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Popular tradition lives on

Our Lady of Mount Carmel hosts event; Catholic service dates to 15th century

NILES — It’s all about tradition.

That is what the approximately dozen people who showed up Saturday afternoon at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church said about bringing their Easter food baskets to be blessed.

The blessing of Easter baskets on Holy Saturday is an Eastern European tradition dating back to the 15th century, according to the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website, each item in the basket has a special significance. Pork, usually in the form of ham or kielbasa, symbolizes the abundance of God’s mercy; Easter bread, a round or long loaf topped with a cross or fish, is symbolic of Jesus, who is the bread of life; butter, which is often shaped into a lamb, represents the richness of salvation; candles, which are lit for the blessing, stand for Jesus as the light of the world; eggs represent new life and resurrection; salt, a necessary element in our physical life, is symbolic of prosperity and justice, reminding us that we are called to be “the salt of the earth;” and the mild cheese traditionally included in Polish baskets, called Ser, symbolizes the moderation Christians are to have at all times.

The cloth inside the basket and ribbon on the outside, as well as the basket itself, are usually passed down through the generations.

However, one does not have to be of Polish or Eastern or Central European ancestry to enjoy the Easter tradition, as people can put in whatever their traditional Easter food is, whether it be pasta and meatballs, steak and potatoes, or tacos and rice.

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