In Ukraine, Easter is the biggest holiday of the year, for many families. Easter is three days long in Ukraine, although the biggest day is still Easter Sunday. The holiday starts on Saturday night. Everyone attends Church for a candle-lit ceremony through the night. In addition, all the church-goers bring their Easter baskets to be blessed. Inside are all the painted eggs (pysanky), sausage, and Easter Paska break (like coffee cake). This way, when the fast is broken after the church ceremony all the food can be considered holy.

If you sleep at all on Easter it is only for a few hours. In the morning on Sunday, the real celebration begins. There is a huge feast including all the food that was blessed the night before as well as a little vodka, and then a lot more food! The celebrating can continue (as with most holidays in Ukraine) for hours!

Usually Ukrainians spend the first day of Easter with their families, and the second and third paying visits to friends.

Ukrainian Easter in the Kyiv Post