Important Things You Need to Know About Easter

Counted among one of the most significant festivals celebrated by Christians worldwide, Easter is an occasion which is enjoyed with great religious inflammation and fanfare. Conceived as a commemoration of consequences that took place at a particular time in the past, Easter is a potent symbolization of the very nature of Christianity and its beliefs. Despite of unrestrained commercialization in today’s age, this festival marks a welcome extension where family, friends and relatives hang around with each other to have overwhelming fun and to flourish in new ways. Well, there can’t be anything better than an event when family reunites, love is renewed and deep feelings are shared.

Here are some important things you need to know about Easter and that will definitely let you apprise this festival even more.


History of Easter:
Over the years, history of Easter has been a subject of intense debate with deep roots and traditions. In 30 AD, Jesus was crucified under the order of Pontius Pilate, the then Roman Governor. However, on the third day (Sunday) after his crucifixion, he was resurrected. Since then, the Christian fraternity celebrate this occasion as passion-death-resurrection.

The word Easter has been derived from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of Teutonic mythology, Eostre. She is believed as the goddess of spring, and that’s why the month of April was dedicated to her by the Saxons, welcoming the return of spring with a rip-roaring festivity.


Why does the date of Easter move around?
Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first Full Moon on or after the vernal equinox (21 March). As a result, the exact date of Easter can lie between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

Introducing a caveat here, the “full moon” in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is specified as the 14th day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 relates to the ecclesiastical New Moon. Now, this Moon does not always take place on the exact date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical “vernal equinox” always occurs on March 21.
This reason makes Easter a moveable feast and that’s why it has not a fixed date.


Why the lamb on Easter?
There is an age-old custom of eating lamb on Easter and till the date; people genuinely feast like anything on lambs. Looking back into history, lamb symbolizes Jesus Christ and links his crucifixion to that of the lamb, sacrificed on the first Passover.

There is a popular fable that said that the devil can occur in form of any other creature but not the lamb, as the lamb had a spiritual symbolization attached with it. The sacrificial lamb is roasted and eaten in hopes that the holy angel of Jesus would traverse their homes and bring no harm.


Reason behind the Easter Eggs:
However, the exact origin Easter Eggs is unclear, but according to sources it’s a tradition trickled down from pre-Christian religion practices, where eggs were considered as a symbol of new life and fertility.

After the arrival of Christianity, the symbolization of the egg shifted to interpret, not the rebirth of nature, but the rebirth of man. Christians adopted the symbol of egg and compared it to the tomb from which Christ ascended.

So what exactly is the reason behind Easter Bunny?
The evolution of Easter bunny can be traced back to the ancient settlements of the Pagan. According to them, rabbit symbolizes fertility as it gives birth to a heap of offspring at a time. Now, since rabbits were considered as an icon of fertility, they turned typifies of the growing fertility of the world.

People of ancient pre-Christian religion celebrated the commencement of spring at the Vernal Equinox, by approving seeds for maturation and putting colored eggs on an altar. Hence, it can be easily concluded that Easter Bunny marks its beginning in the ancient Pagans.

Some fascinating Easter facts before moving on:
We all know that Easter is a great occasion because of its unrestrained merrymaking and best of all the time off from the hectic and workaholic lifestyle. No doubt, people know lot of stuffs about this festival. However, there some other bizarre facts that are still nowhere on the radar of general folks. With this in mind, EventEve takes a peek at some fascinating Easter facts. Here we go –
• Easter Bonnets are a throwback to the days when the people denied themselves the pleasure of wearing fine angels for the duration of Lent.
• Next to Halloween, Easter holiday paves way for confectionary business to boom.
• The maiden chocolate eggs recipes were made in Europe in the nineteenth century.
• The Easter Act was first passed in Parliament in 1928. The purpose was to provide a fixed date for Easter, establishing Easter Sunday as the Sunday following the second Saturday in April. But although the Act was passed, it has yet to be implemented.
• One in five children (19%) have made themselves ill because they have eaten too much chocolate during the holidays.
• The hop-egg is an Easter game in which the goal is to dance among eggs laid out on the floor without damaging them. The game is said to have been brought to England by the Saxons in the 5th Century.
• A festival of egg-throwing was held in church back in medieval times. The priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys to be then tossed around from one choir boy to another, and whoever held the egg when the clock struck 12 was the winner and got to keep the egg.
• 88 percent of adults carry on the Easter tradition of creating Easter baskets for their kids & 90 percent of adults hope for their own treat from the Easter Bunny.

Click here to read Top 10 interesting Easter facts

Leave a Reply Cancel reply