Those remarkable Easter customs!

Lionel WIJESIRI

EASTER commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most important Christian festival, and the

 one celebrated with the greatest joy. Like the origin of the festival, the precise date of Easter Sunday too has been a matter of contention.

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars (which follow the motion of the sun and the seasons). Instead, they are based on a lunar calendar.

Early Christians celebrated Easter on different days of the week. In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea convoked by Emperor Constantine issued the Easter Rule, which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

Over the origin of Easter in the religious context, there has been much debate. However there is a general acceptance of the proposition offered by 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, which states that Easter owes its origin to a spring festival observed by the ancient Anglo-Saxons (pagans) commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre.

Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, when the ratio of day to night was exactly the

same.

Thus Easter has been a pagan festival that heralded the advent of the spring season after the desolate winter months. When the second-century Christian missionaries arrived in England, they used these pagan celebrations as a tool for converting the pagans to Christianity.

Since the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ, the contours of the festival was altered to make it a Christian celebration.

The dichotomous nature of Easter is reflected in the celebration of the festival. On one hand the festival is a tribute to the resurrection of Jesus while on the other celebration of Easter heralds the advent of the spring season.

The religious observation in the church notwithstanding, Easter has been a season for celebrations and feasting.

Easter is celebrated around the world with fanfare and religious vigour. While the religious observations of the festival follow the Christian church, the basic contours of Easter celebration may vary in different countries due to regional influences.

These variations straddle almost all the aspects of Easter celebration. Let us see a few of the traditions which are still sustained.

DENMARK

Gækkebreve or teaser letters is a unique Danish Easter tradition, written like little poems or rhymes. Teaser

 letters are usually anonymous, but signed with a number of dots corresponding to the number of letters in the sender’s name, so that the recipient can make a calculated guess about the sender.

The gækkebreve can be decorated with a snowdrop, which is regarded as the first flower of the year. If the receiver cannot guess the sender’s identity within a certain period of time, the receiver will have to give an Easter Egg to the sender.

ENGLAND

In many parts of England troupes of dancers called “Morris Dancers” perform on Easter Sunday. These troupes of dancers, almost exclusively male, perform old spring dances to frighten away the veil spirits of winter.

The dancers wear white shorts, red sashes, black trousers and straw hats with lots of flowers and streamers. Red and green ribbons and little bells are tied onto the dancers.

GERMANY

The tradition of the egg tree is also popular in Germany. The eggs used for cooking Easter meals are not broken but are emptied by blowing the contents into a bowl through pinholes at either end of the egg.

The hollow eggs are then beautifully decorated and hung from shrubs and trees during Easter week.

In Germany, the Lent season is preceded by a carnival called Fasching. In Fasching parades in the city of Cologne, people wear masks and giant-sized papier-mâché heads, sometimes twice the size of their bodies.

In some villages people hold an Easter walk or ride in memory of the walk Jesus took to His death.

GREECE

On Saturday before Easter Sunday, the Orthodox Patriarch breaks the seal of the door of the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and emerges with the Holy Fire.

The flame is then flown by Olympic Airways, accompanied by high-ranking priests and Government officials to Athens airport where it is met by an honour guard to the small church of Agia Anargyroi in the Plaka. From there the light is distributed to churches all over Attika and the rest of Greece.

As the Saturday evening approaches, people congregate in the church carrying with them unlit candles. At midnight the priest announces the resurrection of Christ (“Christos anesti”) and lets the people light their candles of the Holy Flam taken from Christ’s nativity cave in Jerusalem.

After the rituals, the priest blesses the food carried by people to the church and these are served on Easter Sunday.

ITALY

Among the myriad of Easter traditions in Italy, Scoppio del Carro, meaning explosion of the cart, is the most spectacular one.

For over 300 years the Easter celebration in Florence has included this ritual, during which an elaborate wagon, a structure built in 1679 and standing two to three stories high, is dragged through Florence behind

 a fleet of white oxen decorated in garlands.

MEXICO

The most spectacular of Easter traditions in Mexico is the burning of a Judas effigy filled with firecrackers.

This custom, which takes place Holy Saturday, was outlawed in Guadalajara in the 1960s when several people died from a massive explosion, but it still continues in rural areas.

POLAND

The “blessing basket” is one of the unique Easter traditions in Poland. The blessing basket is prepared the Saturday before Easter Sunday.

The basket, stashed with coloured eggs, bread, cake, salt, paper and white coloured sausages, is taken to the church to have it blessed. This tradition stems from the belief that the Great Lent, is not over until the basket has been blessed. Hence it is called the Blessing Basket.

SPAIN

On Easter Sunday, in Almaden de la Plata near Seville, rag and straw effigies of notorious and infamous people are placed at different locations of the village. These dolls are finally torn apart and the pieces thrown into the air.

In Castilblanco de los Arroyos, they place similar dummies in the streets which are later set on fire. The dolls are known as Judas dolls.

SWEDEN

Påskkärringar or Easter witches is a unique Eastertide tradition in Denmark. Children dressed up as Easter witches with long skirts, colourful headscarves and painted red cheeks, go from house to house in the neighbourhood and present the occupants with paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in return.

According to Swedish folklore, during Easter the witches fly to Blåkulla (Blue Mountain) to meet the devil.

USA

The White House Easter Egg Roll is an annual event held on the South Lawn of the White House. The children attending the event take part in many activities, but rolling a hard-boiled egg across the lawn is still a highlight of the day. Presidents and First Ladies have personally greeted the egg rollers with the official White House Easter Bunny.

At the end of the day as egg rollers say goodbye, each receives a special presidential wooden egg complete with the signatures of the President and the First Lady and departs with fond memories of this happy tradition at the White House.

There is a beautiful hymn in the Eastern liturgies of Easter Sunday which proclaims, “Let us call even those who hate us our sisters and our brothers, for Christ the Almighty is Risen!” Easter has changed the meaning of time for us. Easter has changed the meaning of all of our relationships.

A happy Easter to you all!

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