Baba Raisa Stone, of Ukrainian Soul Food in Canada, has put together this recipe for Easter Babka – enjoy her lighthearted look a she explains traditions.

Here is the introduction – enjoy reading the full text as you prepare to make your Paska and Babka for Velykdenj 2021.

…..”Babka is companion bread to Paska at Velyk Den’ (Great Day), Ukrainian Easter. Both are ancient, sacred ritual foods. While Paska is short, fluffy and has more familiar bread taste, Babka is tall, denser and sweet. Paska recipe follows.

Babka get its name from Ukraina’s matriarchal culture. Woman is revered throughout our thousands of years of history, and this bread’s shape is like woman. And of course, older woman is most powerful of all.

Ukraina is most prolific country in world for archaeological findings of goddess figurines, dating back 20,000 years. Most stunning example is кам’янy бабy: kamyany babas. These are huge babas made from stone, 3 to 6 feet tall. They survive from 700 to 400 BC, constructed by our Scythian and Sarmatian ancestors right across country. You can find them mostly as grave marker. Imagine comfort in knowing baba is watching over you! You can see photos of these stone babas on my Easter site.

In making Babka, we are reaching back to our ancestors, honouring. Of course we do this at Sviata Vechera, Christmas Eve as well, in different way. Then we symbolize ancestor with use of grandfather wheat sheaf, didukh.

In Ukraina, women compete to make most glamorous Babka, using as many as 120 egg yolks to display how good are their hens and how generous hospodynia, hostess, she is. This is much healthier contest than crazy people on TV running around naked on desert island or something.”….

Link to full article and recipe -> https://madmimi.com/s/951fc9