The name of the holiday itself comes from the Hebrew word “Pesach”, which means “exit” or “salvation” from death through a blood sacrifice. The Jewish people began to celebrate this holiday long before the Nativity of Christ. For the Jews, this meant their salvation from Egyptian captivity, which began to be interpreted as the liberation of all people from the domination of sin and death. But the Orthodox holiday began to be celebrated a little later, after the Resurrection of the Son of God. Coincidentally, the Resurrection occurred on Easter Day. But perhaps it was not just a coincidence. People always followed Jesus because he was kind and compassionate. He loved them, understood them, forgave them, healed them. He was slandered and executed after an unfair trial. By crucifixing Jesus they tried to destroy the entire Christian faith. Moreover, the name of the seventh day of the week, Sunday, comes from the Easter holiday. During the year, every Sunday is called “little Easter,” and believers on this day go to church for services and read prayers. On this day it is not advisable to work around the house; it is necessary to devote time to God and Easter has its own traditions. The main attributes of this celebration are colored eggs and delicious Easter cakes, symbolizing the blood shed on the cross, the Holy Sepulcher, as well as the shroud in which he was wrapped after death. Easter is a good, bright and joyful holiday, because the Resurrection of the Lord miraculously took place. Why do Orthodox and Catholics celebrate Easter on different days? The holiday is calculated according to the lunisolar calendar, on which the dates of many religious holidays and fasts depend. The beginning of Easter celebrations is associated with the spring full moon, which is celebrated after the spring equinox. This year, Orthodox Easter Sunday falls on May 2, and Catholic Easter Sunday falls on April 4. In general, Easter can be any Sunday from April 4 to May 8 according to the new style. This year, too, Orthodox Easter is late. Disputes about the date of Easter Sunday have not subsided for many centuries, so Catholics and Orthodox Christians celebrate it on different dates. Although it happens that the days may coincide. The next such case will be in 2025. Where did the tradition of dyeing eggs for Easter come from? Nowadays, many people paint eggs for Easter, and don’t think about why they should do it? But in Orthodoxy, this custom was a holy sacrament that was observed by absolutely all believers. Currently, there are several hypotheses about the origin of this tradition, but none of them are documented; this custom came from Mary Magdalene, who was the first. , who went to tell Emperor Tiberius the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. She could not come to him empty-handed, and there was no money for a gift, so she took with her an egg as a gift, which symbolizes life and the stages of its development. Of course, the emperor did not believe in such a miracle that someone could be resurrected, he laughed and said that it would be more likely that this white chicken egg would turn red than that would be true. But, to his surprise, the egg immediately changed color. The color red symbolized the blood that Jesus shed. According to the second version, this custom appeared because of the Virgin Mary. It is said that she began dyeing eggs to amuse the baby Jesus. The third version belongs to scientists who believe that it was invented for reasons of practicality. Because during Lent it was forbidden to eat eggs; they were cooked so that they did not have time to spoil. And to make it easy to distinguish boiled eggs from raw ones, they were painted in different colors. In Christian customs, the Easter egg symbolizes the Holy Sepulcher, which hides eternal life. Two thousand years ago in Palestine, graves were built in caves, cutting a tunnel and closing the entrance with a stone. According to legend, the stone had the shape of an egg. For Christians, the Easter egg is a symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus, because new life is always hidden under the shell of the egg. Previously, eggs were painted primarily red, but over time other colors were added. And in our time, Easter eggs have become a separate form of art. Now, in addition to different colors, they are painted with matte, pearlescent, marble and craquelure paints. They also create various ornaments, patterns and even paintings. They are decorated with beads, stickers and other decorative materials. The color of Easter eggs should be chosen consciously. This is what the main colors of Easter eggs symbolize: red is the most popular color, meaning the blood shed by Jesus on the cross, as well as eternal life – a symbol of a peaceful sky and the angelic abode; the color of the sun and comfortable life – a shade symbolizing health, harmony and the spring awakening of nature – symbolizes fun and joy; observed by both Christians and Catholics. The only difference is that Catholics like to use more different colors and paint them in patterns. They also have traditional Easter sweets in the form of chocolate eggs. How Easter cakes became one of the main attributes of the celebration With the time of the adoption of Christianity, the bread that was used for Easter rituals began to be called Easter cake. In Russian traditions, kulich is a tall bread made from rich yeast dough in the shape of a cylinder, which is baked in the name of the resurrection of Jesus. Raisins, dried apricots, candied fruits, etc. are added to the Easter cake dough, decorated with white icing and various sprinkles. On Bright Saturday, eggs, Easter cakes and other products are necessarily blessed in the church. It’s not for nothing that Easter cake dough is made from sweet butter dough. Because Jesus Christ, before making the great sacrifice, ate exclusively unleavened bread. But after a miraculous resurrection, he was able to provide unusually tasty, soft, juicy and aromatic bread. Therefore, Easter cake was chosen as a symbol of the holiday in honor of this joyful and bright event. At first, in Rus’, Easter cakes were baked only twice a year. In the spring, the sowing was celebrated in this way, and in the fall, the end of the harvest. During the time of Peter I, a third reason appeared – the celebration of the New Year. So Easter cake was a feature of festive feasts. On ordinary days, people could not treat themselves to this delicious bread, because the ingredients for it were expensive, and the baking itself, let’s say, is not the simplest. But after the adoption of Christianity, Easter cakes began to be baked only during the Easter holidays. Now this sweet bread is associated with the terrible death and miraculous resurrection of Jesus.
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