A very popular spring holiday, Easter has roots not only in Jewish and Christian traditions, but also in ancient pagan beliefs as well. Although Easter is viewed as a Christian holiday today, much of Easter is more pagan than Christian - and even many of the Christian elements have pagan parallels as well. There is much more to Easter than meets the eye.
Lent is the penitential period of 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter when Christians fast and do penance in preparation for Easter and to spiritually "join" Jesus with the fasting and meditation he did in the wilderness. The principle behind Lent is asceticism: denying material, physical pleasures for the sake of the soul. Atheists reject Christian mythology and can turn Lent on its head by obs…
A very popular spring holiday, Easter has roots not only in Jewish and Christian traditions, but also in ancient pagan beliefs. Although Easter is ostensibly viewed as a Christian holiday today, much of it is arguably more pagan than Christian - and many of the Christian elements have pagan parallels as well.Some Christians don't celebrate Easter, believing that the Christian takeover of this pagan holiday resulted in an unacceptable adoption of pagan themes, beliefs, and practices.
Like pagans, Christians celebrate the end of death and the rebirth of life; but instead of focusing upon nature, Christians believe that Easter marks the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected after spending three days dead in his tomb. Some argue that the word Easter comes form Eostur, the Norse word for spring, but it's more likely that it comes from Eostre, the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess.
Easter is the oldest Christian holiday, but how much of the most public and common celebrations of Easter today remain Christian in nature? Many people go to church - far more than go the rest of the year - but what else? Easter candy isn't Christian. The Easter bunny isn't Christian. Easter eggs aren't Christian. Most of what people commonly associate with Easter is pagan in origin; the rest is commercial. Just as American culture secularized Christmas, it's secularizing Easter.
Clean Monday is the Monday that begins the season of Great Lent in Eastern Orthodox Churches. This corresponds to the season of Lent found in Western Christendom, but the periods of these two seasons are calculated differently. Both have 40 days between the beginning and end of Lent because of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting the desert. Western Christendom doesn't count Sundays because Jesus is recorded as having resurrected on a Sunday while Eastern Orthodox churches do count Sundays.
In Western Christendom, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and falls between February 4th and March 11th, 6 1/2 weeks before Easter. Early in Christian history the length of Lent varied, but in the 7th century it was fixed at 40 days as a reminder of the 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert. Early penitents were sprinkled with ashes, wore sackcloth, and were required to remain apart from the rest of the community until they were reconciled on Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter.
In the Christian liturgical calendar, Lent is the penitential period of 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Traditional Christians observances of Lent include fasting and penitence, both in preparation for Easter and as a way of spiritually 'joining' Jesus with the fasting and meditation he did in the wilderness. For early Christians and for Eastern Orthodox Christians today the rules of fasting are strict: just one meal a day, in the evening, and no meat, fish, eggs, or butter is permitted.
In Christianity, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe happened three days after he was buried. Easter is not an isolated holiday: it is the culmination of the season of Lent, which lasts 40 days, and begins the season of Pentecost, which lasts 50 days. Because of this, Easter is a holiday which stands at the center of the Christian liturgical calendar and serves as a focal point for numerous other celebrations, commemorations, and vigils.
