kulich

Babushka with Kulich bread and colorful Easter eggs, Pyatigorsk, Stavropol region, Russia This illustration by Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin from Russia uses old Russian language orthography that can be translated to a modern rendition along the lines of "Kulich-city is standing, glorifying itself; Lauding itself over other cities; There is no other place better than me!; For I am all tvorog and dough! The Х and the В are for Христос воскрес ("Christ is Risen") Kulich is the Russian name for Easter bread. For the eastern Slavs, festive bread is round and tall, and dough decorations are made on top of it. The cylindrical shape of the cake is associated with the church practice of baking artos. The Paska bread tradition spread in cultures which were connected to the Byzantine Empire and is a traditional cultural part of countries with an Orthodox Christian population. It is eaten in countries like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia. Kulich is a variant of paska Easter breads and represents not only Easter but also the spring. Easter is a very important celebration in Eastern European countries, even more important than Christmas.

In an entry in The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, food historian and artist Alicia Rios described Kulich as "unmistakably" phallic, which she characterized as "[betraying] the pagan traditions that underlie Christian celebrations".