The Butter Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

The weeks leading up to Easter Sunday (and of course the Dyngus celebration the following day) transform Buffalo’s only year round public market into the first annual regional festival. Shopping for Easter food items at the Broadway Market has become a tradition for hundreds of thousands of families spanning multiple generations. But why is the market the go to spot for this butyraceous staple at Easter time? 

A woman that sold chicken may have played a role in establishing that ritual

In 1963, Dorothy Malczewski opened a poultry stand in Buffalo’s Famous Broadway Market, in the heart of the historic Polonia district. The Easter of her first year in business she found her father’s butter lamb mold in the attic that he had brought to America with him from Poland and started making butter lambs one by one. Dorothy created 5 different sizes of butter lambs and decorated them with a red “alleluia” flag signifying peace on earth, and a red ribbon representing the Blood of Christ.

The butter lambs went over so well that she began distributing them to other local stores, including Tops Friendly Markets and others. And so the Malczewski Butter Lamb was born and became a tradition for everyone in Buffalo and surrounding cities. The butter lamb custom originates as far back as the middle ages and is deeply rooted in Polish Catholic symbolism. The lamb, represents Jesus and the butter lamb centerpiece closely unites the family Easter meal with the Eucharist.

If not for Dorothy and her fathers wooden mold all those years ago Easter tradition in Buffalo, NY would likely lack some of it's creamy richness. Dziekuje Dorothy