EASTER

a custom, a practice, a season, a greeting

This year, we’ve been without in so many ways–the customary family Easter and all those community traditions, customs, rites, and reminders set aside in a year of pandemic. We think of others who are setting aside theirs, as well. We may not miss the chocolate “Easter bells” of France, but we’ll wish we were sharing the hot cross buns and decorating the Easter baskets we’ve borrowed from England and some of the Caribbean countries.

Easter bunnies excite our kids, but in Australia, rabbits hazard crops and have little appeal; eggs come from the Easter bilby. We don’t expect wells to be decorated with eggs and flowers, a Swiss tradition, and unlike Finnish kids, ours won’t miss going around town in costumes.

Our Easter eggs aren’t usually red, as they do them in Greece, but the German custom of hanging Easter eggs from trees turns up, even “around here.” An Easter egg tree doesn’t need social distancing.

At Easter, South Carolinians won’t regret missing the season’s final ski holiday, a break Norwegians love. We won’t feel the lack of Norway’s favorite Easter treat, the chocolate-coated waters called Kvikk Lunsj.

If the word makes you think of “quick lunch,” you have it right.

In Italy, Easter is called Pasqua, and the Monday after Easter, Pasquetta, “Little Easter” The egg, a universal symbol of new life, everywhere becomes the Easter egg—in Italy, dyed “in simple, monochrome ways by placing various spices, vegetables or fruits in boiling water . . . beets for red, vinegar for brown, saffron for yellow, and blueberry for blue” (https://selectitaly.com/blog/all-you-can-italy/4-italian-traditions-easter/).

The 2020 virus has prevented gatherings for Easter worship worldwide, but Andrea Bocelli, the renowned tenor, sang “Music for Hope” in a live-streamed event from the cathedral in Milan. He said, “On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honored and happy to answer ‘Sì’ to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan,” Bocelli previously said in a statement. “I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone — whether they are believers or not — truly needs right now” (https://www.etonline.com/andrea-bocelli-sings-from-empty-duomo-cathedral-in-italy-for-special-live-easter-concert-144659).

Chinese house churches gather in secret if at all. With members of state-approved Chinese Catholic churches (no official connection to the pope), we would miss the large gatherings for baptisms, a feature of Easter in China.

In Russia, Easter traditions have returned in their full glory from the atheistic Soviet era when religious practices were suppressed. For example, serious house-cleaning occupies Holy Week, with “Clean Thursday” the culmination. The Saturday before Easter a fast is maintained, and that night churches are normally packed for services lasting into the early hours of Easter morning.

As in Greece, Easter eggs in Russia are dyed red, the dye from skins of red onions. The custom is similar to a British tradition of boiling eggs in onion skins (not red) to make a gold effect.

Easter egg rolling is a widespread European tradition and enjoyed in Russia. Eggs are rolled downhill in a contest to see whose entry makes it first to the bottom without breaking. Egg rolling is also a custom we love. Think of Easter parties held on the White House lawn, occasions we look forward to in future years. Egg rolls in Russia would be later than ours since their Easter isn’t tied to the Gregorian calendar.

For many, Easter is a season lasting forty days. Throughout this period, Russians greet each other, saying if at a distance, “The Lord is risen!” They expect the response: “The Lord is risen indeed!” This custom is also practiced by the Moravian communities worldwide, as anyone discovers who celebrates Easter in the Old Salem Village of Winston-Salem, NC. Having joined others online in our own Easter observance this very different year, I am thinking, how right the widespread custom of that greeting, “The Lord is risen!”

I’m also recalling the 2020 Easter message of Queen Elizabeth: “Easter has not been canceled.” Indeed not! In whatever way, we celebrate the living Lord, who walked out of a stone tomb in Jerusalem more than two-thousand years ago.

A Christian myth? Many seem to think so. I would merely note that the worldwide Easter traditions—varied, persistently maintained and loved everywhere, many of them Christ-centered—testify to one irresistible, unconquerable, glorious truth. Jesus Christ is risen!

from The Edgefield Advertiser, oldest newspaper in South Carolina

April 13, 2020

With thanks to the following for the great images: Hot cross buns, jeshoots-com-z1mZLq5x_7M-unsplash.jpg; Easter egg tree, julian-berengar-solter-M1JazJT_R8o-unsplash.jpg; skier, jasmina-rojko-v9dvC6VBmFc-unsplash.jpg; monochrome Easter eggs, sharon-mccutcheon-Qc0xEHyLRP0-unsplash(1).jpg; colored and gold-tone Easter eggs, monika-grabkowska-TD-EHe4icMI-unsplash.jpg; Easter eggs with feathers, bianca-ackermann-bzc9LrkAKxQ-unsplash.jpg. All images from unsplash.com, a great website.