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The history of Easter began with torture, and the implements of that torture are still an integral part of the entire celebration. Crosses were once the cruelest form of punishment that the Romans used, which should have made it unlikely that these would one day turn into symbols of hope and faith.

But because of the Christian belief in the divine sacrifice made by Christ on one of these torture objects, Easter crosses have become something else in believers’ eyes.

As a result, even while these symbols stand for Christianity in general at all times of the year, Easter crosses in particular automatically take on greater significance.

In the Indian Orthodox Church, which is a branch of Christianity that is said to have been founded by the Apostle Thomas himself on his travels, these crosses are an integral part of the Easter devotional atmosphere from beginning to end.

During the whole Lent period the crosses in each of these churches are covered with a veil and moved to the center of their own church, where people kiss them as they enter and as they leave. This is just the beginning of the object’s long Easter career.

At this point, the Easter crosses are carried by the celebrants of the churches in a procession around the building. And at the end of the service, the people are blessed by being touched with the cross. The crosses are then set on their heads on a stand in the sanctuary, and remain there until the Feast of Ascension.

Christian Easter services all involve crosses in some way, no matter which denomination is celebrating. But not many other branches of the church use them in quite the same powerful way that the Indian Orthodox Church does.

To read more The Significance Of Easter Crosses

When people celebrate their own particular Easter traditions, especially in the church, they are conscious of the fact that they are sharing the celebration with millions of Christians in other parts of the world.

But despite the common Christian stories that underlie this commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ, many of the customs used by churches in different regions will vary. Some, like the date of Easter, are decided by church decree while others reflect the specific cultures in which churches find themselves.

Some Easter traditions take place on a very large scale and might vary from country to country, yet will still tie believers together from all over the world.

These great Carnivals are held annually in Rio de Janeiro and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, as well as the annual Passion Plays in places like Oberammergau in Germany or Fazenda in Brazil.

Of course, by no means is every attendee there because they’re thinking of the meaning of Easter, but these events are still important in the lives of many believers.

Some countries’ Easter traditions seem to combine elements from other Christian holidays, or appear to bear little relation to Easter at all. For example, in Papua, New Guinea, congregations have an Easter Tree at the front of the church for the Easter Sunday service.

Packages of tobacco and cigarettes are hung from the branches, and are distributed to the people after the service. This is a custom to which North American Christians would have trouble relating.

But even though certain values may differ from culture to culture, resulting in these different traditions, Christians still share a common faith, which is what’s really important.

To read more Many Easter Traditions Around The World

There are many types of re-enactments of the Easter story that extend it beyond the church’s walls or beyond the chronological confines of the Easter celebration itself. This occurs because many believers feel the need to draw the story of Christ’s death and resurrection into their lives in a deeper way, in order to strengthen their faith.

The Christian Easter message is not something that occurs only on one special weekend in the spring, but is meant to be incorporated into believers’ lives and attitudes all year long.

A much more literal re-enactment of the Easter story, called the Passion Play, takes place either in local churches or on a much larger scale in towns like Oberammergau in Germany, or Fazenda in Brazil.

This play draws the faithful (and more than a few tourists) from every part of the world. The participants recreate the events leading to the death and resurrection of Christ. This re-enactment drives home the truths of this most powerful of the Christian stories in a deep and dramatic way.

Many people engage in commemorative re-enactments of the Easter story every time they go to church.

The Stations of the Cross, patterned after several events between the moment of Christ’s arrest and crucifixion, are often set up in chapels or sculptures around a church, so each week a believer can meditate upon the ramifications and meaning of Easter in their lives.

All of these different re-enactments serve to strengthen a believer’s faith and keep the salvation story alive in their daily life.

To read more Re-Enactment Of The Easter Story

The last thing you want to hear during a spring break or a long weekend is that your kids are bored. Involving them in Easter activities will help prevent this, and may provide a chance for you to teach them the meanings your family ascribes to this spring season.

If you are a family that adheres to the Christian faith, then you may look for things like Easter poems to learn or games to play. Or you may just want to find some good pictures for them to color, or crafts to make.

If you want to add a more spiritual turn to activities at Easter, then other websites can help you expand to include that extra dimension as well. For example, the Children’s Chapel site (www.childrenschapel.org) provides the blueprint for many activities that include object lessons to teach the Christian Easter story.

There are Easter egg hunts where each egg has part of the story painted on it, or you might want to print out coloring pages that have images from that story. Between songs, crafts and stories, you can make sure your children understand the relation of Easter to your faith.

Teachers could also arrange Easter activities, though they wouldn’t necessarily want to promote the views of any particular faith. This celebration takes place all over the world, so studying the customs in other countries can provide an excellent education about world cultures.

So for example, a class could study Easter songs from other countries, or how eggs have been decorated for other types of spring equinox festivals. The activities can be inspired by Easter, but can then be used to provide a valuable learning experience as well.

To read more Where To Find Easter Activities Online

The Easter stories are familiar to most people in the North American culture, and of course they are closely associated with the Christian church.

But when you look at the ancient fertility festivals that existed in the past, and have a closer look at the history of Easter symbols and traditions, it soon becomes clear that this is, in essence, a pagan holiday.

There may still be reasons to say it’s Christian as well, connected to Christ’s divinity and His death and resurrection, but the pagan elements are undeniable.

Myths that eventually tied in with the Easter stories of death and resurrection were already well known throughout the Middle East as the church began to form.

For example, the tale of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and the death and eventual resurrection of her lover, Attis, was widespread throughout Anatolia, and other lands around Israel.

The history of Easter, as it was known in the church, likely began with that story and the many other similar myths in the region.

The Easter stories of Christianity, with its own dying and resurrecting god, fit so well with other festivals celebrated in the spring that one might almost think it was planned that way.

Christians may shrink from some of the elements they would consider less savory, especially those dealing with sex and a goddess, yet the origin of Easter does lie in a story about the creation of a new form of life.

Viewed this way, it may be possible for Christians to think of their own Easter celebrations as a culmination of the aspirations of all those earlier fertility cults.

To read more Easter Stories With Symbols And Traditions

Christian believers might find it offensive if someone remarked that Easter Sunday is a pagan fertility festival. But given all the fertility symbolism associated with this spring celebration, like Easter eggs, baby chicks, and even the fertile and prolific Easter bunny, they should hardly be surprised at the realization.

Most people have some vague idea that a few elements of the celebration might stem from earlier pagan ideas, but many Christians are deeply disturbed at just how many of those elements there are.

Despite the Easter devotional emphasis in the way the church now celebrates this spring festival, a surprising number of Christians don’t believe it should actually be celebrated by the church at all. To begin with, they believe that Christ freed all His followers from having to follow that sort of ritual calendar.

In fact, the only ritual explicitly instituted by Christ was Holy Communion or the Catholic sacrament of the Mass. So not only should Easter Sunday not be commemorated, say these believers, but Easter itself should be abandoned.

What of this idea, that Easter Sunday and Easter celebrations in general should not be entertained by the church? Many people who advocate this idea take the Bible very literally, so that if a ritual or spiritual practice is not found there, it shouldn’t be used.

Other Christians, though, look at the deeper meaning of Easter to find an answer there. What was supposed to have been accomplished with the death and resurrection of Christ was the salvation of a sinful people.

Some might argue that even if the Easter rituals began life in paganism, Christianity has also lifted them up from those pagan roots and made them holy as well.

To read more The Disturbing Elements Of Easter Sunday

The idea of creating colored Easter eggs is a spring tradition that appears to have predated Easter itself. It’s possible that the practice arose in several parts of the world independently of each other, because the egg can easily be connected to concepts of life and growth.

In the same way that many cultures throughout history have linked fertility cults in general to the arrival of spring, eggs in their turn have been linked to fertility. So eggs have been a part of this yearly celebration since well before the Christian Easter came into being.

The significance of Easter eggs appears to mirror, or maybe even continue, traditions that existed long before they appeared. For example, a pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon spring festival to the goddess Eostre may actually have given the Christian celebration its name.

This goddess appears to have been associated both with the egg and the hare, or rabbit, both of which signified fertility. This might be the origin of the Easter bunny as well. Eggs have been associated with many stories about new life and creation, from China to India to Europe.

In recent years, Easter eggs have taken on a broader cultural connotation and are connected less and less to the origin of Easter itself. For example, the White House Easter Egg Roll is a family event that has been celebrated for over a century, being a partly political event that symbolizes the connection of the President to the general populace.

Egg hunts at parties have become mainly a hunt for prizes and an entertainment for kids. Yet it’s significant that even now, centuries after eggs took on such mythical significance, people still gravitate to them rather than to other objects during spring events that hold special meaning.

To read more Traditional Celebrations With Easter Eggs

Shopping for a birthday gift to be given to someone you know professionally can become stressful and frustrating. This may be due to the fact that you feel the recipient will judge you on the birthday present you choose. Most often this is not true but that still may not make you feel better and you continue to put undue stress on yourself in your quest for the perfect gift.

Obviously, the birth of a baby is one of the truly remarkable milestones in a person’s life and you want the gift for their first birthday to be something special. Although art may not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering a present, imagine how wonderful it would be to give the child some type of original art or sculpture pertaining to Walt Disney. Disney has been a favorite with both children and adults for years, making it a very special birthday gift that is sure to be handed down for many generations.

If he is a sports fan, then one great way to celebrate that milestone birthday is to have your baby’s handprint put on a baseball and put inside a case for dad or grandpa to proudly display. This birthday gift is not just for little boys because there is not a man around that wouldn’t love to have his little sweetie’s handprint on such a unique gift. It is sure to be treasured.

To read more Shopping For The Birthday Gift

The funny thing about Easter is that it is part of several different traditions, such as those of Christians and Early Anglo-Saxons. Christians purport that the reason for the season is to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who told his apostles to go out and spread the word so that mankind may be redeemed.

Early Anglo-Saxons believed in celebrating nature, the goddess of fertility and the changing of the seasons. In the Jewish culture, they celebrate Passover, which relates to the freedom from slavery of their ancestors. In any case, springtime is seen as a rebirth, a new beginning and a time of great hope.

Learning about Easter symbolism involves looking back past its Christian origins. In pagan times, the sun, the moon, gods, goddesses and nature were often worshipped. The vernal equinox was a special time of year because it was one of two days where the sun shone directly vertical from the equator, making the day longer.

With more daytime hours, preparation for the spring harvest could begin and it seemed that love was in the air. The egg was viewed as the ultimate symbol of fertility, as an encapsulation of the great mystery of life. Rabbits, prolific breeders capable of carrying more than one litter of young at a time, also became primary symbols of springtime, of fertility and of Easter.

To read more Knowing More About Easter

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