Easter
1. From the History of Easter
Today Easter is one of the most beautiful religious holidays. People celebrate it according
to their beliefs and their religious denominations. Christians commemorate Good Friday as
the day when Jesus Christ died and Easter Sunday as the day when he was resurrected.
The celebration takes its name and many of its customs and symbols from a pagan festival
called Eostre. Eostre was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring who got her name from the
word “east”, where the sun rises. Every spring northern European peoples celebrated the
festival of Eostre to greet the coming of new life in nature. Later Christians related the
rising of the sun to the resurrection of Jesus and their own spiritual rebirth.
It might surprise you to learn how many modern Easter symbols come from pagan times.
The egg, for example, was a fertility symbols long before the Christian era. The ancient
Persians, Greeks and Chinese exchanged eggs at their spring festivals. In Christian times
the egg took on a new meaning, symbolising the tomb from which Christ rose. Why the
ancient people decorated eggs is not quite clear. But this custom is still very popular at
Easter time.
The Easter bunny is also a pre-Christian fertility symbol. The rabbit was the most fertile
animal our ancestors knew, so they selected it as a symbol of new life. Today on Easter
Sunday, children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of sweets. He
has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children look for the eggs
all around the house.
2. Easter in Ukraine
Easter is one of the most important holidays of the year. Easter egg is called pysanka.
Pysanka shells have been found in archaeological sites from more than 3000 years ago,
and many of those designs are still being used on pysanka today. Preparation for Easter
starts seven weeks ahead of time with the advent of Lent. Believers don’t eat meat and
animal products. Palm Sunday, the week before Easter, is known in Ukraine as Willow
Sunday. People bring home willow branches which have been blessed in church. The
week is dedicated to preparing for Easter. The Thursday before Easter is called Clean
Thursday. According to Ukrainian tradition one should bathe before sunrise on this day.
Good Friday is the day that the women of the family bake “paska”, Ukrainian Easter
bread. On Easter Sunday the religious people go to church and listen to the service; usually
they bring with them baskets with food – Easter cakes, butter, cheese and, of course,
painted eggs. The priest in the church consecrates all the food: many people believe that
Easter eggs possess magic power and can protect from evil, thunder or fire and have
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healing power. After the end of the service, the people greet each other with the words:
“Christ has resurrected!” and return home.
3. Easter in Great Britain
Easter is a very popular holiday in Great Britain. At Easter the British celebrate the idea of
the new birth by giving each other chocolate Easter eggs (which are opened and eaten on
Easter Sunday), for the Easter Bonnet Parade and hot cross buns (on Good Friday bakers
sell hot cross buns). Emblems of Easter are also fluffy chicks, baby rabbits, daffodils,
catkins, and lily. Easter Monday is a holiday and many people travel to the seaside for the
day or go and watch one of the many sporting events. Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter
pastime which is still popular in Northern England, Scotland, Wales and Isle of Man. It
takes place on Easter Sunday or Monday, and consists of rolling coloured, hard-boiled
eggs down a slope until they are cracked and broken after which the players eat them. In
some parts of Britain the competitions take place and the winner is a player whose egg
remains longest undamaged, but usually the fun is just rolling and eating.
4. Easter in the USA
Easter is a religious holiday. It comes on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. The
students have a week of spring vacations. There is Easter Parade tradition in New York.
There is a tradition of decoration eggs and preparing candy eggs with Easter Rabbit for
children. In Washington, the President opens the grounds to the White House so that
children may roll Easter Eggs on the lawn. (In the USA 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 events have 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 12 years old and under. Adults are allowed only
when accompanied for children!)
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