Celebrating Easter

The celebration of Easter is preceded by Holy Week (Holy Week), during which the events of the last days of the life of Jesus Christ (the Passion of Christ) are recalled. Easter begins with a special Easter service. Ceremonial worship is traditionally acceptedto perform at night, but in some countries it begins with dawn. At midnight the churches begin the procession, and after it the divine service of Easter Matins takes place.

Since Easter marks the end of the Great Lent, the celebration of Easter can not do without the Easter meal, during which the faithful break fast. Dishes to the Easter table try to cookin advance, on Clean Thursday. This is done so that then, until Easter, nothing distracts believers from services and prayers. Especially a lot on the table of meat and dairy dishes, which were banned during Lent. But alcohol is not accepted.

There is a tradition consecrate cakes and eggs in temples, cottage cheese Easter and other dishes cookedto the festive table. They are consecrated throughout the Great Sabbath, and also after the Easter service. Begin the meal with a meal consecrated in the temple, and you should definitely eat a piece of eggs.

Painted Easter eggs symbolize the wonderful appearance of the light - the Resurrection of Christ. Tradition says that Mary Magdalene gaveEmperor Tiberius Egg as a symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Tiberius replied that the dead can not rise again, as an egg from a white can not turn red. And at the same time the egg turned red. Of course, now Easter eggs are painted in other colors, using different techniques, depending on which eggs are divided into pysanki, krasanki, etc. But the basic color is still red, it symbolizes victory and life. In general, every color and symbol used in the painting of Easter eggs has its own meaning.

The celebration of Easter has another indispensable attribute - the Easter greeting. It is customary to greet each other with words"Christ is Risen!", What should be answered "Truly is risen!", While you need to kiss three times. Traditionally, if two people of different ages meet, the younger one should say the first part of the greeting, and the senior responds. This applies not only to age, but also to the church hierarchy. Say, if a layman meets a priest, he should greet him first.

The Passover celebrates forty days - as long as Jesus Christ was the teaching after the miraculous Resurrection. At this time it is customary to go to each other inguests, give cakes and colored eggs, play Easter games. Children, for example, roll eggs from the hill, checking them for the fortress. The winner takes the losers' eggs. Hristosovatsya (use the Easter greeting) is also accepted for all forty days. The most solemn is the first week of Easter.

The celebration of Easter in 2012 falls on April 15 for Orthodox Christians and on April 8 for Catholics and Protestants. The dates differ, because the Orthodoxthe church uses the Alexandria Easter (the method of calculating the date of Easter), and the Catholic - the Gregorian. Sometimes the dates of Orthodox and Catholic Easter coincide. So it was in the past, 2011, when both Easter fell on April 24. In the coming years, it will be in 2014 (April 20) and 2012 (April 16).

The celebration of Easter is a bit different in different countries. So, we have traditional festive pastriesis cake, in Italy - cassata, in England - cake "simnel" and buns with a cut from above in the form of a cross, in the Czech Republic - mazanets (sweet roll with almonds and raisins). An inalienable attribute of Easter in many Catholic countries is the Easter rabbit, also there it is decided to hide Easter eggs in the morning, so that their children are looking for them.

But one thing remains unchanged: Easter is a bright and joyful holiday, symbolizing the renewal.