents have now passed along the tradition to their children.

“I think it's really important because it is nice to just celebrate,” says Ania. “God's a really important part of your life, and you should celebrate him.”

“It’s good to have this tradition because it shows how much we care for the Holy Spirit and the Church,” says Jakub, age 16, Ania’s older brother.

After the blessing of the Easter baskets, some of the parishioners went upstairs to the church where they participated in the second day of the Divine Mercy Novena, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The prayers were led by Bishop Ruggieri and Father Seamus Griesbach, pastor of the parish.

While the blessing of the Easter baskets is a long-time tradition at St. Louis Church, Maine's only Polish-Catholic church, and at Holy Trinity Church in Lisbon Falls, an area home to a Slovak Catholic community, in Bangor, it is a new custom, only in its second year.

"Our parishioners are really embracing Święconka. It has become a very sweet tradition for our parish to share in,” said Kristen Jandreau, St. Paul the Apostle Parish’s coordinator of parish communications. “One family said that they made and brought two baskets to the blessing this year and would be delivering the second basket to a local family who recently had a baby.”

The ceremony at St. Mary Church was by Father Nyohnunfan Ndukong Kilian.