EASTER TRADITIONS IN ROMANIAComenius

ALDES MARIACls a 6-a A

Easter is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament.[2][3] Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil 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.[7] Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March (although the astronomical equinox occurs on 20 March in most years), and the "Full Moon" is not necessarily on the astronomically correct date

Easter

Easter is one of the most important celebrations of Christianity, commemorating the moment when Jesus came back from the dead. Romanians start preparing for this special day long before the day itself, and Postul Pastelui (Lent) lasts for 48 days. During this Lenten period we pray and go to church, while some of us give up meat, eggs, or dairy products. It’s a ritual of purification for both the body and soul.

Sucevita In our country, the symbol of this celebration is the Easter egg. It represents Jesus rising from the grave and coming back to life – just as the chicken comes out of the egg.So why do we paint the Easter eggs? It is said that when the Virgin Mary came to cry for her crucified son, she placed a basket of eggs under the Cross. The eggs turned red as a symbol of the blood that flowed from the wounds of Jesus, and since then we paint Easter eggs. At first, the eggs were painted only in red, but later we started painting them in many colors, including green, yellow, orange, blue, and even black.

The most beautiful Easter eggs are made in a magical region of Romania called Bucovina. The eggs made here are called “oua incondeiate” (painted eggs). After painting the egg, the technique is to keep the background color of the egg and draw beautiful patterns on the eggshell with melted beeswax. The procedure is complicated and requires much patience and skill. The peasants of Bucovina are undisputed artists who seem to possess magical powers because only magic can turn a simple egg into such an amazing piece of art. You can admire these masterpieces in the “EggMuseum” in the village of Vama, and better still, if you are brave enough, you can even try to practice this ancient technique with some help from the local artisans

The most beautiful Easter eggs are made in a magical region of Romania called Bucovina. The eggs made here are called “oua incondeiate” (painted eggs). After painting the egg, the technique is to keep the background color of the egg and draw beautiful patterns on the eggshell with melted beeswax. The procedure is complicated and requires much patience and skill. The peasants of Bucovina are undisputed artists who seem to possess magical powers because only magic can turn a simple egg into such an amazing piece of art. You can admire these masterpieces in the “EggMuseum” in the village of Vama, and better still, if you are brave enough, you can even try to practice this ancient technique with some help from the local artisans.

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