In many European countries, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, there are various traditions surrounding the use of bread during the Easter holidays. Traditionally the practice of eating Easter bread or sweetened "communion" bread traces its origin back to Byzantium, Eastern Catholicism and the Orthodox Christian church. The recipe for sweetened or "honey-leavened" bread may date back as far as the Homeric Greek period based on anecdotal evidence from classical texts.
Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia and Ukraine
Kozunak, kulich, and paska
A
Kozunak is the traditional Easter bread in Bulgaria,
kulich is one of different traditional Russian Easter breads.
Kolach is a traditional Czech bread made at Christmas in the shape of a ring. Usually, three rings are stack on top of each other to represent the Holy Trinity. Ukrainian Easter breads are also called
Paska (not to be confused with a different dish, known as
paskha) where often a rich, white bread is served and decorated on the top with symbols, including crosses, flowers, braids, wheat, or other designs representing aspects of Orthodox and Eastern Catholic faith.
Romania and Moldova also have a traditional Easter pastry called Pască (the term Pasca is "Easter" in the Eastern Orthodox faith, similar to Pâques in French. It is derived from the Hebrew pesah). The Romanian Pască is made with cheese (and may also include fruits, nuts, or chocolate for decoration). It is usually found alongside another traditional sweet bread which Romanians make for Easter and Christmas called Cozonac.
Pinca and Poprtnik
Pinca is a variety of Easter bread popular in Austria, Croatia and Slovenia.
Poprtnik is a variety native to Slovenia. It is decorated with intricate floral designs and may also incorporate various symbols associated with Easter.
Syrnyk
Syrnyk is a quickbread with cheese (similar to a
cheesecake) that in Ukrainian Orthodox culture is often included in Easter food baskets which are taken to church to be blessed on Easter along with ham, sausages, relishes, chocolate, cheeses and other foods that were forbidden during Great Lent. The
quickbread dough is made with eggs and butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese, honey, walnuts, almonds, candied orange peel, cream and cinnamon.
Poland
Baba or
babka is a Polish cake made for
Easter Sunday,
but it is not to be confused with the Polish-Jewish
babka bread. A traditional
babka is tall and cylindrical, often baked in
bundt cake-type pan. It frequently contains raisins,
succade, or
orangeat, and may be iced on top. It is also made in the western parts of Belarus and Ukraine and is much sweeter than a
paska.
Germany
During the weeks before Easter, special Easter bread is sold (in
German language:
Osterbrot, ). This is made with
yeast dough,
raisins, and almond splinters. Usually, it is cut in slices and spread with butter. People enjoy it either for breakfast or for tea time (in German:
Kaffee und Kuchen, ).
Netherlands
The Dutch Easter bread is the so-called '
Stollen', a fruit bread with raisins and usually filled with
almond paste. It is the same type of bread also eaten as a
Christmas bread.
Italy
Casatiello
Casatiello (;
) is a
savory bread originating from Naples prepared during the Easter period. Its basic ingredients are flour, lard, cheese, salami,
cracklings, eggs and black pepper. The bread's name derives probably from the Neapolitan word
caso (Italian: cacio, 'cheese', hence
casatiello), an ingredient that is part of its dough.
Colomba di Pasqua
Colomba pasquale or colomba di Pasqua () is an
Italian cuisine traditional Easter bread, the Easter counterpart of the two well-known
Italy Christmas desserts,
panettone and
pandoro. The dough for the colomba is made in a similar manner to panettone, with
flour, eggs,
sugar, natural yeast and
butter; unlike panettone, it usually contains
Candied fruit and no
Raisin. The dough is then fashioned into a
Columbidae shape (
colomba in Italian) and finally is topped with
Nib sugar and
before being baked. Some manufacturers produce other versions including a popular bread topped with chocolate.
[ Chocolate version of Panettone] The colomba was commercialised by the Milanese baker and businessman
Angelo Motta as an Easter version of the Christmas speciality panettone that Motta foods were producing.
Pastiera
Pastiera is a type of Neapolitan
tart made with cooked
wheat, eggs,
ricotta, and flavored with orange flower water. It is usually eaten at Easter.
Various writers repeat legends about the origin of pastiera. One story connects it to the siren Parthenope, whom the Neapolitans thanked for her sweet singing by giving her ricotta, flour, eggs, milk, spices, and sugar; Parthenope gave these ingredients to the gods, who made pastiera out of it.
[Marlena Spieler, Neapolitan Culture, Cuisine, and Cooking, 2018, , p. 19–20][Pasquale Guaglianone, Il naufragio previsto. Principessa Mafalda: l'ultimo tragico viaggio, 2012, , p. 59] Another story connects it to a spring celebration of the goddess Ceres.
[Eli Rogosa, Restoring Heritage Grains, , p. 206–207]
Penia
Penia is a sweet bread that originated in rural Italy and is made during the Easter holiday. Ingredients include sugar, butter, eggs,
anise seeds and
.
Pizza di Pasqua
The pizza di Pasqua () is a
savory cake typical of some areas
central Italy, based on
wheat flour, eggs,
pecorino and
parmesan, traditionally served at breakfast on
Easter morning, or as an appetizer during Easter lunch, accompanied by blessed
,
ciauscolo and red wine
or, again, served at the
Easter Monday picnic. Having the same shape as
panettone, the pizza di pasqua with cheese is a typical product of the
Marche region, but also
(where, as a traditional food product, it obtained the PAT recognition). There is also a sweet variant, with
or without, sugar and a
fiocca, that is a
meringue glaze with sugar beads.
According to religious tradition, the pizza di pasqua should be prepared on
Maundy Thursday or
Good Friday to be eaten only at Easter, that is, at the end of the period of fasting and abstinence dictated by
lent.
Once ready, then, it was customary to bring the pizza di pasqua to the church, so that it would be blessed together with the other foods to be consumed on Easter day.
Sardinia
In
Sardinia, Italy, bread is a part of a wide social context. It is the most important food in Sardinia, as well as all over Italy and the
Mediterranean. "Bread is a nexus of economic, political, aesthetic, social, symbolic, and health concerns".
[Counihan, Carole. The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning, and Power. New York: Routledge, 1999] Bread is symbolic for life. A peasant proverb mentions, "Chie hat pane mai non morit — one who has bread never dies".
[ The Easter holiday is one where bread brings itself into the symbolic realm. Bread is significant for religious purposes. Luisa Fois described bread in her life after she was married and for the Easter holiday. The bread was made into a cross to represent the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Since they were married, they needed to eat it together. They would share their lives now, and they must share their "cross" together (their life's burden) as well. "Bread was a product of their union, and its shared consumption reaffirmed their interdependence".][ From this we gather that bread also displays a message, rather than being an item purely for consumption and nutritional purposes. Two kinds of Easter bread are described in Counihans article. One contained two points, and an egg covered with a cross. "The egg and the points that recall birds in flight speak of fertility, sexuality, and procreation — basic themes in Easter and its pagan precursors".][ The second bread was designed to have no overall shape, but was rather baked to encircle an egg, with the initials BP put on it. The initials BP stand for buona Pasqua or "happy Easter". "Letters rather than forms express meaning. Letters are symbolic of civilization and ... meaning".][
]
Types
See also
External links
