On Holy Saturday morning, in the midst of a driving rain, hardy parishioners of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish, Avon, and some equally hardy visitors, toted baskets filled with the foods they planned to serve on Easter to church for a blessing.

In doing so, they joined a growing number of faithful around the diocese who have, in recent years, warmly embraced a tradition followed by generations of mainly Slavic Catholics who have their Easter meal sanctified in hope that God will bless their homes with goodness and mercy during this season of Resurrection.

According to custom, the foods in those baskets were rich in religious symbolism: there were eggs, a reminder of life and rebirth; sausage, ham or kielbasa that were included because all types of pork, forbidden under the dietary code of the Old Testament, are acceptable because the coming of Christ exceeded the old law.

The centerpiece of every basket was a Paschal lamb which would also be the focal point of the table memorializing Christ as the “Lamb of God.”  According to time honored tradition, it could be fashioned out of butter, cake or even plaster.

Bread would be included to represent Christ as “the Bread of Life.” Vinegar, a reminder of the gall given to Jesus at the Crucifixion; wine, symbolic of Jesus’ blood sacrifice, and horseradish or pepper, symbolizing the bitter herbs of the Passover, would complete the contents.

Many of those elements were tucked into the baskets placed before the altar in St. Elizabeth where Father Daniel Gowen, pastor, sprinkled holy water on them and called upon God to bless the contents.

Indeed, the basket brought by parishioner Helen Ilek, contained all the ingredients including a beautifully sculpted butter lamb created by Ilek herself. There was also some fresh farmer cheese, something always included in her Ukrainian family.

“It was an Easter tradition,” she said.

Ilek said that she brought the tradition with her when she moved from North Jersey to Avon. “I couldn’t get out of the habit,” said Ilek, a Byzantine Rite Catholic. “When I came here, I began coming to St. Elizabeth and I asked father if he would bless my basket and he was happy to.”

The baskets of others at the blessing ceremony reflected a happy mix of American tradition. Some, including LaVerne Kay, filled their baskets with sausage and the like but also included Italian comestibles. One basket was filled to the brim with a large ham to be baked and potatoes.

Looking on, Vickiann Klish and her daughter, Victoria, who had a mix of foods in their basket, said they thought that bringing the foods in for a blessing was a very nice tradition to keep on Easter.

Father Gowen agreed saying it was a way to “unite the physical community of the Church with the home. You come to church and bring your foods and then bring them home again. It’s a fine way of saying that the home is also the Church.”