Happy Easter everybody.
Iyi Eweka.
Organization: Ile Asa Abalaye (A Yoruba-World Museum of Science & Culture)
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From: "Omo Oba" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 08:46:27 -0800
Subject: [Edo-Nation] Easter-Its meaning & Its origin
Reply-To: "Omo Oba" <[log in to unmask]>
The Easter Page -- Traditions, History, and Dates of
Easterhttp://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm
The Traditions of Easter
As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and
commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however,
is not necessarily a modern fabrication. >
Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter ha
had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious
festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre.
When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of th
north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to
Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.
It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to
celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with
celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly
decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations
by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a
Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of
year as the Christian observance of the resurrection of Christ. It made
sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian
celebration as onverts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was
eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easte.
The Date of Easter
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the
week, including Friday, Saturday, and Snday. In that year, the Council of
Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It 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. However, a caveat must
be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full
moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where
day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur
on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal
equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a
Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.
The Lenten Season
Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on
Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration,
sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday
prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before
the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras
celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten
Season.
The Cross
The Cross is the symbol of the Crucifixion, as opposed to the Resurrection.
However, at the Council of Nicaea, in A.D. 325, Constantine decreed that the
Cross was the official symbol of Christianity. The Cross is not only a
symbol of Easter, but it is more widely used, especially by the Catholic
Church, as a year-round symbol of their faith.
The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the
pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the
Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.
The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was
widely ignored by other Christians until hortly after the Civil War. In
fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that
time.
The Easter Egg
As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the
Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a
custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by christians.
From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures.
Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored
brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along
with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or
chocolate candy.
Copyright © 1998-2001 by Jerry Wilson. Get permission to reprint this article.
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