April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
TRADITIONAL TREAT
On Easter, families have a little lamb -- butter lamb, that is
On Easter, families have a little lamb -- butter lamb, that is
The Sisters of the Resurrection benefit from the annual sale of the traditional Polish Easter treat, having used the profits to help pay for the renovation of their Castleton motherhouse's chapel several years ago.
Russian and Ukrainian families also lay claim to the tradition of including a lamb molded from several sticks of butter on their Easter tables.
By selling butter lambs, everyone gets what they want, said Sister Bernadette: In fact, "If we didn't [sell the butter lambs each year], I do think that some of the doors would be knocked down."
Starting on President's Day, volunteers get together in St. Adalbert's parish hall to listen to polka music and do some major butter-lamb-building. In a three-day period, the volunteers make almost 900 lambs for Easter.
Better butter
The consistency of the butter can make or break the process, said parishioner George Sykala.
"That butter has to be just right," he explained. "We have to put it in these wooden molds; then you have to put them in water. The ladies [do] all the little touchup work," fluffing up the butter to look like lamb's wool.
Each of the lambs at St. Adalbert's is made from at least two sticks of butter. This year, Sister Bernadette purchased more than $900 worth of butter from the supermarket, using donations from people the lamb-building group calls "angels."
At Sacred Heart parish in Lake George, butter lambs are made each year as part of a community workshop. Rev. Thomas Berardi has been making the lambs since the 1990s; the pastor of Sacred Heart is an avid home cook who has given many talks in the guise of "the Gospel Gourmet" on Jesus' use of meals as a teaching tool.
Father Berardi started hosting the workshops when he was pastor of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Cobleskill. He brought the tradition with him to St. Michael the Archangel parish in Troy when he was reassigned there, then to Lake George.
Polish pride
The priest said he grew up attending a predominantly Polish parish in Kingston; though he is not Polish, the tradition stuck with his family. Father Berardi still brings a butter lamb with him to Easter dinner every year and says his whole family looks forward to it.
His parishioners also like the annual workshops, which teach people of all ages about Jesus as the paschal lamb. After discussing how a butter lamb is a symbol of Christ as the Lamb of God, workshop participants get to roll up their sleeves and plunge their hands into the butter.
Children particularly enjoy that, Father Berardi said. As they build their lambs, the priest asks questions and talks about the significance of the image of the lamb; kids tend to come back to the workshops over and over again, so they can help him teach newcomers about the tradition in ensuing years.
At the Lake George workshops, the butter is softened, put it into a tray of six molds and placed in a freezer to harden. When the lambs come out, they have to be gently pried up with a knife and then decorated. Stirring with a fork makes the butter look like wool; cloves are used for eyes, and a banner is added as a decoration.
Labor of love
The butter lambs are then placed into boxes with Easter grass and jelly beans, ready to go home with their makers or to be sold as part of a fundraiser for a local charity.
In the past, Sacred Heart parish has donated the butter-lamb profits to an animal shelter or food pantry; this year, the proceeds will go to the local Helping Aiding Reaching Kids (HARK) program, which helps young people who are homeless or from low-income families.
For Sister Bernadette, making butter lambs is "a labor of love" -- but that doesn't mean the butter isn't meant to be eaten.
"Usually, during the Easter season, people take care of it with the babka bread," she told The Evangelist. "The little children like to lop the head off."
Father Berardi mused that there is no proper way to cut into a butter lamb, though "I think most [people] start on the back end."
Not chocolate
The presence of a butter lamb on the Easter table can bring some confusion for those who aren't familiar with the tradition.
"One lady asked me how much butter we would be putting on the lamb," Father Berardi said. "She asked if she should bring the lamb or if I would be providing it. I had to describe to her that there wasn't actually lamb."
The priest has also heard about butter lambs being taken home to families who mistook them for something else: "Some people thought it was white chocolate and they took a big chunk."
Mr. Sykala believes the real importance of a butter lamb is that it represents the resurrection of Christ. After all, he said, "It's butter -- just fixed up looking pretty."[[In-content Ad]]
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