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Easter, the principal festival of
the Christian church year, celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion. The origins of
Easter date to the beginnings of Christianity, and it is
probably the oldest Christian observance after the Sabbath
(originally observed on Saturday, later on Sunday). Later, the
Sabbath subsequently came to be regarded as the weekly
celebration of the Resurrection.
Meanwhile, many of the cultural historians find, in the
celebration of Easter, a convergence of the three traditions -
Pagan, Hebrew and Christian.
According to St. Bede, an English historian of the early 8th
century, Easter owes its origin to the old Teutonic mythology.
It was derived from the name Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of
spring, to whom the month of April was dedicated. The festival
of Eostre was celebrated at the vernal equinox, when the day and
night gets an equal share of the day.
The English name "Easter" is much newer. When the early English
Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to
use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the
name of the old spring celebration. This made it more
comfortable for other people to accept Christianity.
But it is pointed out by some that the Easter festival, as
celebrated today, is related with the Hebrew tradition, the
Jewish Passover. This is being celebrated during Nisan, the
first month of the Hebrew lunar year. The Jewish Passover under
Moses commemorates Israel's deliverance from about 300 years of
bondage in Egypt.
It was in during this Passover in 30 AD Christ was crucified
under the order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate as the then
Jewish high priests accused Jesus of "blasphemy". The
resurrection came three days later, on the Easter Sunday. The
early Christians, many of them being brought up in Jewish
tradition regarded Easter as a new feature of the Pascha
(Passover). It was observed in memory of the advent of the
Messiah, as foretold by the prophets. And it is equanimous with
the proclamation of the resurrection. Thus the early Christian
Passover turned out to be a unitive celebration in memory of the
passion-death-resurrection of Jesus. However, by the 4th
century, Good Friday came to be observed as a separate occasion.
And the Pascha Sunday had been devoted exclusively to the honor
of the glorious resurrection.
Throughout the Christendom the Sunday of Pascha had become a
holiday to honor Christ. At the same time many of the pagan
spring rites came to be a part of its celebration. May be it was
the increasing number of new converts who could not totally
break free of the influence of pagan culture of their
forefathers.
But despite all the influence there was an important shift in
the spirit. No more glorification of the physical return of the
Sun God. Instead the emphasis was shifted to the Sun of
Righteousness who had won banishing the horrors of death for
ever.
The Feast of Easter was well established by the second century.
But there had been dispute over the exact date of the Easter
observance between the Eastern and Western Churches. The East
wanted to have it on a weekday because early Christians observed
Passover every year on the 14th of Nisan, the month based on the
lunar calendar. But, the West wanted that Easter should always
be a Sunday regardless of the date.
To solve this problem the emperor Constantine called the Council
of Nicaea in 325. The question of the date of Easter was one of
its main concerns. The council decided that Easter should fall
on Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal
equinox. But fixing up the date of the Equinox was still a
problem. The Alexandrians, noted for their rich knowledge in
astronomical calculations were given the task. And March 21 was
made out to be the perfect date for spring equinox.
The dating of Easter today follows the same. Accordingly,
churches in the West observe it on the first day of the full
moon that occurs on or following the Spring equinox on March
21., it became a movable feast between March 21 and April 25.
Still some churches in the East observe Easter according to the
date of the Passover festival.
The preparation takes off as early as on the Ash Wednesday from
which the period of penitence in the Lent begins. The Lent and
the Holy week end on the Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection |
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