History of Easter

Easter is indeed a curious thing. For one, it does not have a fixed date on our calendars. I’m writing to answer all of your questions about the holiday.

Let’s start with the purpose of Easter: Easter (otherwise known as Pascha) celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the son of god. The holiday has also absorbed other unchristian beliefs and rituals along the ages. On Easter most believers have a party or feast to honor Jesus. However, many families over look the main purpose and focus instead on chocolate bunnies and eggs.

Speaking of bunnies, the Easter Rabbit and his eggs have nothing to do with Jesus’ resurrection. It is party why many public schools that forbid formal celebrations of holidays like Christmas allow egg hunts for Easter. Also, not many followers of other religions get offended by this since a large part practice a holiday similar in tradition.

The celebration of Pascha varies greatly in the world. For example, while Americans eat chocolate, people in central Europe throw water on women and whip them with a certain kind of whip. There can also be rituals as simple as burning a huge fire or eating all day. In Belarus, the country I was born in, we boiled and painted eggs and then hit ours eggs against each others to see whose egg was the strongest. It was very entertaining.

Some of you may be wondering why this year’s Easter is weeks before last year’s. This placement originates at the beginnings of the Church. There was much fuss over which day Easter should be held, so basically, they went with a rather unusual solution. Instead of following the basic astral calendar we are used to, a lunar calendar was chosen. This means that the date is determined by the position of the moon, rather than the sun.

I hope the answers most of your questions. Have a nice Pascha.