As the spring is the time of the year when nature, which has been dormant during the winter, starts to return to life, it is not surprising that a festival that centres around the idea of resurrection takes place. Plants begin to grow again, birds begin their mating season, and in farming communities, animals begin to give birth to their young. For ancient communities utterly dependent on the return of the growing season to survive, it was a time of intense celebration and thanksgiving.
In most ancient communities throughout the world special festivals were created to celebrate the end of the ‘death of nature in winter’ and the ‘resurrection of nature in the spring’. In Anglo-Saxon England the Germanic goddess, Eostre, was worshipped. As Christianity spread, the celebratory rituals of rebirth and worship of pagan gods such as Eostre were subsumed into the Christian festival of rebirth, which commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The period of Easter or Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which remembers Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, and the week that followed, which led to his crucifixion and resurrection.
The dates of Holy Week are determined by the full moon that occurs on, or as close after 21st March (the Spring Equinox), as possible. In most European countries the festival is known as Pascha, which is based on the Latin and Greek words for the Judaic ‘Passover’, during which the Last Supper took place. Only in Britain is the festival named after the pagan Anglo-Saxon goddess of rebirth.
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. According to the gospels Jesus was welcomed into the city by a crowd who placed palm branches in front of him as he rode through the streets – hence Palm Sunday. Until recent times it was impossible to get hold of palm branches in Britain, so churches replaced them with willow or yew branches: in some areas the day was known as Yew Sunday.
Where palm branches are used, they are often woven into small crosses which are brought to church to be blessed. The branches are then kept in the church until Ash Wednesday the following year when they are burnt to create the ash placed on worshippers’ foreheads (see Ash Wednesday & Lent).
In some parts of England, particularly in the North, Palm Sunday is known as Fig Sunday. It is not entirely clear why this is so, as the fig is not native to the British Isles, but it has been suggested that it commemorates the fact that Jesus had wanted to eat figs on his way to Jerusalem and cursed a barren fig tree that bore no fruit for him (Matthew 21: 19-21). The making of fig pies and puddings using imported dried figs was commonplace to those particular areas of England that made this association.
The straw effigy known as Jack-a-Lent (a representation of Judas Iscariot) who had been paraded through the streets on Ash Wednesday was burnt on Palm Sunday as revenge for his betrayal of Christ. It may also derive from an ancient custom of burning an effigy representing winter.
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy and Great Friday), and Black Friday.
Easter Day celebrates the resurrection of Christ. After a candlelit vigil which begins on the night of Holy Saturday, the Easter service on Easter Sunday begins with the greeting “Christ is risen!” at which worshippers respond with “He is risen indeed. Alleluia!” The rest of the day involves much feasting now that Lent and its required fasting is over.
In ancient times, in many cultures, the egg was seen as a symbol of new life and spring rebirth. They were therefore celebrated and, by decorating them, made more significant. Christianity adopted the practice of reverence for the egg, interpreting it as a symbol of the Trinity with its three parts: the shell, yolk and albumen. In many Christian countries, eggs were dyed red for Easter celebrations to commemorate the blood shed by Christ at his crucifixion. But other colours were also available to use: ochre from onion skins, pink from beetroots, blue from woad. Designs can be made using candle wax melted onto the egg before dying them: once dyed, the wax is removed.
If the decorated eggs are to be eaten, hard-boiled eggs are used. However, if you want the eggs to last longer than a day or two, the yolk and albumen can be removed by piercing either end of the egg and ‘blowing’ the insides out into a bowl. The shells are left to dry out before decorating. Scrambled eggs or omelettes can be made with the blown-out contents.
The custom of egg rolling, which is a common custom in England, was both a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and of the fact that eggs, prohibited during Lent, can be eaten again. The custom goes back centuries and is often referred to as pace-egging, pace deriving from the Old English Pasch meaning Passover. Decorated hard-boiled eggs would be rolled, particularly down hills, and the first egg to reach the bottom would win. The eggs were then eaten or given to pace-eggers who, dressed in extraordinary costumes, would process through the streets collecting money for their performance of a traditional mummers’ play that would end the festivities.
Easter Day is also when friends and families exchange chocolate Easter Eggs and set up Easter Egg hunts in gardens and parks.
