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Easter is observed on a
Sunday between March 22
and April 25.
The commonly stated
rule, that Easter Day is
the first Sunday after
the full moon that
occurs next after the
vernal equinox, is
somewhat misleading
because it is not a
precise statement of the
actual ecclesiastical
rules.
The actual conditions
to determine the date
for Easter are:
-
Easter must be on a
Sunday;
-
this Sunday must
follow the 14th day of
the paschal moon;
-
the paschal moon is
that of which the 14th
day (full moon) falls on
or next follows the day
of the vernal equinox;
and
-
the equinox is fixed
in the calendar as March
21.
Easter is a religious
holiday that
commemorates the
resurrection of Jesus
Christ three days after
his death by crucifixion
some 2,000 years ago.
For Christians, Easter
is a day of religious
services and the
gathering of family.
In many churches
Easter is preceded by a
season of prayer,
abstinence, and fasting
called Lent. This is
observed in memory of
the 40 days' fast of
Christ in the desert. In
Eastern Orthodox
churches Lent is 50
days. In Western
Christendom Lent is
observed for six weeks
and four days.
Ash Wednesday, the
first day of Lent, gets
its name from the
practice, mainly in the
Roman Catholic church,
of putting ashes on the
foreheads of the
faithful to remind them
that "man is but dust."
Palm Sunday, one week
before Easter,
celebrates the entry of
Jesus into Jerusalem.
Holy Week begins on this
day. Holy Thursday, or
Maundy Thursday, is in
memory of the Last
Supper of Christ with
his disciples.
Good
Friday commemorates the
crucifixion.
Lent may be preceded
by a carnival season.
Elaborate pageants often
close this season on
Shrove Tuesday, the day
before the beginning of
Lent. This day is also
called by its French
name,
Mardi Gras.
The name Easter comes
from Eostre (pronounced
yo'ster), an ancient
Anglo-Saxon goddess. In
pagan times an annual
spring festival was held
in her honor. Some
Easter customs have come
from this and other
pre-Christian spring
festivals. Others come
from the Passover feast
of the Jews, observed in
memory of their
deliverance from Egypt.
The word paschal
comes from a Latin word
that means "belonging to
Passover or to Easter."
Formerly, Easter and the
Passover were closely
associated. The
resurrection of Jesus
took place during the
Passover. Christians of
the Eastern church
initially celebrated
both holidays together.
But the
Passover can
fall on any day of the
week, and Christians of
the Western church
preferred to celebrate
Easter on Sunday, the
day of the resurrection.
The Easter Bunny, a
popular image of the
holiday, originated with
the hare, an ancient
symbol for the moon.
According to legend, the
bunny was originally a
large, handsome bird
belonging to Eostre, the
Goddess of Spring. (Eostre
is also known as Ostara,
a Goddess of fertility
who is celebrated at the
time of the
Spring
equinox.) She changed
the bird into a rabbit,
which explains why the
Easter bunny builds a
nest and fills it with
colored eggs. The first
edible Easter bunnies
were made in Germany
during the early 1800s.
They were made of pastery and sugar.
Around the time of
the Civil War, Americans
began to celebrate
Easter in much the same
manner as Europeans,
with children building
nests for the Easter
bunny to fill with eggs.
Since that time, Easter
has become a major
religious and secular
celebration in the U.S.
The egg is another
popular symbol of
Easter. Eggs were dyed
and eaten during spring
festivals in ancient
Egypt, Persia, Greece
and Rome. Colored eggs
were not associated with
Easter until the 15th
century. Many Americans
follow old traditions of
coloring hard-boiled
eggs and giving children
baskets of candy. On the
next day, Easter Monday,
the president of the
United States holds an
annual Easter egg hunt
on the White House lawn
for young children.
The Easter Sunrise
Service custom can be
traced back to the
ancient Pagan custom of
welcoming the sun God at
the
vernal equinox -
when daytime is about to
exceed the length of the
nighttime. It was a time
to "celebrate the return
of life and reproduction
to animal and plant life
as well."
At the feast of
Eostre, an ox was
sacrificed. The ox's
horns became a symbol
for the feast. They were
carved into the ritual
bread. Thus originated
the "hot cross buns".
The word "buns" is
derived from the Saxon
word "boun" which means
"sacred ox."
Many superstitions
grew out of this custom
— a cross bun kept from
one
Good Friday to the
next was thought to
bring luck, the buns
were supposed to serve
as a charm against
shipwreck, and hanging a
bun over the
chimneypiece ensured
that all bread baked
there would be perfect.
Another belief was that
eating hot cross buns on
Good Friday served to
protect the home from
fire.
Today, the symbol of
a symmetrical cross
marked with white icing
is used to decorate the
buns; the cross
represent the moon, the
heavenly body associated
with the Goddess, and
its four quarters.
The white lily, the
symbol of the
resurrection, is the
typical Easter flower.
The white lily stands
for purity. Artists for
centuries have pictured
the angel Gabriel coming
to the Virgin Mary with
a spray of lilies in his
hand, to announce that
she is to be the mother
of the Christ child. The
white Madonna lily was
used for years as the
Easter lily. It often
failed to bloom in time
for Easter, however, and
so Bermuda, or white
trumpet, lily was
substituted. The Bermuda
lily was brought to the
United States from
Bermuda in the 1880s by
Mrs. Thomas P. Sargent
of Philadelphia, and it
has become a mainstay of
Easter floral
arrangements and church
decorations.
Easter Candles are
sometimes lit in
churches on the eve of
Easter Sunday. Some
believe that these can
be directly linked to
the Pagan customs of
lighting bonfires at
this time of year to
welcome the
rebirth/resurrection of
the sun God.
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