Easter Traditions
About Easter
Easter Traditions
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Religious observation of Easter
Western Christianity
The Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western Christians.
The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as practised among Roman
Catholics and some Lutherans and Anglicans begins on the night of Holy Saturday
with the Easter Vigil. This, the most important liturgy of the year, begins in
total darkness with the blessing of the Easter fire, the lighting of the large
Paschal candle (symbolic of the Risen Christ) and the chanting of the Exsultet
or Easter Proclamation attributed to Saint Ambrose of Milan. After this service
of light, a number of readings from the Old Testament are read; these tell the
stories of creation, the sacrifice of Isaac, the crossing of the Red Sea, and
the foretold coming of the Messiah. This part of the service climaxes with the
singing of the Alleluia and the proclamation of the gospel of the resurrection.
A sermon may be preached after the gospel. Then the focus moves from the lectern
to the font. Anciently, Easter was considered the most perfect time to receive
baptism, and this practice is alive in Roman Catholicism, as it is the time when
new members are initiated into the Church, and it is being revived in some other
circles. Whether there are baptisms at this point or not, it is traditional for
the congregation to renew the vows of their baptismal faith. This act is often
sealed by the sprinkling of the congregation with holy water from the font. The
Catholic sacrament of Confirmation is also celebrated at the Vigil. The Easter
Vigil concludes with the celebration of the Eucharist and Holy Communion.
Additional celebrations are usually offered on Easter Sunday itself. Some
churches prefer to keep this vigil very early on the Sunday morning instead of
the Saturday night to reflect the gospel account of the women coming to the tomb
at dawn on the first day of the week. Some churches read the Old Testament
lessons before the procession of the Paschal candle, and then read the gospel
immediately after the Exsultet.
In predominantly Roman Catholic
Philippines, the morning of Easter (known in the national language as "Pasko
ng Muling Pagkabuhay" or the Pasch of the Resurrection) is marked with joyous
celebration, the first being the dawn "Salubong", wherein large statues of Jesus
and Mary are brought together to meet, imagining the first reunion of Jesus and
his mother Mary after Jesus' Resurrection. This is followed by the joyous Easter
Mass.
Eastern Christianity
Easter is the fundamental and most important festival of the
Eastern and Oriental Orthodox. Every other religious festival on their
calendars, including Christmas, is at best secondary in importance to the
celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. This is reflected in the cultures
of countries that are traditionally Orthodox Christian majority.
Easter-connected social customs are native and rich. Christmas customs, on the
other hand, are usually foreign imports, either from Germany or the USA. Eastern
Rite Catholics in communion with the Pope of Rome have similar emphasis in their
calendars, and many of their liturgical customs are very similar
.
This is not to say that Christmas and other elements of the Christian
liturgical calendar are ignored. Instead, these events are all seen as necessary
but preliminary to the full climax of the Resurrection, in which all that
has come before reaches fulfilment and fruition. Pascha (Easter) is the primary
act that fulfils the purpose of Christ's ministry on earth—to defeat death by
dying and to purify and exalt humanity by voluntarily assuming and overcoming
human frailty. This is succinctly summarized by the Paschal Troparion,
sung repeatedly during Pascha until the Apodosis of
Pascha (which is the day before Ascension):
English |
Greek |
Church Slavonic* |
Christ is risen from the dead,
Trampling down death by death,
And upon those in the tombs
Bestowing life! |
Χριστος ανέστη εκ
νεκρον,
θανάτο θάνατον πατήσας,
και τους εν τους μνήμασι,
ζωὴν χαρισάμενος! |
Хрїсто́съ воскре́се и́зъ ме́ртвыхъ,
Сме́ртїю сме́рть попра́въ,
И сѹ́щымъ во гробѣ́хъ
живо́тъ Дарова́въ! |
Transliterations |
Christos anesti ek nekron,
Thanato thanaton patisas,
Kai tis en tis mnimasi
Zo-in charisamenos! |
Christos voskrese iz mertvich,
Smertiu smert poprav,
I soushchim vo grobyech
Zhivot darovav! |
*This language is not well-supported on many systems, so it may not
appear as intended here.
Celebration of the holiday begins with the "anti-celebration" of Great Lent.
In addition to fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, Orthodox are supposed to reduce
all entertainment and non-essential activity, gradually eliminating them until
Holy Friday. Traditionally, on the evening of Holy Saturday, the Midnight Office
is celebrated shortly after 11:00 pm. At its completion all light in the church
building is extinguished. A new flame is struck in the altar, or the priest
lights his candle from a perpetual lamp kept burning there, and he then lights
candles held by deacons or other assistants, who then go to light candles held
by the congregation. Entirely lit by candle, the priest and congregation process
around the church building, re-entering ideally at the stroke of midnight,
whereupon Matins begins immediately followed by the Paschal Hours and then the
Divine Liturgy. Immediately after the Liturgy it is customary for the
congregation to share a meal, essentially an agape dinner (albeit at 2.00 am or
later!)
The
Holy Fire
in Jerusalem, celebrated on Holy Saturday, has been described as the oldest
miracle-related ceremony in Christendom.
The day after, Easter Sunday proper, there is no liturgy, since the liturgy
for that day has already been celebrated. Instead, in the afternoon, it is often
traditional to hold "Agape vespers". In this service, it has become customary
during the last few centuries for the priest and members of the congregation to
read a portion of the Gospel of John (20:19–25 or 19–31) in as many languages as
they can manage.
For the remainder of the week (known as "Bright Week"), all fasting is
prohibited, and the customary greeting is "Christ is risen!", to be responded
with "Truly He is risen!" (See also
Pascha greeting)
Non-religious Easter traditions
As with many other Christian dates, the celebration of Easter extends beyond
the church. Since its origins, it has been a time of celebration and feasting.
Today it is commercially important, seeing wide sales of
greeting cards and confectionery such as chocolate
Easter eggs, marshmallow bunnies,
Peeps, and
jelly
beans.
Despite the religious preeminence of Easter, in many traditionally Christian
countries
Christmas is now a more prominent event in the calendar year, being
unrivaled as a festive season, commercial opportunity, and time of family
gathering — even for those of no or only nominal faith. Easter's relatively
modest secular observances place it a distant second or third among the less
religiously inclined where Christmas is so prominent.
North America
In the
United States and
Canada, the
Easter holiday has been partially secularized, so that some North American
families participate only in the attendant revelry, central to which is
decorating
Easter eggs on Saturday evening and hunting for them Sunday morning, by
which time they have been mysteriously hidden all over the house and garden.
According to the children's stories, the eggs were hidden overnight and other
treats delivered by the
Easter
Bunny in an Easter basket which children find waiting for them when they
wake up. The Easter Bunny's motives for doing this are seldom clarified. Many
families in North America will attend
Sunday Mass in the morning and then participate in a feast or party in the
afternoon.
Scandinavia
In Norway,
in addition to skiing in the mountains and painting eggs for decorating, it is
tradition to solve murders at Easter. All the major television channels show
crime and detective stories (such as
Poirot), magazines print stories where the readers can try to figure out
who did it, and many new books are published. Even the milk cartons change to
have murder stories on their sides. Another tradition is
Yahtzee
games.
Central Europe
In the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia, a
tradition of whipping is carried out on
Easter Monday. In the morning, males whip females with a special handmade
whip called pomlázka (in Czech) or korbáč (in
Slovak). The pomlázka/korbáč consists of eight, twelve or even twenty-four
withies (willow rods) and is usually from half a meter to two meters long and
decorated with coloured ribbons at the end. It must be mentioned that while
whipping can be painful, the purpose is not to cause suffering. Rather, the
purpose is for males to exhibit their attraction to females; unvisited females
can even feel offended. The whipped female gives a coloured
egg to
the male as a sign of her thanks and forgiveness. A legend says that females
should be whipped in order to keep their health and fertility during whole next
year. In some regions the females can get revenge in the afternoon when they can
pour a bucket of cold water on any male. The habit slightly varies across the
Czech Republic. A similar tradition existed in
Poland (where
it is called
Dyngus Day),
but it is now little more than an all-day waterfight.
In Hungary
(where it is called
Ducking Monday),
perfume or
perfumed water is often sprinkled in exchange for an
Easter egg.
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