The bright red colored egg is the symbol of Easter for the Orthodox Christians all over the world. The eggs are colored on Holy Thursday.

The eldest woman in the house has the privilege of dying the eggs.

The ritual of cracking the eggs takes place before the Easter lunch.

The eggs are cracked after the midnight service and during the next days. One egg is cracked on the wall of the church (and this is the first egg eaten after the long Great Fast). Each person selects his/her egg. Then people take turns tapping their egg against the eggs of others, and the person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck.

On Thursday loaves of bread are also made - ritual and ordinary. The bread is called "kolache" or "kozunak". One of these Easter breads is specially decorated with one or more (but an odd number) of red eggs are put into it.

This bread is taken to church on Saturday evening when a special sequence of services takes place: Midnight Office, Rush Procession, Matins & Divine Liturgy.

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