EASTER

Easter (Пасха)

From Scotland to the Channel, Britain is full of customs and traditions. A lot of them have very long

histories. Some are funny, some are strange- But they're all interesting and are all part of the British way of life.

Easter is the time for holidays, festivals and time for giving chocolate Easter eggs, the day of parties, and above all a celebration that Jesus raised from the dead and lives forever. Eggs play an important part in Easter celebration; they are predominantly given to children. The eggs are either hollow or have a filling, and are usually covered with brightly colored silver paper.

Easter is much more than ordinary holiday. It is the oldest and the most important Christian Festival, the celebration of the death and coming Jesus Christ to life again. For Christians, the dawn of Easter Sunday with its message of new life is the high point of the year.

Easter is a feast that is not always held on the same date each year. Easter Day is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

This means that Easter can fall as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.

Like most Christian festivals, Easter has its origins in pre-Christian times. Our ancestors believed that the sun died in winter and was born anew in spring. The arrival of spring was celebrated all over the world long before the religious meaning became associated with Easter. Today, Easter celebrates the rebirth of Christ.

The word Easter is thought to have derived from the goddess Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon Goddess.

Even though Easter is associated with spring here in England, it is not so in countries in the Southern Hemisphere. In these countries Easter falls near the end of autumn. However, through out the world Easter is felt to be a time of new life and new beginnings. 

The History of Easter & its Custom
by Mani Niall

In the Christian faith Easter is celebrated to commemorate the Resurrection of Christ. Thus it is the most sacred of all holy days. Unknown to most people, it is also the name of an ancient Saxon festival, Eastre. Eastre is the pagan goddess of spring and offspring. How this pagan festival came to be supplanted by a solemn Christian holiday attests to the ingenuity of second century Christian missionaries.These missionaries traveled among the Teutonic tribes north of Rome. Whenever possible, they transformed local pagan customs to harmonize with Christian doctrine. On a practical basis, this prevented local converts from being persecuted by the pagan traditionalists. Since the Eastre festival to celebrate spring coincided with the time of the Christian observance of the resurrection of Christ, this crossover was achieved smoothly. Some doubt remained as to the exact day of the celebration. That was put to rest by the Emperor Constantine. In AD 325, the Emperor convened a    council and it was decreed: Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Easter is therefore bound never to fall before March 22 or after April 25. Now you know why Easter changes around from year to year. But what about the Easter bunny and those eggs? Well, back to the Saxons for the Easter bunny. They worshipped the goddess Eastre by the earthly symbol of a rabbit or "hare" as rabbits were known. Eventually the custom of the Easter bunny was brought to America by the Germans. Chocolate and candy eggs have become popular in this century, but exchanging of eggs in the springtime is an ancient custom. Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs. The Greeks placed eggs on their tombs. A Roman proverb states, "All life comes from an egg". In most cultures, the egg signifies birth and resurrection. So when the church began to celebrate the Resurrection in the second century, the egg was a popular symbol. In those days, wealthy people covered gift eggs in gold leaf, while peasants dyed theirs with flowers and herbs.