Celebrating Easter on campus

Kristin Waldby, a freshman communication and sociology major, won't get to go home to Syracuse to be with her family for Easter.

But she's making the best of her situation.

"My mom is coming to visit the weekend after [Easter] so we can observe and celebrate even if it's a week late," Waldby said. "It won't be the same, but it'll be nice to see her."

She usually celebrates Easter with her family by dying eggs, getting Easter baskets of candy and having a ham dinner. In the past couple of years, they have also celebrated by going to mass on Easter Sunday.

Here at UB, Waldby plans on buying marshmallow Peeps from CVS to celebrate on her own.

Many students, like Waldby, are unable to travel home for the Easter weekend. UB does not cancel classes for Good Friday and holds classes the next Monday, making it difficult to allot time for travel.

For this reason, Andrea Losinno, a freshman psychology major, originally thought she wouldn't be able to go home to Seaford, Long Island, for Easter.

Her developmental psychology professor scheduled an exam the Monday after Easter, making it difficult for her to spend the day with her family and return to UB in time. Her mom really wanted her home for the holiday, though, so she's flying home for one day to celebrate.

Losinno usually spends the weekend preparing the Polish food her family eats for dinner on Easter Sunday and goes to church with her immediate family on Easter morning. She spends the day either at her home or her aunt's house in New Jersey and has been doing so for as long as she can remember.

She considers herself lucky to be going home, even for only a short time.

"[Celebrating with my family] is one of those things where I feel as though I would be completely lost if I did not follow the same tradition I've been following for so many years," Losinno said.

There are opportunities on and around campus to celebrate Easter and the days leading up to it for those students who are unable to go home. The celebration of Easter Sunday actually begins the Thursday before - deemed Holy Thursday - and continues through Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

There are services at the Catholic Newman Center on North Campus. On Holy Thursday, there will be a washing of feet and mass at 7 p.m. Good Friday will feature a "solemn service" at 3 p.m., while the Holy Saturday mass will be held at 8 p.m. On Easter Sunday, mass will be held at sunrise outside at 6:59 a.m., followed with a breakfast at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

"All [services] will be touching and inspiring," said Father Pat Keleher of the Catholic Newman Center on North Campus. "There seems to be something for everyone."

St. Joseph's University Church, located on South Campus, also has an extensive number of services available for students.

Morning prayer will be held at 9 a.m. and mass at 7 p.m. on Holy Thursday.

Good Friday's morning prayer will be at 9 a.m. and Stations of the Cross will take place at noon. Stations of the Cross is a series of reflections and prayers inspired by the events leading up to the death of Jesus.

There will be music for the Passion - the final hours of Jesus' life - at 1 p.m., solemn liturgy at 2 p.m., and Taize prayer with the distribution of Communion at 7 p.m. Taize prayer is repetitive prayer adapted to music and specific passages from the Bible that originates from the Taize monk community of France.

Holy Saturday will feature a morning prayer at 9 a.m., a blessing of Easter baskets at 1 p.m., and the solemn Easter Vigil at 8 p.m. On Easter Sunday, mass with organ and brass will start at 8:30 a.m.; mass with choir, organ and brass will commence 10 a.m.; and family mass with a contemporary ensemble will occur at 11:30 a.m.

In addition, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) will be partnering with Campus Ambassadors and BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) to host a Good Friday service on Friday night at 7:34 p.m. in Student Union 210.

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