Sunday, April 08, 2012

Easter

Today is the day Christians around the world celebrate as Easter Sunday, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion on Good Friday. It marks the end of Lent, a 40-day period period of fasting and contemplation which begins on Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Eastertide.

Easter is a moveable feast - one of the few holidays in the calendar year with no fixed date. This is because the celebration of Easter is based on the cycles of the moon. According to tradition, Jesus rose from the dead on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, by which calculation Easter can come as early as March 22nd and as late as April 25th. The immediate period leading up to the Easter celebration is known as Holy Week and includes the religious holidays of Maundy Thursday (also known more simply as Holy Thursday), and Good Friday.

The word "Easter" and many of the secular traditions of the holiday are based on pagan traditions. Anglo Saxons worshipped Eostre, the goddess of springtime, as a way of celebrating the return of the sun after the long winter. According to legend, Eostre saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became our Easter Bunny. Eggs are, in any case, a traditional symbol of fertility, not least because they were once scarce during the winter. There are records of people giving each other decorated eggs at Easter as far back as the 11th century.

We will be celebrating Easter with our local grandchildren this morning with an Easter Egg hunt, and therefore I have to rush ...

So, Happy Easter!

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo


7 comments:

Duckbutt said...

Happy Easter, Bilbo!

Mike said...

'According to legend..'

I've never heard this before. I learned something new today. Heck, for the week! I'm taking a learning break.

The Bastard King of England said...

Have a great Easter.

Amanda said...

Happy Easter!

eViL pOp TaRt said...

Happy Easter! Hope the bunny brings you goodies.

KathyA said...

Amazing that some of the blessed of holy days in the RC church have pagan beginnings. Blessings to you and your family.

Elvie Fornshell said...

Hope it was lovely, Bill.
My grand kids are much too grown up for Easter egg hunts now but everyone who enters our house on this day must find their goodie filled Easter baggie hidden somewhere in our house. That is a tradition for both Easter and Christmas.