Easter

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the most joyous occasion in Christianity. It also marks the end of Lent. This year Greek/Orthodox Easter will be celebrated on Sunday, April 08, 2007.

The origin of word "Easter"

Easter is the time of springtime festivals, a time to welcome back the Tulips, the Crocuses and the Daffodils. Its a time of new suits, new dresses and patent leather shoes. A time for Christians to celebrate the life and resurrection of Christ. And a time of chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks, and colored eggs!

The name "Easter" reflects many pagan customs that are now associated with the holiday. Present day scholars accept St. Bede's theory that "Easter" is derived from the "Ostern" and "Ostra", Teutonic and Scandinavian goddess associated with spring and fertility. A Greek legend tells of the return of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, goddess of the earth, from the underworld to the light of day; her return symbolized to the ancient Greeks the resurrection of life in the spring after the desolation of winter. Many ancient peoples shared similar legends.

The Greeks called Easter the pascha anastasimon; Good Friday the pascha staurosimon. The respective terms used by the Latins are Pascha resurrectionis and Pascha crucifixionis. Most scholars emphasize the original relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name for Easter. 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.

The Romance languages have adopted the Hebrew-Greek term:

• Latin - Pascha;
• Italian - Pasqua;
• Spanish - Pascua.

Also some Celtic and Teutonic nations use it:

• Scottish - Pask;
• Dutch - Paschen;
• Danish - Paaske;
• Swedish - Pask;

even in the German provinces of the Lower Rhine the people call the feast Paisken not Ostern. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm

The history of the holiday

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the most joyous occasion in Christianity. It also marks the end of Lent. The date of Easter varies each year but always falls between March 22 and April 25. The date is set by determining the Sunday following the full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Mary Magdalen arrived at Jesus' tomb only to find it empty. An angel told her that Jesus had risen and ascended into heaven. Many churches hold sunrise services on Easter Sunday to symbolize the return of light to the world after Jesus' resurrection. The day is observed with feasts and celebrations. костюмы

Peculiar customes of Easter in different countries

1. Blessing of food In both the Oriental and Latin Churches, it is customary to have those victuals which were prohibited during Lent blessed by the priests before eating them on Easter Day, especially meat, eggs, butter, and cheese. Those who ate before the food was blessed, according to popular belief, were punished by God, sometimes instantaneously.

2. Easter Eggs The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. Easter eggs, the children are told, come from Rome with the bells which on Thursday go to Rome and return Saturday morning. The sponsors in some countries give Easter eggs to their god-children. Colored eggs are used by children at Easter in a sort of game which consists in testing the strength of the shells. Both colored and uncolored eggs are used in some parts of the United States for this game, known as "egg-picking". Another practice is the "egg-rolling" by children on Easter Monday on the lawn of the White House in Washington. Easter eggs were first decorated in the late 13th century C. E. but the most famous eggs were created by Carl Faberge.http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4819/egg01.html

It's a recipe of Easter ggs: Ingredients:

• 2 boxes powdered sugar • 2 sticks butter or margarine • 1 tsp. salt • 1 small can Carnation milk • 1 pkg. chopped nuts • 1 small jar maraschino cherries, drained • 1 cup coconut • 1 can crushed pineapple, well drained • 1 pkg. (12 oz.) chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Mix sugar, butter, nuts, cherries, pineapple and coconut. 2. Add salt. 3. Add milk to stick together, but not runny. 4. Shape and allow to dry. 5. Melt chocolate chips in double boiler. You can adds haved paraffin to chocolate chips to make chocolate shiny. 6. Dip shaped egg into melted chocolate and set out to dry.(Tupperware Pastry Sheet very helpful here.) 7. When chocolate is set, eggs can then be personalized and decorated with icing.

See another recipes:

http://www.allrecipes.com

http://www.coookbooks.com

http://www.mealsforyou.com

http://www.foodsubs.com

http://www.ichef.com

3. The Easter Rabbit The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.

4. Men and women On Easter Monday the women had a right to strike their husbands, on Tuesday the men struck their wives, as in December the servants scolded their masters. In the northern parts of "England" the men parade the streets on Easter Sunday and claim the privilege of lifting every woman three times from the ground, receiving in payment a kiss or a silver sixpence. The same is done by the women to the men on the next day. In the Neumark (Germany) on Easter Day the men servants whip the maid servants with switches; on Monday the maids whip the men. They secure their release with Easter eggs. These customs are probably of pre-Christian origin.

5. Risus Paschalis This strange custom originated in Bavaria in the fifteenth century. The priest inserted in his sermon funny stories which would cause his hearers to laugh, e.g. a description of how the devil tries to keep the doors of hell locked against the descending Christ. Then the speaker would draw the moral from the story. This Easter laughter, giving rise to grave abuses of the word of God, was prohibited by Clement X (1670-1676) and in the eighteenth century by Maximilian III and the bishops of Bavaria

6. Handball In France handball playing was one of the Easter amusements, found also in Germany. The ball may represent the sun, which is believed to take three leaps in rising on Easter morning. Bishops, priests, and monks, after the strict discipline of Lent, used to play ball during Easter week. This was called libertas Decembrica, because formerly in December, the masters used to play ball with their servants, maids, and shepherds. The ball game was connected with a dance, in which even bishops and abbots took part. At Auxerre, Besancon, etc. the dance was performed in church to the strains of the "Victimae paschali". In England, also, the game of ball was a favorite Easter sport in which the municipal corporation engaged with due parade and dignity. And at Bury St. Edmunds, within recent years, the game was kept up with great spirit by twelve old women. After the game and the dance a banquet was given, during which a homily on the feast was read. All these customs disappeared for obvious reasons.

7. Processions and awakenings At Puy in France, from time immemorial to the tenth century, it was customary, when at the first psalm of Matins a canon was absent from the choir, for some of the canons and vicars, taking with them the processional cross and the holy water, to go to the house of the absentee, sing the "Haec Dies", sprinkle him with water, if he was still in bed, and lead him to the church. In punishment he had to give a breakfast to his conductors. A similar custom is found in the fifteenth century at Nantes and Angers, where it was prohibited by the diocesan synods in 1431 and 1448. In some parts of Germany parents and children try to surprise each other in bed on Easter morning to apply the health-giving switches.

8. House blessings On the eve of Easter the homes are blessed in memory of the passing of the angel in Egypt and the signing of the door-posts with the blood of the paschal lamb. The parish priest visits the houses of his parish; the papal apartments are also blessed on this day. The room, however, in which the pope is found by the visiting cardinal, is blessed by the pontiff himself.

9. Sports and celebrations The Greeks and Russians after their long, severe Lent make Easter a day of popular sports. At Constantinople the cemetery of Pera is the noisy rendezvous of the Greeks; there are music, dances, and all the pleasures of an Oriental popular resort; the same custom prevails in the cities of Russia. In Russia anyone can enter the belfries on Easter and ring the bells, a privilege of which many persons avail themselves.

10. Another Easter tradition is the eating of Hot Cross Buns. These cakes were marked by the Saxons to honor Eastre, the fertility goddess. The crosses on the buns are said to represent the moon's quarters, while Christians see the cross as a reference to the crucifixtion. a recipe of Hot Cross Buns:

Ingridients

• 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) • 3 tablespoons butter • 1 tablespoon instant powdered milk • 1/4 cup white sugar • 3/8 teaspoon salt • 1 egg • 1 egg white • 3 cups all-purpose flour • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast • 3/4 cup dried currants • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1 egg yolk • 2 tablespoons water • 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract • 2 teaspoons milk

Instructions

1. Put warm water, butter, skim milk powder, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, egg, egg white, flour, and yeast in bread maker and start on dough program. 2. When 5 minutes of kneading are left, add currants and cinnamon. Leave in machine till double. 3. Punch down on floured surface, cover, and let rest 10 minutes. 4. Shape into 12 balls and place in a greased 9 x 12 inch pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double, about 35-40 minutes. 5. Mix egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water. Brush on balls. 6. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack. 7. To make crosses: mix together confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and milk. Brush an X on each cooled bun.

See also:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hot-Cross-Buns-I/Detail.aspx

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-hot-cross-buns

http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/holiday/easter/

Easter and Its connections to Pagans and Passover

There seems to be much scholarly discourse that links the Christian tradition of Easter to the Jewish tradition of Passover and to certain Pagan rituals and beliefs that came before them. There is even some dispute over the actual date of Christ’s death and resurrection.

The name Easter may have first been associated with an ancient Goddess, The Venerable Bede, (672-735). She was the mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe who was known as Eastra.

Many Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess had a fictional consort named Attis who was believed to have been born in a virgin birth and to have died and been resurrected each year during the March 22 to March 25th period around 200 B.C. Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same area at around the same time, Christians and Pagans used to quarrel about which of their gods was the true one.

Some religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis many centuries before the birth of Christ. One theory is that they were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus’ in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans.

Easter has Judeo-Christian origins. The life of Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospels includes the Christian version of this theme. Good Friday is observed in remembrance of Jesus’ execution by an occupying Roman army, and his burial in a cave. Easter Sunday is the date when a group of his female followers first noticed that the tomb was empty, and concluded that he had been resurrected. The timing of the Christian celebration of Easter is linked to the Jewish celebration of Passover. The name Passover was derived from the angel of death passing over homes of Jews, which were marked, with the blood of a lamb thus sparing the first born of such homes. Liberal Theologians link Passover to ancient pre-Israelite Pagan rituals practiced by wandering Semitic shepherds in celebration of an agricultural harvest using unleavened bread.

Passover was the most important feast of the Jewish calendar, celebrated around the 22nd of March. The Synoptic gospels of Mark, Mathew, and Luke stated that Jesus’ last supper was a Seder or Passover celebration.

Most Christians believe that Jesus Christ was executed and buried just before the beginning of Passover on Friday evening. Others believe that the execution occurred on a Wednesday or Thursday. Some liberal Christians have suggested that the early Christian Church arbitrarily selected Passover as the time thus allowing them to link the most important religious days in Judaism and Christianity.

Easter is a Christian Festival, which celebrates Christ’s Resurrection. Today eggs are decorated and exchanged with friends and family to commemorate the unification of all God’s children. In ancient times eggs were exchanged to symbolize the continuance of life after death. Early Christianity is thought to have adopted the idea and incorporated it into their Easter celebration. http://www.editorials.arrivenet.com/religion/article.php/11004.html

Orthodox Easter

There are many differences in the way Western Christians (Protestants and Roman Catholics) and the way Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter. The most obvious difference is that Easter is normally celebrated on a different Sunday in the East and the West. Orthodox Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday that follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Usually Eastern Easter is one week later. It happens very rare when they fall on the same Sunday.

A second big difference has to do with the hour of the day when Easter is celebrated. Western Christians attend Easter sunrise services. But in the East (especially in Russia), Easter services last all through Saturday night. The congregation gathers in the church or cathedral on Saturday evening and takes part in an Easter vigil commemorating the buried Christ. Orthodox church buildings have an inner sanctuary blocked off from the sight of the worshipers, and at this point the door to that sanctuary is closed, signifying that the way to God is closed. But at the stroke of midnight, the priest throws the doors open and emerges, shouting, "Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Christ is risen!" After hours of silent anticipation, the congregation comes to life and shouts back, "He is risen indeed!" This custom powerfully demonstrates the way Christ’s resurrection has opened up for us the way to God.

Favorite Russian Easter customs has to do with dyeing Easter eggs. In Russia, people often dye the eggs red. The red dye symbolizes the blood of Christ. Furthermore, people crack the eggs open using nails, in order to remind themselves again of the death of Christ. As the eggs are cracked and the whites are exposed, people remember that the blood of Christ cleanses us from sin. Although our sins were as scarlet, we have been made as white as snow.

The morning of Easter Sunday is the end of Great Lent when Orthodox believers can break their fast with specially prepared food: paskha (Easter cake), culich, painted and colored eggs.

In Russia, the corresponding dinner is actually a picnic, in which the entire congregation celebrates together. People bring food to the church on Saturday evening and ask the priests to bless it. After the food is sanctified at church, culiches are placed on towels decorated with lace and embroidery, and eggs are placed on dishes with sprouted grains of oats and wheat and green salad leaves. In addition, there are the most delicious meat and fish dishes on the festive table. Then after the long Easter vigil through the night and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Easter morning, people eat together on the lawn outside the church building. They believe that such an important celebration cannot be merely a private or family affair, and the worshipers are reminded by this communal picnic that all members of the body of Christ belong to one another.

Holy Week is the best time to pay visits and to accept guests. Friends and acquaintances exchange colored eggs and greet each other with the words "Christ is risen!" - "Indeed he is risen!"

See also:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm

http://www.in2greece.com/english/factstrivia/facts/easter.htm

http://www.gatchina.ru

Catholic Easter

Easter Everywhere

Rabbits soft and cuddly

Baby chickens, too.

Easter eggs for baskets

White and pink and blue.

Easter cards of greeting,

Music in the air,

Lilies just to tell us

It's Easter everywhere.

Songs and poems about Easter

http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10002.html

http://www.authorsden.com/categories/poetry

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/sogspoems

Easter egg games

Eggs play an important part in Easter sports. Two traditional Easter egg games are the Easter Egg Roll and the Easter Egg Hunt. The rules of an Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll a hard-boiled egg the greatest dis¬tance or can make the roll without breaking it, usually down a grassy hillside or slope. In England, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game which has been con¬nected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb when He was resurrected. British settlers brought this custom to the New World. Maybe the most famous egg rolling takes place on the White house Lawn. Hundreds of children come with baskets filled with brightly decorated eggs and roll them down the famous lawn. The custom of an Easter Egg Hunt began because children believed that rabbits laid eggs in the grass. The Easter rabbit is supposed to bring Easter eggs and hide them. He is very shy. He comes at night, and no one ever sees him. Today on Easter Sunday, children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them bas¬kets of sweets. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs all around the house and the child who finds the most eggs wins a prize. Easter-egg tree. The Germans were the first to make an Easter-egg tree. First, they careful¬ly pricked a hole at each end of the shell and blew out the inside of the egg. Then they colored and decorated the shells and hung them on a tree or bush outdoors. Sometimes they used bright ribbons and tinsel and other decora¬tions on an egg tree indoors. German settlers in Pennsylvania brought the custom of the Easter-egg tree to America. Hot Cross Buns. One of the oldest Good Friday customs is eating hot cross buns. These small sweet buns, marked with a cross of white icing, may have originated in pre-Christian times. Early Egyptians, Greeks and Romans marked their loaves of bread with symbols to honor their gods and goddesses. Another belief was that eating hot cross buns on Good Friday served to protect the home from fire. Easter Parade and Wearing New Clothes. On Easter Sunday everyone likes to wear something new. The tradition of wearing new clothes on Easter could be dated back to first-century Christians. Like many other Easter symbols, the new clothes represent the new life offered through the death and Resurrection of Jesus. An Americans belief is that good luck can be ensured for the year by wearing three new things on Easter Sunday. In New York City this old Easter custom has turned into a fashion parade on Fifth Avenue. Not all Christian churches celebrate the Easter season in the same way. But the message of Easter is always the same. It is the message of life without end. It is the good news of what happened to Jesus of Nazareth more than nineteen hundred years ago.

Egg Rolling

In England, Germany and some other countries, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game which has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb when he was resurrected. British settlers brought this custom to the New World. In the United States in the early 19th century, Dolly Madison, the wife of the fourth American President, organized an egg roll in Washington, D.C. She had been told that Egyptian children used to roll eggs against the pyramids so she invited the children of Washington to roll hard-boiled eggs down the hilly lawn of the new Capitol building! The custom continued, except for the years during the Civil War. In 1880, the First Lady invited children to the White House for the Egg Roll because officials had complained that they were ruining the Capitol lawn. It has been held there ever since then, only cancelled during times of war. The event has grown, and today Easter Monday is the only day of the year when tourists are allowed to wander over the White House lawn. The wife of the President sponsors it for the children of the entire country. The egg rolling event is open to children twelve years old and under. Adults are allowed only when accompanied by children! Traditionally, many celebrants bought new clothes for Easter which they wore to church. After church services, everyone went for a walk around the town. This led to the American custom of Easter parades all over the country. Perhaps the most famous is along Fifth Avenue in New York City. Good Friday is a federal holiday in 16 states and many schools and businesses throughout the U.S. are closed on this Friday.

Fun facts about Easter

1. The Easter egg roll on the White House lawn has been a tradition ever since 1878, and it remains one of the most popular events in Washington, D.C. each year.

2. The people of the Ukraine are thought to be the original egg decorators, and the process of creating those intricately decorated eggs is known as “Pysanky”. The Ukranians and others have been creating these intricately decorated eggs for over six thousand years, and some of their creations are worth a fortune.

3. It was the Germans who first created edible Easter bunnies out of a combination of pastry and sugar. These special Easter treats were first baked in the early 1800s, and as Germans immigrated to the United States they brought their chocolate rabbits with them.

4. In Europe, it was common practice to hang decorated Easter eggs from tree branches, and this practice of creating Easter trees is becoming popular in the United States as well.

5. The egg as a symbol of fertility and new birth predates the Christian celebration of Easter. The egg has long been held to be a symbol of rejuvenation and rebirth. Decorated eggs have been found in Egyptian tombs, and the Greeks used to place eggs on the graves of departed loved ones.

6. Vegreville, Canada is the site of the largest Easter egg in the world. It measures 25.7 feet long, 18.3 feet wide, and stands 31.6 feet high. The 2,000-pound aluminum skin is attached to the central mast at a 30-degree angle with 177 turnbuckle struts.

7. Over two billion dollars is spent on Easter candy each year in the US alone. 74% of children eat the ears off their chocolate Easter bunny before eating any other part of it. 10% eat the feet first and 13% eat the tail first. The most popular Easter candy is chocolate eggsfavorite flavor of Easter jellybeans is cherry, followed closely by strawberry.

8. Each year there are 118 million Easter cards mailed world wide.

9. In the US each year, there are over a million eggs found in Easter egg hunts. An Easter egg hunt is organized each year and takes place on the lawn of the White House.

10. 14th of October 2003 fried eggs from 5 500 eggs was cooked in Hungary. It was weighed 300 kilograms and it had been cooked for two hours.

11. The egg is the most universal product which is known all over the world. It is cooked easily. And every nation tries to cook a masterpiece from eggs by its own way. Russians like fried eggs. The French are good at making omlettes. You know this facts, don’t you? Let’s go further. The Chinese pickle the eggs for some time in soya beans sauce and in Mexico very hot eggs which are in hot boulion very popular. They are called “huevos a la mexicana”. Finns staff the eggs with basil and curd. Romanians stew the eggs in oven with sour cream. In Japan they like fried eggs with onion and meat and in Algeria they prefer eggs with garlic. Azerbaijanis fry different kinds of herbs and then they add a mixture of eggs and milk and after it get ready they pour the sour cream in it.

Who can lay eggs? Ostriches lay the biggest eggs. They weigh more than one kilogram. The shell of such egg is so firm that a man can stand on it. Humming-bird lays the least eggs. They are like beans and the weight of one egg is about 0.37 grammas. But let along birds insects lay the least eggs.

http://www.tabloidcolumn.com/easter-egg.html

http://www.brownielocks.com/eastertrivia.html

Easter in Britain and in Russia.

In view of the aforesaid we’d like to compare holiday Easter in Britain and in Russia.

• In Russia we celebrate Easter 13 days later than in Britain. Until 1918, Russia had the Julian calendar, whilst the majority of European countries had adopted the Gregorian calendar long before.

• The word “Easter” comes from Anglo-Saxon “Eostre”, which is the name of the Goddess of Spring and Dawn.

• The Russian word “Пасха” comes from the Greek “pascha” which comes from the Hebrew “pesakh” meaning Passover. This is a Jewish spring holiday which dates back to the days of the Old Testament. After the Pharaoh would not let the people of Israel leave Egypt, God killed every first-born in Egypt. However, he spared (passed over) Jewish families who marked their thresholds with lamb’s blood.

• Western Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs upon or following the vernal equinox (March 21st).

• In the Eastern Orthodox Church, however, a slightly different calculation is followed. As a result, the Orthodox Easter can fall one, four, or five weeks later.

• Some Easter observances are older than Christianity. Eggs, for example, have always been a traditional symbol of resurrection and re-birth. Another popular Easter symbol in Britain is the Easter hare (or Easter Bunny as it is known in America.

• One of the best known of Easter customs, which has a long history, is Easter parades or Easter Bonnet parades as they are called in the U.K. They originated with the tradition of buying new clothes for Easter which people wore to church. After church services, everyone went for a walk around the town.

• Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter pastime which still flourishes in Northern England, Scotland, Ulster, the Isle of Man, and Switzerland. At the beginning of the 20th century we had the same tradition in Russia, but it was lost after the Revolution.

• There are two Christian holidays in Britain besides Easter is state holiday. It is Easter Monday and Good Friday.

• In Russia these holidays are not state recognized. On Good Friday bakers sell hot cross buns, which are toasted and eaten with butter. Easter Monday is a holiday and many people travel to the seaside for the day or go and watch one of many sporting events such as football and horse-racing.

Bibliography:

1. Seasons and Celebrations. Oxford university Press.1997

2.