EASTER TRADITIONS

Postovaru Diana Alexandra

Clasa a VI-a B

EASTER• Easter (Old English Ēostre; Latin: Pascha; Greek Πάσχα Paskha, the

latter two derived from Hebrew: סח/ Pesaḥ) is a Christian festival פand holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

• The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding foot washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide, or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

DATE• 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 (both of which follow the cycle of the sun and the seasons). Instead, the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March (even though the equinox occurs, astronomically speaking, on 20 March in most years), and the "full moon" is not necessarily the astronomically correct date.

• In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April inclusive, within about seven days after the astronomical full moon.The following day, Easter Monday, is a legal holiday in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions.

• Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar. Because of the 13-day difference between the calendars between 1900 and 2099, 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian Calendar. Easter therefore varies between 4 April and 8 May on the Gregorian calendar (the Julian calendar is no longer used as the civil calendar of the countries where Eastern Christian traditions predominate). Also, because the Julian "full moon" is always several days after the astronomical full moon, the eastern Easter is often later, relative to the visible moon's phases, than western Easter.

• Among the Oriental Orthodox some churches have changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the date for Easter as for other fixed and moveable feasts is the same as in the Western church.

EASTER EGG• Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are special

eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide. The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth. In Christianity, for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus:[3][4][5] though an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb, a bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians, is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe will also experience eternal life.

EASTER EGG IN ROMANIA

TRADITIONS • Uploaded traditions, Easter in Romania is celebrated with great respect and reverence for Christ, given that almost all Romanians are Christians. From the Easter Bunny Special preparations of lamb for Easter, Romanians make this celebration colorful priceless.

Easter is celebrated worldwide in the Christian world. However, each country has its own traditions, rituals and beliefs. In Romania, people also have different habits depending on the region.

Thus, in Bukovina, in the night of the Resurrection, the young go to church steeple and the bell tongue wash with fresh water. Then wash their faces with the same water in the morning of Easter, to be beautiful all year round and attract young people just like the church bells signal the men to go to the mass of Easter morning.

• The appearance of the Easter Bunny in the traditions of pagan rituals and preservation is due deities worshiped in ancient times, this wonderful animal being seen, like today, as a symbol of fertility. There is an old legend that says that a winter day, the goddess Eostre found a wounded bird in a forest. To save the bird, the goddess transformed her into a rabbit with the ability to lay eggs.

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