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Easter is an important
religious event and for the non-religious it means celebrating spring and
spending quality time with the family.
People celebrated spring a
long time before Easter appeared and it takes its name from the Phoenician
Goddess of the Moon, Astarte, the Germanic goddesses of spring.However nowadays
Easter lost its value and became like all the other celebrations very
commercialized.
People sell chocolate eggs
and chocolate bunnies but they don’t know their meaning. The Easter bunny it’s
not modern, actually it is a symbol originally taken from the pagan festival of
Eastre, where goddess Eastre was worshipped through her symbol, a rabbit. The
Germans brought it to America but it was ignored until after the Civil War when
Easter became more celebrated by Americans.
The exchange of eggs in
spring was an old custom celebrated by Christians the egg represents rebirth
and it was often wrapped in a leaf or colored with leaves of some flowers.
Lovers also exchanged eggs painted romantically or representing the sun and the
spring time and the eggs were eaten after a ritual.
Orthodox Christians painted
eggs red to resemble the blood of Christ and they often made hollow eggs by
piercing the shell and blowing out the contents then painting pictures of
Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other religious figures on them.
Traditions from all over the
world
In Hungary children trade a painted egg and then try to throw a
coin into the egg and whoever wins gets to eat the egg.
In Ukraine people paint the egg in a specific style called Pysanky with wax making beautiful delicate
models on the eggs. They also have the Holy Week and they try to finish their
work in the fields before Thursday because from that day the work is forbidden.
In
Australia Easter is celebrated in a public way with events, eggs and church
services in March or April which are autumn unlike other countries where is
spring.
In
Sydney the agricultural show called The Royal Easter show
displays the best product, farm animals, parades and fireworks.
In
Austria Easter is celebrated with a modern festival, people cook crullers and
play a game which involves egg knocking.
In
Britain on Easter are preformed
old dances to frighten the spirits of winter and in the town Olney there is a
pancake race.
In
Bulgaria people throw eggs at each other and the one who finishes the game
without breaking their egg will be the most successful and lucky person in the
whole family for the next year.
People
also crack their eggs on the church wall and the one who doesn’t break their
egg is considered happy and lucky for the next year the oldest woman in the
family wipes the face of the children with the first egg cocked to bring
happiness and health. Bulgarians also bake the Easter bread, a tasty bread made
with spices.
In
Canada, in Quebec, Easter is celebrated with
the Winter Carnival, parades and sport events and eggs are forbidden during
Lent.
In China people believe that eggs are sacred and a symbol of
spring and fertility they paint the
eggs red use them as gifts.
Czechoslovakian Easter is
called Velikonoce and it dates from pre-Christian times. People decorate eggs
using the “batik" method, they bake a coffee bread named Babovka and a special
dish called Mazanec, a type of cake filled with almonds and citron with a cross
on it.
In Egypt no meat, eggs, fish or milk are supposed to be eaten
during Lent then on Palm Sunday they decorate the church with palms and flower
and children receive palm branches with holy water to take home. People go to
church every day during Holy Week and on Saturday night bells ring to announce
Christ’s resurrection. On Sunday the special Easter dinner takes place and on
Monday people exchange eggs and spend the day outdoors with family and friends.
In France they have Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras and the church
bells ring during the year but they stop ringing before Good Friday then, on
Sunday, they ring again announcing that Jesus is alive.
Children throw eggs up in the
air and the one who drops it loses, they also have a contest of rolling raw
eggs, the unbroken egg symbolizing the stone that was rolled away from the
tomb.
In Germany they cover the cross on Good Friday and they are
allowed to eat fish from that day then on Sunday they have a special Easter
lunch where they eat colored eggs and a cake in a lamb shape. They also serve
cookies and chocolate traditionally hiding them in the garden. Easter Fire is
when they gather and burn all the old Christmas trees clearing the sings of
winter.
In Romania the most important celebration of the year is Jesus
Resurrection and people clean the house, wear new clothes and have a ritual bath
before going to church, all this symbolizing a new beginning. People make
“drob" with lamb meat and cheese and eat lamb roast.
In America Easter is
celebrated in very different ways but most people celebrate it with traditional
church services and family meals. On Easter Sunday large street parades are
held led by someone carrying a candle or a cross. The famous Mardi Gras
carnival is held in New
Orleans then
after Mardi Gras Ash Wednesday comes which is the beginning of the Lent.
In Russia Christians go to
church on Easter Saturday night and at midnight they all celebrate the
resurrection of Jesus. The tradition says that they must give friends and
family brightly decorated eggs saying “Christ is risen" and they eat lamb,
chicken, pork, bread and Easter cake on Easter Sunday.
In all cultures Easter actually means
spending more time with your family and friends, refreshing family bonds but many people use this
holiday as an opportunity to make money rather than continuing the tradition.
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