BY BRIAN J. LOWNEY, Acting Editor
PROVIDENCE — Ethnic traditions and time-honored religious practices were celebrated last weekend at Holy Cross Church when the parish’s Women’s Guild held its third annual Palm Sunday Bake Sale.
The event attracted shoppers from all over Rhode Island, eager to purchase the delicious Easter bread, ricotta and rice pies that were prepared especially for the sale. Members also baked an assortment of holiday cookies, as well as other traditional Easter desserts.
The sale was coordinated by Linda Gillooly and Rachel Paoletta. Proceeds benefited the parish’s capital campaign, part of which will be used to refurbish the church hall kitchen.
According to Eva Taborelli, vice president of the women’s guild, Easter is the most important religious celebration of the year for many families of Italian ancestry.
“It’s an Italian tradition,” she remarked, glancing at the large assortment of Easter breads adorned with colorful pastel sprinkles. She added that on Easter, several generations gather to acknowledge the gifts we receive through Jesus’ resurrection and to celebrate the importance of family and friends.
According to Elli Panichas, president of the guild, the custom of baking with dairy products to create sweet breads and desserts followed an ancient tradition of fasting for the 40 days preceding Easter, a practice once followed in Christian Mediterranean countries. Many devout Italian immigrants observed the fast when they arrived in America.
“During Lent, you couldn’t eat anything from an animal,” Panichas said, adding that in addition to not serving meat of any kind, cooks observing the religious practice did not use dairy products such as milk, butter and cheese.
“At Easter, the women would bake, bake and bake,” Taborelli added. “On Holy Saturday at noon the church bells would ring, and the fast would end.”
Panichas said that in Italy, women baked traditional pies using ricotta or a blend of ricotta with either rice or wheat, depending on the region and what products were available.
She added that Italian Easter bread has a denser consistency than some other sweet breads, and is more cake-like. While round and oblong loaves are traditional, many Italian nonnas (grandmothers) form bread dough into the shape of small dolls that carry a brightly colored hard-boiled egg.
Panichas said that at Holy Cross Church, the bakers inscribe the round loaves with a large cross to signify that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our salvation.
Panichas owed the popularity of the bake sale to the fact that many younger families of Italian ancestry no longer have the time to prepare the holiday specialties.
“It’s hard work,” she said, adding that guild members prepared the dough for the Easter bread in the parish kitchen using two large bread machines, and baked dozens of individual loaves at home, in addition to baking other desserts. The bread dough was prepared in large batches to ensure the quality of the dough.
While many bakers helped prepare the baked goods, Panichas credited Holy Cross parishioner Marie Krapf for helping prepare for the bake sale.
“She was at every baking session and made a tremendous amount of bread,” Panichas recalled.
The guild president praised Holy Cross Pastor Father David Procaccini, adding that “he has breathed a lot of life into the parish. “He has just done a wonderful job,” Panichas noted. “It is a very warm and embracing community.”
Parishioner Marie Nardone shopped at the sale for ethnic specialties prepared by her mother, grandmother and mother-in-law.
“I love it here,” she said. “Just everything is out of this world.”
