Easter baskets blessings a Polish tradition

It started with a simple question, “Are you Polish?” Since my last name is “Jasinski,” you would think that the answer was obvious. However, I sensed that the woman who asked me the question was after something deeper. I answered that I was fourth generation Polish-American. I could not have guessed the next question, “Will you bless Easter baskets?” 

I grew up on the south side of Milwaukee, Wis. The city had been settled by Polish immigrants. When I was growing up in the 1970s, we were third and fourth generation Polish-Americans. In other words, by this time many of our cultural traditions had been forgotten. 

I was an altar server at my local parish. On Holy Saturday morning we had practice for the Mass which would take place later that night. This was also the day when Easter baskets were blessed. I had never seen the blessing before, but that day I was to catch a glimpse of it. The pastor was running late, so he was still blessing the baskets when I arrived for the rehearsal. After all these years, I have vague recollections of baskets lined up on a table, old ladies standing a few feet away, the priest blessing them, and the woman picking them up and leaving with them. Now, 50 years later, having been ordained a priest for over 25 years, and having seen the blessing only once (by accident!), I was asked to bless Easter baskets. 

The woman who asked me introduced herself and her family as Polish immigrants. When she asked me, I immediately knew that the blessing was a special tradition for them, it would take place on Holy Saturday, and that the items in the basket represented what the family would prepare for their Easter meal. Without hesitation, I agreed. 

This past Holy Saturday, just before the time for the blessing of the Easter basket, I was surprised when I saw car after car at St. Benedict’s Church. Word got out, and five Polish immigrant families had come to have their Easter baskets blessed. 

Since I had witnessed the blessing five decades earlier, I knew what was needed and had a table set up near the sanctuary for them to place their baskets. What I did not expect was that when the towels were removed which covered each basket, they looked to see what each other had prepared. They were filled with sausage, bread, decorated eggs, horseradish, herbs, marmalade, and other traditional Polish food. 

They smiled when I explained that the blessing would be in English. So, I went through the readings, intercessions and prayers in English. After reciting the “Our Father,” the woman who had requested the blessing mouthed the words “Ojcze nasz.” This gesture would have been lost on me if I had not had the opportunity to study some Polish one summer while I was in college. After 40 years I remembered that “Ojcze nasz” were the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer in Polish. So, I nodded to her, spoke the words “Ojcze nasz,” and everyone joined in… except me. Afterward, I admitted that I remembered only half of the words. Everyone laughed. 

As they left, I thanked God that He had prepared me for that day. I knew that the blessing was special for them and reminded them of things “back home.” It did for me too. 

Next year, ask your pastor to bless your Easter basket. The “Blessing of Food for the First Meal of Easter” begins on page 721 in the Book of Blessings.