Easter is an opportunity for families to come together and celebrate new life each spring, whether religious or not. Christians see this holiday as a time to repent, to acknowledge sins and to celebrate the rebirth of Christ the Savior.
Non-Christians view the Easter holiday as the celebration of fertility, new life and new beginnings, saying goodbye to winter and welcoming springtime. Whether the celebrations involve hot cross buns and chocolate bunnies or prayers and fasting, it is an important part of our calendar year.
The Passover feast is an important part of the traditional Easter celebration. Foods associated with Easter dinner include ham, lamb and eggs. Special soups come out, like hot sour rye, fanesca, borscht and magiritsa, as do special desserts like babka, hot cross buns, pizzelle, pastiera, kulich and simnel cake. Breads like folar, penia, paska and tsoureki are exclusive to this feast as well. The different dishes vary from culture to culture, but worldwide, this feast is one of the largest of the year.
The Easter holiday is an interesting one because, like many others, it has both Christian and Pagan roots. It is the annual Christian celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Pious traditions include attending mass on Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, as well as fasting, praying, performing good deeds and giving up a sacrifice for Lent (the forty days preceding Easter).
However, even the non-religious celebrate Easter because spring festivals date as far back as the 8th century. In the month of April, Anglo-Saxons celebrated Teutonic, goddess of spring and fertility, with egg rolling contests, gift giving, egg painting and dancing. Similarly, the Phrygians performed Equinox ceremonies to awaken the god Demeter and the Greeks celebrated the Demeter’s daughter Persephone’s return from the underworld as a symbol of new spring life.
To read more Celebrating Easter Holidays
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