How to Put Together a Traditional Easter Basket

Contemporary Easter baskets usually include hollow chocolate bunnies and a lot of pastel plastic grass, but traditional Easter baskets are a much different story. A traditional Easter basket includes all the foods that a family eats on Easter, especially foods that were abstained from during Lent, and each item represents a religious aspect of the Easter story. A traditional Easter basket makes a great gift for the host of an Easter get-together, or a distinctive centerpiece for a gathering in your own home.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Large basket
• Large white cloth (traditionally embroidered with an Easter message, such as "He is Risen")
• Easter bread
• Butter
• Horseradish
• Easter eggs
• Sweets and candies
• Meats or sausages
• Cheese
• Tapered candle (optional)

1. Choose your basket. Wicker baskets are a traditional choice for an Easter basket, but you can choose any basket you like. Once you have your basket, line it with the white cloth, which will be tied over the top after you are finished.

2. Start with your larger items. Add the Easter bread, a sweet bread that symbolizes the Biblical notion that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Next, add the wine, which symbolizes the Eucharist, the cheese, and the meats, which symbolize the richness and bounty of Easter's blessings.

3. Position your smaller items around the larger objects. Start with the Easter eggs, which represent new life and resurrection, followed by sweets and butter to represent the abundance and merriment of Easter. Traditionally, horseradish is also included to represent the bitterness of Christ's suffering.

4. Arrange all your items so that they sit the way you want them, and tie the white cloth over the top. Sometimes a candle is also included to light during the blessing of the basket before the meal. If you would like to include the candle, tuck it into a corner of your tied cloth so it stands up above the basket's edge.

Tips & Warnings

• Assemble the basket right before you want to use it, so the butter, eggs, and cheese can be refrigerated until they are served.