In an occasional series about the way different religious festivals are celebrated, Beatrice Groth enjoys an Easter in the East.
While congregations for the Church of England keep falling, the Catholic Easter mass I attended in Goodmayes was so full that the Poles I met at St. Cedd’s were forced to wait outside. “It’s is a day of healing and blessing for a better life,” said Ena, mother of a newly born baby. Another mother added that it is also a rare opportunity for Polish women to get a day off. “We are not permitted to even cook for our families, we must visit restaurants for food,” she said, looking relieved.
Ena and other Polish Catholics outside the overflowing St. Cedd’s
One of the most distinctive elements of a Polish Easter is the ‘blessing of the Easter baskets’ or Święconka that takes place on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Baskets lined with white linen or lace are laden with all sorts of food ranging from bread to eggs and fruit, and are blessed in church – but cannot be touched till later that Saturday, or more often till Easter Sunday. And almost everything in the basket has meaning. Eggs represent life and the resurrection, bread is the body of Christ, ham is happiness, salt symbolises purification, and horseradish represents the pains of crucifixion.
A Polish Święconka basket
Railway engineering works over Easter meant that the replacement busses were as crowded as St. Cedd’s. At Ilford Station a voice kept repeating the fact that there would be no trains till Tuesday the 7th of April.
No Entry at Ilford Station for Easter
Some of the commuters I spoke to said this meant they had not been able to visit their families, and others became so frustrated with the bus delays caused by heavy traffic that they crossed over to Costa coffee – where I spoke to Martin. He said he had been unemployed for several years, and that if it wasn’t for his girlfriend (sitting opposite) he wouldn’t even be able to afford a coffee. But maybe after the election things would get better, he said, unconvincingly.
Martin hopes for better times after the election.
The atmosphere was more cheerful later on at O’Gradys Irish Bar in Seven Kings. Easter here meant delicious home cooked food live music and partying, but however secular it looked to me, all this activity was, according to one regular I spoke to, ‘…because of the resurrection of Christ’.
Over the road at Mc.Donalds, the brisk trade seemed less to do with the resurrection, and more to do with the consumer event that is also Easter. There was no day off for the workers here, and Obi, a Nigerian who I spoke to, said he would be rushing off to work soon too – though only after he had kept his promise to bring his two daughters to McDonalds. Staring down at a McMuffin I wondered what that would represent if it found its way into a basket for the Polish Święconka.
Happy Ea(s)ters at McDonalds