Marion Faller (1941-2014)

Label Texts by Deirdre Reynolds

Polish holiday customs are full of tradition and ritual, and Easter is their most important celebration. One of the most popular Easter icons in the city of Buffalo is the butter lamb. Though this comes from the Polish tradition, the Western New York region has adopted it for its own. Made out of molded butter, this lamb watches over the other food items in the Easter basket, much as Christians believed Jesus watched over his flock.  

Colored eggs are a huge component of most Easter celebrations. There are seven different ways of decorating them, and each has its own special name. One of the most popular ones is pisanki eggs, where a person makes a design in wax on the egg, then dyes it. This simple method makes intricately colored eggs.

For kids: Do you celebrate Easter?  If you’re Polish, it might be your favorite holiday. One of the traditions is the butter lamb. It’s made of real butter and even covered with whipped butter to look like fur! It’s put into a basket with other food for breakfast and “guards” the food, just like Christians believe Jesus guarded his followers.

Have you ever colored eggs? Most people do, and the Polish are no different. They have seven different ways to color eggs!  How many different colors are in this picture?  

What traditions does your family have?