Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9104020192
SECTION: DAYS OF REVERENCE PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The celebration of the resurrection of Christ is the oldest in the Christian church.
Eventually it came to be preceded and followed by a series of other holy days and observances, many of which are no longer widely observed. But whether or not the other observances are kept, Easter Sunday tends to mark the best-attended service of the year at most churches.
Though its commercialization pales in comparison to the Christmas season, Easter has traditionally been a time for worshipers to wear new spring clothing, to exchange cards, and to engage in egg hunts with children.
The focus has remained more distinctly religious than perhaps any other Christian holiday, despite the fact that our name for it - Easter - apparently derives from the name of an Anglo-Saxon spring goddess called Eostre.
The modern celebration has co-opted some other pagan rites of spring - the Easter bunny and eggs continue the connections, for instance - but most were merged over hundreds of years after the Crucifixion.
The early Christians simply called the celebration Pascha, a derivative of the Hebrew for "Paschal" or "Passover," which was being celebrated at the time of the crucifixion, according to New Testament accounts. Some derivation of the term "Pasha" is still the standard name for the festival throughout the world, except where English, German or Dutch is spoken.
The biblical accounts describe a Thursday meal now called the Last Supper. They detail what is interpreted as Christ's command to his disciples to remember him with the consumption of bread and wine. Jesus also is recorded as having washed the disciples' feet in an expression of servanthood, a practice that was continued by members of the early church but is now largely ignored.
The accounts continue with Christ's crucifixion on Friday, the celebration of a Passover Sabbath the next day - which meant that his body could not be prepared properly for burial - and the discovery of his empty tomb on Sunday morning.
Picking a date to commemorate those events continues to be confusing even to many Christians.
Originally, congregations in and around Jerusalem celebrated in accordance with the Jewish calendar and observed Easter at Passover, without regard for the day of the week. Other congregations, especially Gentile ones, tended to want the service always to fall on Sunday, the day of the week of the Resurrection.
A compromise was reached at the Council of Nicea in the year 325, when it was decided to observe the holiday on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. That means that the date will always be on a Sunday but relatively near the celebration of Pentecost, in deference to the Jewish lunar calendar.
The date - which can fall anywhere from March 22 until April 25 - then becomes the benchmark for fixing other dates in the church calendar.
Pre-Lent, a little-observed 3 1/2-week period, begins 64 days before Easter and ends with Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
That is followed by Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, which is 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter. It marks the beginning of a penitential period and is closely linked with the preparation of new members for baptism in some churches.
Daylight fasting is called for in some traditions, and each of the Sundays before Easter has special scripture readings associated with their services. Palm Sunday begins the final Holy Week before Easter.
Palm Sunday commemorates the "triumphal entry" of Christ into Jerusalem, when a New Testament account records that palm branches were laid in the streets by adoring crowds as he rode into the city on a donkey. Some churches recreate the procession in Palm Sunday services. Also included in some churches' celebration of the day is the reading on one of the "passion narratives" from the Gospels, describing Christ's suffering and death on the cross.
Special services are observed in some churches each day of Holy Week, but Maundy Thursday, when the Last Supper is celebrated, is the first that is widely followed.
Before the Good Friday observance, altars in many churches are stripped clean of any adornments and services are austere and solemn in commemoration of the crucifixion. Good Friday itself often is marked by noon and evening prayers as Christians call to mind Christ's death.
Saturday is the time for baptism of new members in some traditions. That evening, after sunset, vigils may begin in anticipation of the Feast of the Resurrection. Many churches now celebrate a pre-dawn "sunrise service" on Sunday morning instead of a night-before vigil.
Easter itself is a day of joy and celebration, the end of the Lenten fast period, and the beginning of the 40-day period preceding the celebration of Christ's ascension to heaven.
by CNB