Easter is the highest holiday of the year for Christians. But do you also know when Easter is exactly, what is celebrated there and how?
Here are the most important facts so that you can immediately answer questions about Easter.
What is celebrated at Easter?
An At Easter, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Easter is therefore a celebration of joy, a happy moment of new beginnings and life. The symbols include eggs, chicks, fresh moss and twigs – everything that stands for this wonderful new beginning.
How do we know when Easter is?
The Council of Nicaea set Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring. That was in the year 325 AD. Since then, Easter has been observed in the western churches between March 22nd and April 25th.
When is Easter 2023?
Why do we celebrate Easter?
Basically, Easter begins with Lent. It begins on Ash Wednesday, lasts 40 days and ends on Easter Monday.
Am Maundy Thursday, i.e. the Thursday before Good Friday, the Holy Week begins, in which the suffering and death of Jesus is remembered. According to the New Testament, Jesus had a farewell dinner with his twelve disciples that day. He was then betrayed by Judas and subsequently arrested. Good Friday commemorates the suffering of Jesus: arrest, torture and death on the cross.
The Good Friday is a “silent holiday”. Sports and dance events are prohibited. Bells and organ are silent. It is fasted. Many families consciously avoid meat – there is fish. Believers pray the Way of the Cross with its 14 stations. In the afternoon there is often a “commemoration of the passion and death of Christ”; the believers kneel individually before the cross.
Am holy saturday According to tradition, Jesus descends into the underworld, lets angels bind Satan, leads Adam and “all the righteous” to paradise. In the evening, at the start of the Easter Vigil, there is a service: the Easter Mass. Bells and organ sound again.
Am easter monday According to the Gospel of Luke, two disciples met a stranger on the way to Emmaus, whom they then recognized as Jesus Christ. They returned to Jerusalem and reported there of the resurrection of the Lord. This became the custom of the Emmaus walk, which then became the secular Easter walk.
By the way: The Emmaus Walk still takes place in many places today. It usually starts at the parish church and ends at a chapel. Roman Catholics also celebrate Holy Masses on this day.
Why Easter is called Easter
There is no clear explanation for the name of the resurrection festival Easter. The name possibly refers to the Old English goddess of spring: her name was Eostre. Or Easter comes from “Ostara”, the Germanic goddess of fertility. In any case, the rabbit belongs to it as a sacred animal.
Another possibility: Easter derives from the Middle High German “Urständ”, which means something like “resurrection”.
Easter customs
Easter is not only celebrated in churches. Here are some ancient Christian and folk customs:
- This includes cleaning the house– “Judas (the betrayer of Jesus) is swept out”. The house is adorned with fresh greenery. Eggs are painted and the feasts are prepared.
- Feld- and gardening should rest like the earth on which Jesus lies.
- For the Easter fire meet at the river bank, on the beach or at the village fire brigade.
Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are for the family. Children look for Easter nests with sweets and small gifts hidden by the “Easter Bunny”. You meet up with loved ones for the traditional Easter walk, for Easter breakfast with Easter braid and egg dishes, for brunch or for a festive roast lamb.
The meaning of the Easter egg
The egg has represented fertility, life and rebirth for many centuries and in many different cultures. Christianity picked up this symbolism a long time ago. The egg represents rebirth. The newly hatched chick commemorates the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.
Why are we painting them? easter eggs colorful? This tradition has been around for a very long time. Originally, in the Middle Ages, eggs were dyed red. The red color was intended to show the importance of the eggs and to commemorate the shed blood of Jesus and thus his sacrificial death. Nowadays, the eggs are painted in many different colors.
The egg is still an important part of Easter today. Whether hidden as a colorful chocolate egg or painted in a classic way.
Why does a rabbit bring the eggs?
An egg incubator was mentioned in a document Easter Bunny for the first time in 1682.
In Germanic cultures, rabbits were considered a symbol of fertility – and thus of life, spring, the awakening of nature from winter.
How many chocolate bunnies are produced annually?
Around 239 million chocolate Easter bunnies will be formed in German factories this year. 89 million (44 percent) of the chocolate bunnies are exported, mainly to the EU, but also to the USA and Australia.
A very quick Easter souvenir
Of course, anyone who is invited to Easter also needs one guest gift, or an Easter packaging for it. How about a beautifully decorated glass?
That is how it goes:
You will need a suitable jar with a screw cap, adhesive remover, porcelain bunnies, lambs or plastic animals, a hot glue gun and spray paint.
- Apply glue to the bottom of the animal with the hot glue gun.
- Glue the figure to the top of the lid and let it dry.
- Finally paint the lid and figure in colour, repeat if necessary.
Here you can now fill in your homemade jam or nut cream.
Tip: The glasses also look very pretty when they are filled with colorful sugar eggs, jelly eggs or pralines.
The apartment is also often decorated for Easter, with self-made Easter decorations.