EASTER TIME

Hi guys, how are you? I'm fine, luckily. Today I want to talk about one of the most important holidays in our country and not only. I'm talking about Easter! Let's find out more about this celebration.

Easter, like Christmas, is a consumerist bank holiday nowadays, together with Easter Monday (and Good Friday in the UK). Students and many workers take a break from school and work and people gather with family for a great dinner. Easter eggs, doves, Easter bunnies are just some of the many Easter symbols. However, what is the real meaning of Easter? 

In Christian countries, Easter has religious roots as it is the day where believers celebrate Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus died on the Cross on Friday (nowadays it is known as Good Friday) and then he resurrected on Sunday. On Easter Monday, instead, people remember the meeting between the Angel and the women in front of the sepulcher where Jesus was buried.

Yet, Christian Easter started in correspondence to the “Jewish Easter”, known in English as Passover, a Jewish festival commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt. The Jewish word “Pesah”, meaning “passing through”, was used in Greek and Latin for the Christian celebration. The modern English term Easter, instead, cognate with modern Dutch Ooster and German Oster, developed from an Old English word that is derived from the name of a goddess.

Many are the symbols associated with Easter: why do we eat eggs and lamb? Why are there Easter bunnies and candles? The Easter bunny, for instance, is a rabbit or hare: it represents a symbol of abundant new life in ancient times, and then it was associated with Jesus himself, as well as the lamb which represents Christ, “the Lamb of God”. Easter eggs and baby chick symbolize new life as they have been a symbol of spring since ancient times; furthermore, eggs can represent the resurrection: the shell of the egg is a symbol of the rock tomb out of which Christ emerged when he arose again. The chick, instead, symbolizes new life or re-birth.

While in Southern European countries another symbol of peace is the olive branch, in England palm branches are used in order to remember the day when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday and people waved palm branches, welcoming him. 

Furthermore, in England, Easter Lilies are very popular as they symbolize the purity of Jesus and new life as well as the butterfly, whose whole life represents the life of Jesus Christ. The hot Cross Buns are a typical British Easter cake: they are spiced sweet bun made with currants or raisins, marked with a cross on the top, and traditionally eaten on Good Friday. The buns mark the end of Lent, indeed.

Easter is a holiday celebrated in every Christian country and has an important religious meaning for the believers, even if symbols and traditions differ from country to country. Yet, Easter is a beautiful occasion for everyone to stay together with family, to relax and discover different traditions. 

So guys, this was my April’s post. Let me know how you spent your Easter time and what you did in your  quarantined Easter time.  I hope you’re all fine, see you in May. Bye!

GIACOMO