Blessing over the Easter Food
10am
Saturday, 30 March 2024
Sacred Heart Church
2 Richard Porter Way Pymble
In many Eastern European countries, it is a tradition to have a basket of food blessed on Holy Saturday. In Poland for example, the blessing of a sampling of Easter foods (known as a Święconka basket) is a practice dating back to the 12th century or earlier. The practice is still maintained by most families in Poland, and to some extent, in other countries on Holy Saturday.
This blessing is still found in the updated Roman Ritual, and is a wonderful practice. Many parishes around the world still participate in this custom of the blessing of the Easter food or baskets.
The blessings owe their origin to the fact that particular foods, namely, fleshmeat and milk products, including eggs, were forbidden in the Middle Ages during the Lenten fast and abstinence. When the feast of Easter brought the rigorous fast to an end, and these foods were again allowed at the table, the people showed their joy and gratitude by first taking the food to the church for a blessing. They also hoped that the blessing on such edibles would prove a remedy for whatever harmful effects they might have suffered from the long period of self-denial.
In the Pymble Parish, the blessing of the Easter foods or baskets will take place at 10am, Saturday, 30 March 2024 at Sacred Heart Church Pymble.
Święconka (the blessing of the Easter baskets) is the traditional Polish blessing of food for use on Easter Sunday. While the tradition varies from region to region and village to village, it is a tradition dear to the heart of every Pole. Today, this blessing takes place in church on Holy Saturday. The food items are placed in a wicker basket that is sometimes lined with an ornamental cloth or traditional folk fabric. The basket and contents is then covered with a linen cloth which should be white, but can have a colourful crocheted or embroidered design. The basket is decorated with sprigs of boxwood (bukszpan), the typical Polish Easter evergreen. "Polish Palms" created from dried flowers, can also be used for decoration.