Festivals

Every year as Easter approaches, the stores are filled with jellybeans, candy eggs, egg-colouring kits, stuffed, real and chocolate bunnies of all types, and baskets for carrying the Easter bounty. However, most of us know that Easter isn't simply a commercial spring festival about dyeing and hiding eggs or wearing new spring attire. Easter is the Christian observance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. It is the central festival of the Christian church and after the Sabbath; it is the oldest Christian observance.

Lent

The name Lent comes from the Middle English "Lenten," which means, "spring." It signifies a season of fasting and preparation for baptism on Easter Sunday. Because Sunday was never a fast day, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter Sunday, when it ends. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saturday is not a fast day either, so that church's Lent starts 55 days before Easter, on a Monday. In both cases, Lent signifies 40 days of fasting in order to imitate the fast of Jesus Christ after his baptism. 

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is the sixth and final Sunday of Lent. In many churches, it is the beginning of the Holy Week, a week of observances leading up to Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday occurs one week before Easter and marks Jesus' entry into Jerusalem when his supporters waved palm fronds to celebrate his arrival. Today, many people use the ashes from palm fronds used on the previous year's Palm Sunday to mark a cross on the forehead of penitents on Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting that gets its name from the practice of sprinkling ashes over those engaging in the fast of Lent. Has anyone ever apologized to you by saying, "Let me put on my ashes and sackcloth..." This is where that saying originated. Those wishing to receive the sacrament of penance were known as "penitents." They wore sackcloth and were required to remain apart from the Christian community until Maundy Thursday.  This practice fell into disuse during the eighth, ninth and 10th centuries, when the beginning of Lent was symbolized by placing ashes on the heads of the entire congregation. On that day, Christians have a cross put on their forehead in ashes. The ashes are usually made from the previous year's blessed palm leaves from Palm Sunday, and are usually wet with holy water before being used.

Maundy Thursday

The word "Maundy" may have come from the maund (or mand) basket used by the fishermen in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Centuries ago, there was a fair held on this day in Norwich (Norfolk), at which vendors sold horses, cattle and general merchandise. Some of the fisher-folk brought their maund baskets filled with items to sell, including fish. Clothing and hats were sold, as it was customary to buy a new item of clothing for Easter Sunday. This may well have been the origin of the Easter bonnet and the notion of wearing new spring attire for Easter. Maundy Thursday may also have come from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning "commandment," as in the Biblical words of Jesus.

Good Friday

The Friday before Easter, the day in the Holy Week on which the yearly commemoration of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ is observed. As early as the 2nd century, there are references to fasting and penance on this day by Christians, who, since the time of the early church, had observed every Friday as a fast day in memory of the Crucifixion. In the Roman rite of the Roman Catholic Church, the liturgical service for Good Friday has been in approximately the same form for centuries, the notable difference since 1955 being the communion of the people. The liturgy, now celebrated after 3 pm, consists of three distinct parts: readings and prayers (including the Passion according to St. John), the veneration of the cross, and the communion (in place of the Liturgy of the pre-sanctified which developed in the Middle Ages). Non-liturgical devotions such as the Way of the Cross, and the Three Hours Service were introduced in the Roman Catholic Church after the Protestant Reformation and are still observed in some places. The Three Hours Service is a three-hour-long service consisting of sermons, hymns, and prayers centered round Christ's "seven last words on the Cross." It takes place from 12 noon to 3 pm on Good Friday.

In the Eastern Orthodox churches, where Good Friday is known as Great Friday, the Matins service (usually celebrated on Thursday night) includes the reading of the Twelve Passion Gospel Readings, taken from the various Passion accounts in the New Testament. No Eucharist or Holy Communion service is celebrated. At Vespers there is a solemn re-enactment of the burial procession of Christ, who is represented by the epitaphion, a piece of material bearing an image of the dead Saviour. In the Anglican churches The Book of Common Prayer provides for a celebration of the Eucharist on Good Friday, though this is largely ignored and the chief service of the day is often the Three Hours Service. In Lutheran and other Protestant churches various services are held, including the Three Hours Service and services with Holy Communion. In many areas concelebrated services take place among various denominations as an expression of Christian unity.

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