Hasn’t the weather been wonderful? I’m only hoping it lasts until Easter Sunday, as we’ve got eight for lunch plus a few more relatives in the afternoon. As Easter is very much a Movable Feast, I hope we can get out in the garden!
Easter is, of course, the season of new life. The name is the last remnant of the worship of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the Spring, Estre or Oestre. As to when Easter should be celebrated (here comes the movable feast bit) we celebrate it on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox, where the day and night are of equal length, causing, if you believe the archeological programmes on the telly, a lot of people long ago to build stone circles and chant a lot.
Now, I must admit, should anyone think I've got this sort of information at my fingertips, I looked it up, but this is where it gets confusing.
The spring equinox – pay attention at the back there! - is fixed for this purpose as March 21 and the "full moon" is actually the paschal moon, which is based on 84-year "paschal cycles" established in the sixth century, would you believe. It rarely corresponds to the astronomical or actual full moon. Just to make life even more interesting, the Eastern churches, such as the Greek and Russian orthodox, count it up the same way, but use the Julian calendar (on which March 21 is April 3) and a 19-year paschal cycle.
I think I’ll just check the calendar same as usual and celebrate at the same time as everyone else.
The new life bit is absolutely unmissable though. The garden’s gone mental. Only a few weeks ago, there were bare patches on the so-called lawn and now it looks (from a distance) green. All over. Mostly.
Mind you, I did help it along. To the intense amusement of my Other Half, I bough a pair of rigid plastic sandals with huge spikes sticking out the bottom and walked around the grass, aerating the lawn. Apparently grass-roots like a bit of fresh air, which makes you wonder why it grows underground.
I mean, if the roots likes air that much, why not stick them above ground to take a breather now and again, rather than waiting for someone with huge spikes sticking out of the soles of their feet to come and give it a dose of the much needed? It seems like a rum state of affairs to me and one that might have given Darwin a bit of pause for thought. It’s hardly survival of the fittest, is it? Although, by the time two dogs and various humans have romped over it, it’s more a case of the survival of the flattest.
Happy Easter everyone! I hope you get lots of eggs.
Cor blimey O'Riley, Dolores, it's only a few weeks back that you were remarking on the complexities of the Ancient Roman calendar...and Easter is cast in the same mould, only with knobs on! Why on earth can't they fix it on a regular date? I remember an Irish priest saying to me once, "To get a fixed date for Easter, you'd have to get the Pope and the Moon to agree, and I don't think that's ever likely!" As you say, in the early Christian church, debates on when to fix Easter took up a lot of time and energy, which proves that nobody was/is sure of the actual historical date. But no matter - a spring festival welcoming new life is brilliant, whatever its exact date or its cultural basis. And I do love an Easter egg. I don't think I'd mind if Richard forgot our anniversary or even my birthday - though he never has, so my forbearance has never been tested - but if he forgot to get me an Easter egg, I'd be seriously miffed. I remember when I was a child the enormous fun of boiling eggs (hens' eggs I mean) in wateer containing natural dyes, which coloured the shells. One green colour, produced by nettles I think, was a triumph, until we opened the eggs and found it had seeped through inside. Green-coloured egg white or yolk, even though your brain tells you it's quite wholesome, loses its appeal.
ReplyDeleteAnd the really interesting thing is that this year and last year was the only time in two thousand years that the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Western Church have celebrated Easter on the same date two times in a row. I guess it has occasionally happened once, but twice is record-breaking. (As Jane says about getting our formulas organized) Still, it gives me chills.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, we had our Cadbury's Creme Eggs even here in far-off Idaho
Oh, yes, and for my Sunday School children I had a basket of red eggs, per the story a Romanian Orthodox young man told me: In the Orthodox church they only die their eggs red because mary Magdalene had a basket of eggs with her on the way to the cross and the blood from Jesus' wounds dripped on the eggs.
ReplyDeleteIn Romania, two people grasp eggs in their fists, one holds a fist out and says, "Christ is risen." The other says, "He is risen, indeed." and whacks the other egg (a broken egg shell is a symbol of resurrection.) Whichever egg breaks that person gets to eat his egg, the other goes on to another person and repeats the ritual.
I knew my kids would love it. One little boy was champion--whacking every egg with his own unbroken. Onlyh problem, I used regular food coloring and all our hands came out red. My Romanian friend failed to tell me they use special dye.
Egg-whacking, what a great idea! Sort of like playing conkers but with an Easteer twist. I'd have loved that when I was a kid!
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