On Easter day, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter traditions vary from country to country and sometimes from region to region within the same country. However, some traditions are shared all over the world.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Understanding the Meaning of Easter
Step 1. Understand the liturgical season of Lent and Easter
Easter Sunday is the day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter marks the end of Lent, a period of prayer, fasting and penance that lasts 40 days. The last week of Lent, which precedes Easter, is often referred to as Holy Week. Several recurrences fall this week: Palm Sunday, which celebrates the return of Jesus to Jerusalem, Holy Thursday, which celebrates the Last Supper consumed by Jesus together with his disciples and, finally, Good Friday, the day on which he came. crucified Jesus.
Identify Easter Sunday as the starting day of the Easter period. Easter Sunday marks the beginning of the Easter liturgical period. It is a period that lasts 50 days and ends with Pentecost Sunday, an anniversary in which Christians commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit
Step 2. Understand the importance Easter Sunday has for Christians
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian religion. This is why Easter Sunday is one of the holiest days for Christians. Many of them experience it as a moment of inner rebirth.
Step 3. Recognize the pagan origins of Easter
The English word for Easter, Easter, originates from the name of an ancient Germanic deity linked to the rites of spring, "Eastre". Originally, in fact, Easter was a pagan festival that celebrated the beginning of spring. It was a party focused on the theme of fertility, symbolized by the egg and the rabbit. The early Christians adopted the pagan festival and transformed it into a time of celebration of the resurrection of Christ, instead of the ancient divinity of spring. The date on which Easter falls is still determined by the vernal equinox. In most Western countries, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring equinox, generally between March 22 and April 25.
Part 2 of 4: Attending Traditional Easter Religious Services
Step 1. Attend the religious service on Easter Sunday
The function of Easter Sunday can vary in name and liturgy, according to the tradition followed. It usually follows the worship standards of the Church to which it belongs, but one of the characteristics common to all liturgies is the setting for music and celebration. Many churches decorate the places of worship with Easter lilies or with special celebratory festoons. Some churches celebrate Holy Communion, while others officiate the sacrament of baptism, a symbol of a new life in Christ.
Step 2. Attend the Easter Sunday dawn service (Protestant Churches)
The first Easter Sunday dawn service was held in 1732 in Germany at a hilltop cemetery. The participants celebrated the resurrection of Christ in the midst of the graves of their loved ones, as the sun rose on the hill. It was the Moravian missionaries or Bohemian Brothers (the first and oldest Protestant denomination still in existence) who spread the tradition of the function of the dawn all over the world, as far as the United States. There are many Protestant Christian churches that continue to celebrate the dawn function on Easter Sunday, which takes place in the churchyard or in a nearby park.
Step 3. Attend the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday
For many Christian denominations, Easter begins as early as the Holy Saturday Vigil. The Vigil generally begins at sunset and on that occasion it is customary to light a large Easter candle. During the service, passages from the Old and New Testaments are read. After reading the passage on the resurrection, the lights are turned on and the bells rung. The Easter Vigil ends with Holy Communion, also known as the Eucharist.
Part 3 of 4: Observe the Easter Traditions
Step 1. Decorate the Easter eggs
Despite being a symbol that has its roots in the pagan festival of spring and fertility, the egg has also become part of Christian traditions as an Easter symbol of new life. In many countries, one of the most popular Easter traditions is colored hard-boiled eggs decorated in various ways.
Step 2. Take part in an Easter egg hunt
When the eggs are ready and decorated, she hides them around the house or garden and tells the children to go find them. According to some traditions, it is the Easter bunny who hides the eggs on Easter morning: it will be up to the children to find them during the day of celebration.
Step 3. Celebrate with a traditional basket brought by the Easter Bunny
Like the egg, the rabbit represented a symbol of fertility dating back to the tradition of the ancient pagan festival. In the sixteenth century in Germany the Easter hare began to be used as a symbol of spiritual rebirth. The night before Easter the children built nests with their caps and their headphones and left them outside the house, so that the Easter hare could leave inside many colored eggs that they would find when they woke up. The tradition survives to this day in this guise: the Easter bunny spends Easter morning and brings the children baskets full of sweets and candies.
Step 4. Eat the chocolate Easter bunnies
It seems that even the chocolate Easter bunnies were invented in Germany in the nineteenth century. Now they are an established Easter symbol. Other traditional Easter sweets are Easter eggs and, in Anglo-Saxon countries, marshmallows and chick-shaped jellies.
Step 5. Take part in an Easter parade (New York and other US cities)
The Easter parade tradition began in the 19th century in New York when people strolled along Fifth Avenue after attending the Easter Sunday service, but there are many other US cities that organize parades on Easter Sunday or the day before..
Step 6. Show off your best new outfits for Easter
The tradition of wearing new clothes for Easter dates back centuries, due to the association with the concept of spiritual rebirth. Even today people try to be as elegant as possible on the occasion of the Easter mass. In Anglo-Saxon countries, women wear white gloves and special hats, which are called Easter bonnets.
Part 4 of 4: Prepare a Traditional Easter Lunch for Family and Friends
Step 1. Celebrate Easter Sunday with a traditional lunch
Easter culinary traditions vary from country to country. In Western culture, however, the main dish of Easter lunch is roast lamb or ham.
- Make a lamb roast. The roast lamb comes directly from the Jewish tradition and from the consumption of this dish on the occasion of the Jewish Passover. Jews who converted to Christianity introduced this custom into the traditions of the Christian Passover.
- Make a roasted ham. In the United States, roasted ham is very popular, because pork raised in the winter is ready to be eaten in the spring.
Step 2. Prepare baked goods and Easter cakes
Easter buns, which are part of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, are spiced buns with a cross of icing on top. In Italy it is customary to consume the Easter dove. In other cultures the Simmer cake is the most popular: it is a fruit-based dessert with 11 marzipan balls, which represent the 11 apostles who remained faithful to Jesus.
