St. Mary, Star of the Sea, blesses Easter baskets

By Petra Rivera
| 8:00 a.m. April 1, 2024

St. Mary Star of the Sea hosted Blessing of the Easter Baskets on March 30.

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Sharing family traditions and cultures is just another day at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church.

Father Robert Dziedziak invited parishioners to have their Easter baskets blessed on the morning of March 30 before Easter Sunday. After the blessings, congregants shared the meaning behind the items they put in their baskets.

A parishioner made Dziedziak a traditional Polish basket. It included bread, butter and a special lamb cake.

Irene Vincent had a traditional Ukrainian basket. She put lamb and decorated eggs that she painted a couple years ago. Her favorite part of the basket is the butter lamb she had shipped from a Polish store in her hometown of Chicago.

Congregant Donna Pettinato’s basket was a traditional Italian Easter basket. It had a loaf of bread made by her husband and a special Italian bread that is made specifically for Easter.

Father Robert Dziedziak and Irene and Tim Vincent

“We actually break our Lenten fast today on Saturday so we celebrate big for Easter with baskets like these and lots of good food,” said Pettinato. “We are having a big party tonight on Holy Saturday and it's basically a party all weekend.”

author

Petra Rivera

Petra Rivera is the Longboat community reporter. She holds a bachelor’s degree of journalism with an emphasis on reporting and writing from the University of Missouri. Previously, she was a food and drink writer for Vox magazine as well as a reporter for the Columbia Missourian.