Radonitsa

Culture of origin: Christian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Eastern Orthodox

Radonitsa, from a Slavic word for "joy", commemorates the departed on the second Tuesday after Pascha, among Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian communities. After the liturgy, clergy and faithful go to the graves to sing the paschal hymns, families eat the blessed paschal foods there, and an Easter egg is often left on each grave with the greeting "Christ is risen!". It is a public holiday in Belarus.