Have a wonderful Easter shared with loved ones...
Easter is the most important Christian festival of the year. Easter celebrates the return to life of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, after His Crucifixion. Jesus's return to life is called the Resurrection. The Gospels tell that on the morning two days after Jesus's death His tomb was found empty. Soon, Jesus's followers began to see Him and talk with Him. Christians believe Jesus's Resurrection means that they, too, can receive new life after death. The Easter festival celebrates this belief.
Most Christians observe Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, the festival can occur on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the celebration of Easter may take place later because these churches use additional factors in calculating the date of the festival.
The Easter festival is closely associated with spring. The new plant life that appears in spring symbolizes the new life Christians gain because of Jesus's Crucifixion and Resurrection. The word Easter may have come from an early English word, Eastre. Some scholars say Eastre was the name of a pagan goddess of spring, the name of a spring festival, or the name of the season itself. Other scholars believe the word Easter comes from the early German word eostarun, which means dawn. This word may be an incorrect translation of the Latin word albae, meaning both dawn and white. Easter was considered a day of "white" because newly baptized church members wore white clothes at Easter observances.
-A number of popular customs are observed during the Easter season. Some are followed by most Christians. Others are observed in a particular area or by a particular group.
Carnivals provide opportunities for feasting and merrymaking before the solemn fast days of Lent. The word carnival comes from the Latin word carnelevarium, which means removal of meat. The most famous carnival is the Mardi Gras, celebrated on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. Mardi Gras is a French term that means Fat Tuesday. It refers to the fat ox that traditionally led a procession on Shrove Tuesday in France. Carnivals often feature parades in which people wear elaborate costumes. The best-known Mardi Gras parade in North America takes place in New Orleans.
Easter eggs. Exchanging and eating Easter eggs is a popular custom in many countries. In most cases, chicken eggs are used. The eggs are hard-boiled and dyed in various colors and patterns. Many countries have their own traditional patterns. Probably the most famous Easter eggs are those designed in Ukraine and Poland, where Christians decorate the eggs with complicated red, black, and white patterns.
In many countries, children hunt for Easter eggs hidden about the home. Children in the United Kingdom, Germany, and some other countries play a game in which eggs are rolled against one another or down a hill. The egg that stays uncracked the longest wins. Since 1878, children in Washington, D.C., have been invited to roll eggs on the White House lawn.
Passion Plays dramatize the Easter story. Such plays have been performed during the Easter season since the Middle Ages. The most famous one is usually presented every 10 years in Oberammergau, in southern Germany. It dates from 1634. In the United States, Passion Plays are performed annually in several cities.
Feasting. Easter Sunday is a feast day. Many Christians in eastern Europe and those of eastern European ancestry in North America have their Easter feast blessed by a priest. The priest may go to the home, or families may take their food to church for the blessing.
Wearing new clothes for Easter is a custom common among many Christians. It may have originated from the old practice of having newly baptized Christians wear new white clothes for the Easter celebration. Like many other Easter symbols, the new clothes represent the new life offered through the death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Easter promenades of people in new clothes are a tradition in many European towns and villages. Some of these promenades are led by a person holding a cross or an Easter candle. In New York City, thousands of people stroll in the Easter Parade down Fifth Avenue to show off their new clothes following Easter services.
Other customs. Many communities follow customs of the Easter season that are special to them. In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for example, a trombone choir of the Moravian Church plays hymns throughout the city before dawn on Easter Sunday to call church members to a sunrise service in the old Moravian cemetery. At the cemetery, the trombones play a joyful chorus as the sun appears on the horizon.
A little history about the 5th of May and how we celebrate it in the United States.
Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States.
It is sometimes confused with Mexican Independence Day
Many people outside Mexico mistakenly believe that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican independence, which was declared more than 50 years before the Battle of Puebla. That event is commemorated on September 16, the anniversary of the revolutionary priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s famous “Grito de Dolores” (“Cry of Dolores”), a call to arms that amounted to a declaration of war against the Spanish colonial government in 1810.
In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is widely interpreted as a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with substantial Mexican-American populations. Chicano activists raised awareness of the holiday in the 1960s, in part because they identified with the victory of indigenous Mexicans over European invaders during the Battle of Puebla. Today, revelers mark the occasion with parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and traditional foods such as tacos and mole poblano. Some of the largest festivals are held in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
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