Next: 2 May 2027
Orthodox Easter, paskha and flaounes
Easter in the Orthodox churches, when the fast ends with tvorog paskha in Russia and cheese flaounes in Cyprus.
Cheeses for Orthodox Easter, paskha and flaounes
Orthodox Easter ends seven weeks without dairy, and cheese returns to the table with ceremony. In Russia and Ukraine, paskha is a moulded pyramid of tvorog, butter, cream and sugar, marked with the letters for Christ is risen, taken to church in a basket to be blessed with kulich bread and dyed eggs. In Cyprus, women bake flaounes, pastries filled with a special Easter cheese, halloumi, mint and raisins. In Crete, small kalitsounia are filled with fresh mizithra. Romanian and Bulgarian kitchens bake sweet breads and cakes with fresh cheese.
The cheeses
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Paskha" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mizithra: grongar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Anari: Zlerman, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Halloumi: Rainer Zenz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tvorog: Loyna, CC BY-SA 2.5, source