|
|
|
White Week & EasterWhite is the traditional color for Easter, signifying light, purity and joy.
We look at the history and symbolism of Easter, especially white Easter
lilies, and the white Easter bunny.
The Easter feeling does not end.
It signals a new beginning,
Of nature, spring, and brand new life,
And friendship, peace, and giving.
The spirit of Easter is all about
Hope, love, and joyful living.
- Author Unknown
White Week
Early Christians believed
Easter was a good time to be baptized. They continued to wear their white
baptismal robes for the following week, as a sign of their new life, and so the week
beginning with Easter Sunday became known as 'white week' .
History of Easter
Many
of the traditions of Easter have their origins in ancient spring
celebrations. Eostre was the Saxon Goddess of dawn, spring, and new
beginnings. Her symbols included the rabbit, which she empowered to lay eggs,
once a year, at the beginning of spring. The English Easter and German Ostern
are named after the spring festival held in her honour, which celebrated the
renewal of life after the long dark winter.
Date of Easter 2004 - 2010
Originally, Easter
was celebrated at the time of the Jewish Passover. Over the years, the
Christian church developed its own method of calculating Easter. When
the calendar was reformed, the Western churches based their Easter dates on
the new Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern churches continued to base
their dates on the old, Julian calendar. The table below gives the date
of the first full moon after the March Equinox, and the dates of the
Jewish Passover and Eastern and Western Easter for the years 2004 - 2010.
Easter Angels
Angels are an integral part of
the Easter story. An angel appeared at
Jesus' tomb, frightened the Roman guards, rolled away the stone from the
tomb, and later told the myrrh-bearing women of Jesus' resurrection. Two
angels witnessed Jesus' ascent into Heaven and prophesied his return.
Easter Candles
Candles form an essential part of the traditional Easter vigil service on
the evening of
Holy Saturday.
Easter Lamb
The
lamb is an Easter symbol with strong biblical
links: Early Christians likened the joyous Christian celebration of the
liberation from death represented by the resurrection, to the joyous
Passover
festival, which commemorates
the liberation of the Hebrews from their years of bondage in
Egypt.
Easter Blossom
Many beautiful white spring flowers bloom at Easter time in the Northern Hemisphere, including the white
cherry blossom, which has inspired so many poets.
The Easter Lily
Because
the traditional Easter color is white, a white lily has long been considered
to be the Easter flower. The Easter Lily, Lilium Longiflorum, is a Japanese
white lily introduced into America in the 19th Century, and now grown
commercially in America for the Easter season. The beautiful
trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize the spiritual essence of Easter
- purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life.
The Easter Bunny
In ancient Saxon
tradition, the rabbit was associated with Eostre, the Goddess of dawn, spring, and new beginnings.
Once a year, at the beginning of spring, Eostre empowered the rabbit to
lay Easter eggs, as a symbol of new life. With the introduction
of Christianity, Easter eggs came to symbolize the resurrection, but
they were still laid by a rabbit. Today, the Easter Bunny, usually
large and white, still brings Easter eggs and candy to children around the
world on Easter Sunday.
|
|
|
|
