Easter was originally celebrated by ancient Anglo-Saxons, in honour of their goddess of offspring and springtime, Estre. It was adapted to Christianity during the second century by Christian missionaries. These missionaries embarked on converting pagans to Christianity by “selling” Easter as a by-product merge of the two religions. The Estre celebration coincided with the estimated dates of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ. Masses of pagans converted to Christianity, and the spelling of Estre changed to the modern-day Easter.
Easter was originally celebrated on any day of the week before A.D.325, until Roman Emperor Constantine passed the Easter Rule. The Easter Rule implied that Easter could only be celebrated on the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon, or vernal equinox. This contradicted the merge of celebrations because the ecclesiastical new moon did not have a set date like the vernal equinox, celebrated on March 21st, and the astronomical full moon. For this reason, Easter is now celebrated on any Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th.
Estre was worshipped by the Saxons through her earthly symbol the rabbit. The hare, rabbit and the bird were largely associated with the springtime bringing new life, through their high fertility rates. These animals later became associated with the Resurrection of Christ.
German folktale writings of the 1500s depicted “Oschter Haws” as an Easter Bunny – hare, not rabbit – that would bring brightly coloured eggs to children on the eve of Easter, and leave them in bonnets and shoes. In these days, eggs were boiled and dyed a crimson red to symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is believed that German settlers took this tradition to America in the early 1800s. It was during this period that the first Easter Bunnies, made of pastry and sugar were introduced. The first chocolate bunnies and eggs were made in Europe during the early 1900s.
Today, Easter is an international religious holiday, with its celebratory traditions varying from continent to continent. Australia’s largest annual event, the Sydney Royal Easter Show hosted. Australians also prefer Easter bilbies – a native rodent-like endangered species, with long rabbit-like ears – instead of bunnies.
Royal Easter Show – Sydney, Australia and Australia’s version of the Easter bunny – a chocolate Easter bilby
Brazil celebrates through a Holy Week, where religious fanatics walk the streets carrying crosses and statues of Virgin Mary. They also offer worship through the symbol of the Marcela flower, which blooms only during Lent. In England they have pancake races to church, in Bulgaria they throw eggs at each other and in Greece people carry baskets of brightly coloured eggs as a symbol that “Christ has risen”.
Parishioners adorn the streets with sawdust street art to greet the religious processions who walk over it. The Rio-de-Janeiro carnival takes place annually, 40-days before Easter.
Orthodox Christians exchange ‘holy fire’ as midnight brings Easter, with good tidings. The traditional greeting is ‘Hristos vozkrese’ (‘Christ has risen’). The response is ‘Voistina vozkrese’ (‘He has risen indeed’). Other traditions include hand-painted eggs and Bulgarian Easter bread.
Traditions that are prevalent in South Africa are pickled fish and hot cross buns on Good Friday, and a Christmas-like feast on Easter Sunday, followed by chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs. Easter Monday is usually spent with family and friends.
South African’s are infamous for enjoying the traditional pickle fish and hot cross buns on Good Friday, and those who reside in the Gauteng region can enjoy a family day at the annual Rand Easter Show.
Other religious celebrations that occur during this period are Passover (14-22 April 2014), a Jewish celebration and Pascha (20 April 2014) the Eastern Orthodox Christians’ Easter celebration, that coincides with the Western Christians Easter this year.
A traditional Passover Seder table-setting.
