McHenry County Catholics get Easter basket blessings: ‘Family tradition for the ages’

McHenry County Catholics brought their Easter baskets, filled with treats and food, to churches Saturday for Easter basket blessings.

Easter basket blessings are particularly popular in Polish culture, and more than a dozen McHenry County Catholic churches offered blessings Saturday.

At St. Margaret Mary Church in Algonquin, which offers two Polish Masses every weekend, a Saturday morning basket blessing was standing room only.

The blessing was about 20 minutes in length and primarily conducted in Polish. It was the first of three basket blessings the church offered at the church Saturday. Many attendees had traditional Polish baskets, featuring sausage, eggs, horseradish and salt and pepper, among other items.

“Every family has something different,” said Dalida Stusowski, who attended the basket blessing Saturday. She said all the items in the basket represent something and called the basket blessing a “family tradition for the ages.”

While the basket blessing celebrates food, it also has religious significance. “It’s a blessing for our families,” said the Rev. Zbigniew Zajchowski, the pastor at St. Margaret Mary. “For us, it’s not another ‘abracadabra.’” He added that “we await the heavenly banquet promised by Jesus.”

At St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Crystal Lake, dozens of Easter baskets lined the steps leading up to the church’s altar Saturday morning for the basket blessing. The pastor, the Rev. John Kladar, asked attendees at the basket blessing if they knew about the tradition and its origins. He didn’t get much response from the congregation.

Kladar, in his first year in Crystal Lake, said he grew up in Rockford and basket blessings weren’t as much of a thing there as they are in the Chicago area. He added Chicago has a “rich history” with Polish culture.

He also mentioned the Lenten season, in which Catholics are expected to avoid meat on Fridays and fast on Good Friday, noting it’s “our first meal, let’s have the [preparation] blessed.”

While Easter baskets had all sorts of goodies and treats, Kathy Bator’s basket included hot cross buns. She shared them with fellow attendees.

“I can’t be eating them all,” Bator said.