Easter is a time of springtime festivals. In
Christian countries Easter is celebrated as
the religious holiday commemorating the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of
God. But the celebrations of Easter have
many customs and legends that are pagan in
origin and have nothing to do with
Christianity
Scholars, accepting the derivation
proposed by the 8th-century English scholar
St. Bede, believe the name Easter is thought
to come from the Scandinavian "Ostra" and
the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre," both
Goddesses of mythology signifying spring and
fertility whose festival was celebrated on
the day of the vernal equinox
Traditions associated with the festival
survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of
fertility, and in colored easter eggs,
originally painted with bright colors to
represent the sunlight of spring, and used
in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as
gifts
The Christian celebration of Easter
embodies a number of converging traditions
with emphasis on the relation of Easter to
the Jewish festival of Passover, or
Pesach, from which is derived Pasch,
another name used by Europeans for Easter.
Passover is an important feast in the
Jewish calendar which is celebrated for 8
days and commemorates the flight and
freedom of the Israelites from slavery in
Egypt
The early Christians, many of whom were of
Jewish origin, were brought up in the
Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a
new feature of the Passover festival, a
commemoration of the advent of the Messiah
as foretold by the prophets.
Easter is observed by the churches of the
West on the first Sunday following the
full moon that occurs on or following the
spring equinox (March 2I). So Easter
became a "movable" feast which can occur
as early as March 22 or as late as April
25
Christian churches in the East which were
closer to the birthplace of the new
religion and in which old traditions were
strong, observe Easter according to the
date of the Passover festival
Easter is at the end of the Lenten season,
which covers a forty-six-day period that
begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with
Easter. The Lenten season itself comprises
forty days, as the six Sundays in Lent are
not actually a part of Lent. Sundays are
considered a commemoration of Easter
Sunday and have always been excluded from
the Lenten fast. The Lenten season is a
period of penitence in preparation for the
highest festival of the church year,
Easter
Holy Week, the last week of Lent, begins
its with the observance of Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday takes its name from Jesus'
triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the
crowds laid palms at his feet. Holy
Thursday commemorates the Last Supper,
which was held the evening before the
Crucifixion. Friday in Holy Week is the
anniversary of the Crufixion, the day that
Christ was crucified and died on the cross
Holy week and the Lenten season end with
Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection of
Jesus Christ
|