Happy Easter to All Believers in Christ

Easter or Resurrection Day is one of the public holidays in the Christian calendar that falls on a Sunday in March or April. Christians believe that on this day Jesus Christ rose again and came back to life after being crucified.

Easter comes at the end of Holy Week, when Jesus enters Jerusalem and is arrested by Roman soldiers, then crucified on the hill of Golgotha in Jerusalem after enduring suffering and hardships. Unlike other holidays and celebrations, the date of this holiday is not fixed and changes every year between March 22 and April 25.

Historical Origins

This festival, known as Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, was the greatest holiday of Christians, which they celebrated in commemoration of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

The Jews knew it by the name Pesach or Passover (with a short first vowel), which means “passage” or “crossing.” The words Pesach, Pascha, and finally “Pask” are derived from this word. In other European languages, this holiday is called Easter or Ostern, and various explanations have been given for this that there is no consensus about.

Al-Biruni, a Persian scholar, explained the significance and importance of this holiday among Jews and Christians in detail in his work “Athar al-Baaqiyah.”

According to Al-Biruni, the followers of Judaism called the first day of the seven-day period that they called “unleavened bread eating” Pesach; and it is the day when the Israelites left Egypt, went to the land of Canaan, and reached the inhabited land of Palestine.

The Israelites, who had suffered from torment and slavery in Egypt, upon reaching the promised land, celebrated their freedom and rejoiced.

In Judaism, this holiday begins from the evening of the 14th day of Nisan and lasts for one week.

The Greatest Holiday of Christians

For Christians, Easter is linked to the Resurrection of Christ.

According to the Gospel of the “New Testament,” Jesus Christ was crucified two days before “Passover Day,” and on the third day, on a Sunday when the moon was full, he rose from the tomb, lived on earth for 40 days, and then ascended to heaven.

Early Christians, who lived in a Jewish society, celebrated the resurrection of their leader in conjunction with the Passover celebrations.

In the year 325 AD, after Christianity was recognized as the official religion by the Roman state, the fathers of the Church separated the Resurrection of Christ from the Jewish Passover and synchronized it with Christian narratives.

Thus, the first Sunday following the appearance of the full moon after the sun enters the constellation of Aries was considered the day of Resurrection, which may fall between the third and last day of Farvardin (March 22 to April 25).

Sacred Days and Rituals

Both Jews and Christians welcome Passover with a series of customs and rituals. These ceremonies are conducted in various forms in different churches and synagogues, but many of their elements are shared.

The Passover celebrations usually begin a week earlier, known as Holy Week or Sacred Week. The believers are advised to spend these days with fasting, abstinence, piety and asceticism.

Holy Week begins with “Palm Sunday,” which is the sixth and last Sunday of the days of repentance and fasting.

According to tradition, on the last Sunday before Passover or Unleavened Bread, Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly, carrying a palm branch in his hand, and his followers spread palm branches and leaves on his path.

On this day, believers go to church for prayer and worship, and along with others, they sing hymns and religious chants.

The Last Supper

On Thursday evening, Jesus Christ called his close disciples (the Apostles) to dine with him. At this meal, he offered them bread and wine, then spoke to them and announced that he would soon be arrested.

After the meal ended, according to narratives, one of the Apostles, named Judas Iscariot, secretly went to the Roman rulers and for a small sum of money betrayed Jesus’s hiding place to them and facilitated his arrest.

At the end of the night, when the Apostles had gone to sleep, Christ went alone to the Mount of Olives and prayed, knowing that severe punishment awaited him.

On Friday morning (Good Friday), Roman soldiers arrested Christ in a place called the “Garden of Gethsemane” and brought him to headquarters.

The Roman rulers of Jerusalem, at the instigation of “the chiefs and elders of the people,” after torturing and severely abusing Christ, forced him to carry a heavy cross on his shoulders up to the hill of Golgotha.

“Good Friday” is a day of mourning. Church followers on this day usually abstain from eating meat. On this day, vegetarianism is recommended.

Saturday, which is the day of Christ’s burial, is observed by church members with worship, reflection, and self-restraint.

Christians today on “Holy Saturday” are usually busy with housecleaning, shopping, cooking, and preparing for Easter.

According to the narrative, on the third day after the crucifixion, the companions and relatives of Christ went to his tomb at dawn to anoint the body, but they did not find Jesus and knew that he had gone to the “Lord.”

Sunday and Monday are celebrated in all homes with festivals accompanied by joy, feasting, and merry-making. The main dish on this day is usually lamb.

Customs and Traditions

Many of the customs and traditions practiced during Easter trace their ancient roots to the rites of pastoral and agricultural peoples. The entire story of Christ, his death and resurrection at the threshold of spring, is reminiscent of fertility celebrations at the beginning of human civilization.

One of the most common customs of Easter is coloring and eating eggs, which undoubtedly has symbolic meaning.

On Easter Day, especially children find and eat colorful eggs that the “Easter bunny” has hidden in the corners of the garden.

Coloring eggs is an ancient tradition, and it probably alludes to the dye-works of Jesus Christ, who dyed clothes any color he wished. As the Persian poet Khaqani Shirwani also alluded to it:

Jesus, by the art of dyeing, upon his affliction

Brought black garments near the sun

And the rabbit, a symbol of birth and fertility, is a clever animal that at the beginning of spring strives with all its might in the matter of reproduction!

Source: Wikipedia