Today we Celebrate Easter

Society | April 8, 2018, Sunday // 10:42|  views

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Easter is the principal festival of the Orthodox Church. In the bible, it is the day when Mary Magdalene found that an empty tomb in the cave in which Jesus had been placed following his death by crucifixion on the Friday before.

It signifies the end of the 40 days of Lent, meaning Christians who gave up something during lent to signify Jesus' time in the wilderness, can indulge themselves again.

The name Easter is derived from 'Ostara' or 'Eostre', a pagan goddess of fertility, whose feast was celebrated on the Vernal Equinox. The word East is also derived from her names, as is Oestrogen, the female hormone.

Easter depends on Passover not only for much of its symbolic meaning but also for its position in the calendar. The Orthodox church uses the Julian calendar for the calculation of Easter, whereas the Western churches use the Gregorian calendar. This difference can often mean that Orthodox Easter falls later than Easter observed elsewhere. The earliest date it can fall is 4 April and the latest is 8 May.

Modern Easter celebrations revolve around eggs. They may be painted, rolled down hills or eaten if they are of the chocolate variety. The Christian tradition of egg is aid to represent rebirth and resurrection - new life being born from the egg. It's also been said that egg recalls the shape of the stone that rolled away on Easter Sunday form the tomb that held Jesus' body. 

This egg tradition is almost certainly a distillation of a much older pagan custom celebrating spring. The ancient Persians celebrated their new year at the time of the vernal equinox by painting eggs. 

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