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What may be surprising, even shocking to some, is that many of these justifications use such verbs as “gives”, “brings”, “protects”, “provides” or “guarantees”. Apparently, the blessed victuals are not only charged with symbolic meanings, but also associated with magical properties. I’ve found most of such superstitious claims on the website of one Roman Catholic parish,<ref name=parafia/> but they crop up in other sources too. And so, bread and butter are said to bring good fortune and affluence; eggs provide fertility (a chocolate bunny may have a similar effect); cold meats bestow health and fertility, and affluence! Salt and water cleanse you of your sins, horseradish makes you strong and black pepper promotes healthy growth of your livestock.
The aforementioned parish website is also unusual in that it provides a list of things you should not put in your Easter basket. I’m sure it stems from the personal experience of priests who have seen all manner of things placed in their parishioners’ baskets. The website mentions a few of the most common ones that the priests consider inappropriate: bunny figurines, alcohol, toys and mobile phones.<ref name=parafia/> Another curio comes from one of major Polish web portals,<ref name=interia/> where Easter food-blessing tips are illustrated with a [https://tipy.interia.pl/132,0,tradycyjny-koszyk-wielkanocny.html diagram of an Easter basket.] Any Pole who sees it will probably ask, who puts a lit candle in their basket? It turns out, however, that the picture is a slightly modified version of an [http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/easter.htm illustration] which first appeared in a magazine published by the Greek Catholic Union in the United States and pertains to Easter traditions of the Carpathian Ruthenes (an ethnic group, also known as Rusyns, native to the mountainous borderlands between Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania) rather than the Poles.
<mobileonly>[[File:Dwa koszyki, dziesięć różnic.png|thumb|upright|Spot ten differences.]]</mobileonly>