For the entire Christian world, the largest and most revered holiday of the liturgical year is Easter. Easter (lat. Pascha) — is a Christian holiday in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, celebrated by the Catholic Church on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox (between March 22 and April 25).
The name of the holiday goes back to the Jewish « Passover»: Jewish Easter, dedicated to the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery.
For believers, Easter — is the holiday of the resurrection of Christ. But the roots of this holiday are deep and connected with the pre-Christian cult of dying and resurrecting gods of vegetation, revered back in the Ancient East. Essentially, this is an ancient holiday of spring awakening nature, rethought in the spirit of Christian legend on European soil.
The main attribute of Easter among Western Christians is considered to be eggs and hares that bring them.
The eggs and hares that bring them are the main attribute of the holiday (Photo: Kzenon, licensed by Shutterstock.com)
On the morning of Easter Sunday after the service, children and youth walk around the houses with songs and congratulations similar to Christmas carols. Among Easter activities, games with colored eggs are the most popular: they are thrown at each other, rolled along an inclined plane, broken, and the shell is scattered. Colored eggs are exchanged between relatives and friends, godparents give them to their godchildren, girls — to their lovers, in exchange for palm branches.
Throughout Easter week, services are attended in churches, and street performances on religious topics continue.