Traditions Of Easter

Every year many people buy Christmas trees for Christmas and Easter baskets for Easter. They boil and paint Easter eggs and they watch Easter parades. Do they know why they do these traditions? Do they know who started these traditions or when they were started? Easter traditions are what make Easter such an important and well known holiday.

Easter is a combination of Pagan and Christian celebrations. Early Pagans celebrated the return of spring with a festival honoring Eastre (Wilson), a goddess of spring and dawn. The name Easter comes from this Pagan goddess who was known as Eastre or Oestre (Johnson and Ross). Second-century Christian missionaries joined the Pagan celebrations with the resurrection of Christ celebrations to create the holiday Easter (Wilson). Both Pagan and Christian celebrations take place every Easter.

In addition to celebrations, the date of Easter is also an important and traditional part of Easter. It is the first Sunday after the vernal equinox or the first Sunday after the first full moon following March 21. Easter is always on a Sunday and it always falls between March 22 and April 25. The date of Easter was established by the church council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. Easter falls right after lent, the 40-day period that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday ("MarveliciousÐ'..."). The date of Easter is important to the Easter holiday.

On Easter morning it is traditional to attend a sunrise service or church and to watch or take part in a parade. The Spaniards held the first Easter sunrise service in 1609. Today there are services in 19 national parks and also in Hollywood bowl in California. Most local Christian churches have either a

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sunrise service or an Easter mass for people to attend (Lord and Foley 42-43). In medieval Europe, people would take a walk after church. A crucifix or an Easter candle usually led these walks. Over the years this walk turned into a parade for people to show off their spring finery (Johnson and Ross). Sunrise services, Easter mass and Easter parades are all traditional parts of Easter.

Easter eggs are one of the most well known symbols of Easter. Eggs represent new life and fertility. The first Easter egg was used in Persia in 3000 B.C. to celebrate the first day of spring ("MarveliciousÐ'..."). Boiling eggs began in medieval Europe, where eggs were forbidden during lent. Any eggs laid during lent were boiled, to preserve them, and eaten or given as presents on Easter day (Johnson and Ross). Germans were the first to pierce eggs and blow out the contents to make them hollow. The Germans also began the tradition of giving eggs to children ("Easter Eggs"). Boiling eggs, piercing eggs and giving eggs as presents are traditions of Easter.

Just like Easter celebrations, the Easter rabbit has origins from both the Pagan and the Christian religions. Followers of the Pagan religion believed that the rabbit was a symbol of fertility and new life. Their goddess, Eastre, was often worshipped through her earthly symbol, the rabbit ("MarveliciousÐ'..."). The Christian origin came from Germany where adults made up stories of a rabbit laying eggs for the children to find (Johnson and Ross). The Easter rabbit is both a well known and an important part of Easter.

People paint Easter eggs for fun, for decoration and sometimes to bring good fortune. The first egg dyeing in the United States was in the Early 1700's by the Germans. They used onionskins and bark to dye the eggs and then they would paint symbols on the eggs to bring good fortune. Some symbols they used were a rooster for fulfillment of wishes, a deer for good health and flowers for love and charity ("MarveliciousÐ'..."). Often the rich would decorate eggs by wrapping them in a gold leaf (Wilson). It was also common for eggs to be painted bright colors for the sunlight of spring or crimson

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to honor the blood of Christ ("Easter Eggs"). Today, in modern times, eggs are painted many different colors and many different patterns. Painting Easter eggs for Easter is an important tradition that can be done for fun, for decoration or to bring good fortune.

Another Easter activity, the Easter egg hunt, is one of the most well known Easter