Polish parishes bless Easter foods

By Tanya Connor
 The Catholic Free Press

Local Catholics, and those in Poland, kept a centuries-old tradition alive last weekend – despite the coronavirus here, and there. Because of virus-related restrictions, priests at Polish parishes in the Worcester Diocese blessed baskets of Easter foods outside or online this Holy Saturday.
“We bless the Easter baskets because in Poland we have a special tradition to share this food for Easter breakfast,” said Father Krzysztof Korcz, pastor of St. Andrew Bobola Parish in Dudley. He blessed baskets Saturday as people drove into the church parking lot.  
“Usually we have (the) Resurrection Mass at 6 a.m.” on Easter Sunday, he explained. Before the early morning Mass people start a procession with the Blessed Sacrament at a tomb set up in the church then around the outside of the church, he said. After Mass they go home and share with their families the food that was previously blessed.
The blessing tradition dates to the 15th century or earlier, according to Beth Boudreau, director of advancement for St. Joseph Elementary in Webster, the school of St. Joseph Basilica.
Foods blessed include colored eggs, or Pisanki, and uncolored eggs, to indicate hope, new life, and Christ rising from his tomb, she said. During the Easter breakfast, people exchange their eggs and well wishes.
“This is a special time when they come together as a family,” Father Korcz said. “They believe that Jesus is risen and ask him for a special blessing for Easter.”
St. Andrew’s parishioner Thomas Millar remembered his family by the tomb set up in his church for Holy Saturday.
“Easter is a big thing for my family  – Jesus died and came back,” he said. The fact that his Polish mother and grandmother died at this time of year “kind of lines up with Easter – sad and happy at the same time.”
He said he saw the basket blessing while walking his dog, and was delighted to learn he could go into the church to pray.
Emilia Janusz and her children, Stanley, 13; Sebastian, 11, and Karolina, 8, knelt before the tomb after Father Korcz blessed their food basket.
Asked what it was like coming for the blessing during the coronavirus, the mother said, “It’s sad, but we want to keep the tradition. We appreciate that the priests are doing it.”
“I just want to say, ‘Thank you for holding this; it’s an important Polish tradition,’” said Kate Joseph, who came with her mother, Lauri Joseph.
In Poland, the baskets are blessed inside the church, and would have been here too, if it wasn’t for the virus, said Bogdan Zielinski, who came to the church with his son Sebastian.
“Everything’s changed,” the father said. “We can’t go to Mass. …”
But they came for the basket blessing.
“This is a bump in the road, but not something that’s going to keep us from keeping the tradition,” he said.
Other Polish parishes in the diocese found new ways to keep the tradition.
St. Joseph Basilica’s pastor, Father Grzegorz Chodkowski, gave the blessing in English and Polish every hour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as vehicles lined up in the parking lot, Mrs. Boudreau said. He also went to the people’s vehicles and sprinkled their baskets with holy water.
Father Ryszard W. Polek, pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in Worcester, said they decided to respect the advice to “stay at home” this year since they usually have hundreds of people come from the parish and beyond.
In past years they have given blessings every half hour for six hours, Father Polek said. But this time the blessing was recorded for viewing online.
He said he had a few people bring their baskets to the church, where three blessings were recorded for YouTube. Father Tomasz Góra, associate pastor, helped.
“Each time we had close to 100 viewers” when the blessing was livestreamed, and people could also watch it later, Father Polek said.
Among the viewers were his parents and brothers and sister – watching from Poland and getting their food blessed by him – he said. One brother even sent a donation to the church – a tradition for the blessing  – via PayPal.
In Poland there is a “very strict order” to stay at home because of the virus this year, so parents were encouraged to bless the baskets, especially if they’re from large parishes, Father Polek said. He said he posted the “Easter Food Blessing” on his parish’s website so people could bless their own baskets if they wished.
Some priests from smaller parishes in Poland drove to villages and people brought their baskets out of their houses for the priest’s blessing, he said.
“This is nice to see people coming,” Father Korcz said, as he waited for more families in Dudley to bring baskets for him to bless. He said he had about 70 altogether.
“We want to stay connected … to keep the faith alive” and give hope, he said.


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