What is Easter: what holiday is it, what is it called, what does it mean for the Orthodox

The brightest and most important holiday of the year for Christians is Easter. Easter is the oldest holiday in human history and is celebrated from year to year on moving dates. In fact, Easter is the day of celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord, for which Christians begin to prepare in advance, observing Lent.

Many people know about the Easter holiday, but not everyone understands where the main traditions of the celebration came from, as well as how to correctly celebrate Easter by day. In this article we will tell you the history of Easter, traditions and how to correctly calculate the date of the next Easter using a special calendar. In this article you can also find delicious recipes for baking Pasok, as well as how to color eggs correctly and beautifully.

History of Easter

Passover Old Testament

The history of Easter begins with the coming to earth of the Son of Man - Jesus Christ. We know this holiday as the Nativity of Christ, when Mary gave birth to a son, Jesus. At that time, the Jewish people were severely oppressed by the Egyptian pharaoh, and all Jews, without exception, were enslaved by him. The king of Egypt ignored numerous requests from the Jews to let them go, and then ordered the killing of all newborn boys in order to reduce the number of the Jewish people.

When Herod thought of something like this, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph (the father of Jesus) and told him to immediately flee to the land of Egypt with his wife Mary, which Joseph immediately did.

At the same time, the prophet Moses is born, who was hidden from the king and not killed.

Moses grew up and became a prophet of God, through whom the message from God was conveyed to the Jewish people. So that each family slaughter a lamb and mark the doorpost with its blood, for that night an angel came down from heaven and killed all the firstborn of Egypt.

After such a terrible force, the king of Egypt released the Jewish people and from then on Easter began to be celebrated as a day of deliverance.

Easter of the New Testament

The Passover of the New Testament is known to us as the Passover that we celebrate to this day. After all, on this day Jesus Christ resurrected, who was slain like a lamb for the sins of people. In the distant past, Jesus Christ the Son of God, after the coming of the Secret Meeting, was captured by guards and imprisoned for calling himself “the son of God.” He was accused of comparing himself to God by saying, “My Father is always working, so I must work.”

When the guards grabbed him, Jesus Christ faced arrest, trial, scourging, and then the execution itself - crucifixion. They crucified Jesus Christ on Mount Golgotha and on the third day he exclaimed: “Father! I commit My spirit into Your hands! It’s finished!” and gave up his ghost.

Pontius Pilate allowed the body of Jesus Christ to be taken away and his body was laid in a cave near Mount Golgotha. And on the third day, Jesus Christ was resurrected, having been transformed from his Human Body.

From then to this day, Easter is celebrated as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, who died for all the sins of the human race.

Date of celebration of Orthodox Easter

In 2022, Easter will be celebrated on April 28. To understand how to correctly calculate the date of the holiday, you need to make some calculations. According to the Alexander Easter, according to which Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring full moon.

If the full moon occurs before the twenty-first of March (the vernal equinox), then the next full moon is considered Easter. And if the Easter full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is celebrated on the following Sunday.

Legacy of the Pagans

In fact, the sacredness of bread and eggs did not originate in Christianity. For example, eggs were painted and considered a symbol of life even before the baptism of Rus', and holiday bread was baked in the spring as an offering to the god of fertility. After the ritual, they could treat friends and acquaintances to it. Reminds me of the tradition of blessing Easter cakes and eggs.

There is even an opinion that the tall shape of the Easter cake was inherited from baked goods, symbolizing masculinity.

There were many superstitions surrounding the making of Easter cake. For example, the quality of baked goods predicted the fate of a family. The hostess's Easter cake has risen magnificently - to have a successful year, and if the yeast dough has fallen off, then troubles will not be avoided.

Where did the custom of dyeing eggs for Easter come from?

The traditional custom for Easter is to paint eggs red. Because Mary Magdalene came to the Roman Emperor Tiberius and brought gifts that contained eggs. Mary Magdalene uttered the words, giving Tiberius a basket of gifts: “Christ is Risen!”, and he replied that this was impossible, just as an egg cannot turn from white to red, and the egg immediately turned red. Since then, eggs have been painted red, which also symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us.

Kulich is a symbol of the reproductive organ, masculinity and the body of Christ

The tradition of baking bread as a gift to the gods of fertility existed among many peoples, in different beliefs. The Orthodox Church adheres to the point of view that Christian foundations have nothing in common with pagan ones.

The ancient interpretation is preserved, which today is associated exclusively with the celebration of Easter. But there is also a deeper meaning. There is such a moment in the history of Orthodoxy: when Christianity was introduced in Rus', many holidays were superimposed on already known, traditional celebrations. And the names of the pagan gods were combined with the newly discovered ones. All so that the new religion quickly takes root in the minds of converts.

Same with Easter cake. Ethnographers believe that it originally correlates with the pagan god of fruiting, Phalos. Represents the masculine principle. During the spring harvest festivals, bread was baked that resembled a man's oud in shape. Tall and not fat. The top of the head was poured with fondant, white in color, like sperm. Sprinkled with grain, symbolizing fertility. Painted eggs were placed nearby, indicating a reference to the male genital organs.

Easter traditions

Lent, which has strict prohibitions on many foods, is considered an unchangeable tradition before Easter. In particular, you cannot eat meat, eggs, fish, sweets, milk, baked goods, fast food or drink alcohol. Just before such a fast during the Maslenitsa holiday, one is allowed to eat plenty of eggs and dairy products in order to prepare physically and mentally for such a difficult test in Lent, which lasts 7 weeks in 2022, starting on March 11.

In churches, Divine services begin before midnight. The Midnight Service is served until midnight, and then Easter Matins begins. And then the procession around the temple begins.

Believers on this Bright Day greet each other like this: “Christ is Risen!” to which the other person must respond: “Truly He is Risen!” and so on three times. Previously, it was considered obligatory to kiss each other three times, and also exchange Easter eggs. According to tradition, it is customary to greet each other in this way not only on Easter itself, but also in the next 40 days after it.

Another ongoing tradition is the painting of Easter eggs, the Easter oven, and breaking the fast after Lent.

Also a week after Easter, Krasnaya Gorka week follows, during which usually all the young people have fun and can also have weddings. And on the 9th day there is a holiday called Radonitsa, where people go to the cemetery and remember the dead.

Easter symbols and ancient rituals associated with them

Easter fire, spring water of a stream, wreath, eggs, hares, Easter cakes - all these symbols of the Great Day have roots in the distant past. The Easter holiday itself embodies the ancient beliefs of different peoples. Water purifies and protects against illness and misfortune. The fact that on Maundy Thursday you need to wash yourself so as not to get sick for a whole year is the embodiment of ancient beliefs about the power of stream water.

Fire protected our ancestors from predatory animals and evil spirits; people lit fires to drive away winter and welcome spring faster. The Easter fire embodied the power of the hearth. The fire of a hot candle is, in the church sense, a symbol of the Resurrection.

The Easter wreath is the personification of eternal life. Even among ancient tribes, an egg symbolized a small miracle of birth, many nations have long considered hares a symbol of fertility and prosperity, and the prototypes of Easter cakes are babkas, which the Slavs have baked since time immemorial.

There are many customs associated with the egg. Our ancestors wrote prayers and magic spells on them, they laid them at the feet of the gods and asked them to send them prosperity and fertility. In the first Slavic cities, lovers gave colored eggs to each other in the spring, thus expressing their sympathy. And the favorite Easter entertainment in Rus' was rolling colored eggs.

In Russia, there has long been a tradition of making glass, wooden, chocolate, sugar eggs, as well as silver and gold eggs decorated with precious stones. Temples, icons, genre scenes, and landscapes were painted on Easter eggs.

How to celebrate Easter

There are three days of preparation for Easter. Thursday, which we used to call Clean Thursday. On such a day, the house is put in order, and people also strive to bathe before sunrise in order to have better health. On such a day, it is advisable to cleanse not only the body, but also the soul, trying not to enter into conflicts, not to use foul language, not to quarrel with each other, and also to refrain from intimacy.

Also on this day, many people start baking Easter eggs and painting eggs.

This is followed by Good Friday, which is the strictest day in Lent. On such a day you can’t do anything around the house, and you should also give up noisy gatherings, funny conversations, and any other fun. You cannot dye your hair, use cosmetics, and you should also go hungry. Only on the evening of Good Friday can you eat some bread and drink a glass of water. The most interesting thing is that on such a day you are allowed to bake Easter. Therefore, you can leave such a thing instead of Maundy Thursday on Good Friday.

After Good Friday comes Holy Saturday, on which Easter services begin in the church. On the night from Holy Saturday to Sunday you cannot go to bed, but you must stand at church services. If this is not possible, then you can pray at home. On such a day, people can paint eggs, the very first one, which is traditionally given to the youngest child in the family. On Holy Saturday, they usually start preparing other dishes besides eggs in the very morning. The dishes can be different, including meat and fish, but you cannot eat them, as Lent continues. On such a day you cannot have fun, celebrate anything, or get married.

Sunday – Easter. This day begins to be celebrated by lighting eggs, bread, pasok and other food. The lighting of the produce occurs from early morning, creating huge crowds of people with baskets at the church doors.

You can sanctify different foods, but mainly Paski, wine, preferably red Cahors, eggs, as well as other foods and even meat and sausages.

Afterwards, the family sits down at the festive table, where the breaking of the fast takes place. The first thing you should try is illuminated eggs and Easter cake, and then you can move on to other dishes and drink wine, in particular red, but here it is optional.

Easter is celebrated for the next 40 days, during which you can indulge in festivities, fun, and also visit each other.

Easter Service

Holy Week ends with the great and one of the most important church holidays - Easter. On this day, all Christians must attend a church service, which begins at midnight and ends at dawn.

At the end of the solemn service, the priests carry the Holy Fire throughout the temple. Believers take it with them and carry it to the house, trying not to extinguish it. A lamp with fire is placed at the head of the table and they try to maintain it throughout the year, until the next holiday of Resurrection.

In addition, consecration is considered the main rite. At the end of the service, people gather around the church to bless Easter baskets with Easter cakes, eggs and meat.

Congratulations

Happy Maundy Thursday

Happy Good Friday

Easter

Recipes for Easter

How to dye eggs

Onion skins

The most popular and standard way of painting eggs is using onion peels.

For 10 eggs you will need:

100 grams of onion peel.
A little salt.

Painting process:

To paint eggs beautifully and correctly, you need to take them out of the refrigerator in advance so that they are not cold. Then pour water into the pan and put the onion peels there. When the water boils, turn off the gas and leave the infusion for 3 hours. Afterwards, salt the water a little and add our eggs. They should be cooked together with the husk for 10 minutes.

With the help of greenery

This method will give a beautiful pattern on the eggshell.

For 10 eggs you will need:

100 grams of any greens (this can be cilantro, dill, parsley)
100 grams of onion peel.
A little gauze.

Painting process:

First, you need to make an onion infusion, as described in the first option, and then take the eggs and add green leaves to them. Then wrap the eggs in gauze and boil in onion skins for 10 minutes.

Natural dyes

Using natural dyes you can dye your eggs in different colors.

For 10 eggs you will need:

3 tablespoons of nettle - for green color.
3 tablespoons of chamomile - for yellow color.
1 beet – for pink color.
A small fork of red cabbage is for the blue color.

To color eggs from herbal infusion, you need the required amount (3 tablespoons), pour 0.4 liters of hot water and boil the herbs for 30 minutes. Then add a tablespoon of vinegar and boil the eggs in the broth for about an hour.
To give the eggs a pink color, you need to soak the eggs in beet juice overnight.
To color eggs with red cabbage, soak the vegetable in 0.5 water, plus 1 tablespoon vinegar. You should soak the eggs in this broth overnight.

Eggs and stickers

To stick stickers on eggs, you should choose neither large nor small; the best option would be to choose a medium size.
Take 10 eggs and 10 stickers for decoration that you like. Then pour about 1.5-2 liters of water into the pan so that the water covers all the eggs. Separately, boil the eggs in layered water, then cool them and dry the shells well.
Then, along the lines that separate the stickers, cut them into separate strips and place them on the eggs. Then boil water in a large saucepan and place each egg with a sticker in it for a couple of seconds.

How to bake a delicious Easter

Tender Easter

Ingredients:

0.5 kg. premium flour.
4 teaspoons dry yeast.
3 pieces of chicken eggs.
150 grams of butter.
A little salt.
6 tablespoons of sugar.
100 grams of raisins.
150 ml. milk.

Cooking process:

To make the raisins soft, you need to soak them overnight in warm water. In the morning, dry it and set it aside for now. Add sugar and yeast to warm milk and leave for a while to let the dough brew.
Afterwards, when the dough begins to bubble into it, gradually add all the remaining ingredients and knead the dough. Don't forget to add raisins to the dough as well. Knead the dough well and then put it in a warm place for a couple of hours. After the time has elapsed, the dough must be kneaded again and then left for another half hour.
In order for Easter to work as it should, you don’t need to fill the entire form with dough. 2/3 will be enough, and leave the rest with a reserve. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake until Easter golden brown. Then reduce the temperature and continue baking for another 30 minutes.

Easter with almonds

A wonderful Easter without baking that will delight you with its delicate and pleasant taste.

Ingredients:

900 grams of fat cottage cheese.
0.5 grams of fat sour cream.
3 cups cream.
3 egg whites.
2 cups white sugar.
1 pack of vanilla.
2 cups ground almonds.

Cooking process:

To make this Easter, you need to put the pureed cottage cheese, sour cream, beaten egg whites, sugar, vanilla, ground almonds in a special form and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Easter with cognac

A very tasty Easter, which will have a slight taste of cognac, which will add a special piquancy to such delicious pastries.

Ingredients:

1.5 kilograms of premium flour.
0.250 ml. milk (2.7%)
0.230 grams sour cream (25%)
0.250 grams butter (67%)
9 pieces of chicken eggs.
0.5 grams of sugar.
25 grams of vegetable oil.
25 grams of fresh yeast.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 tablespoon of strong cognac.
150 grams of raisins.
1 pack of lemon zest.

Glaze:

2 egg whites.
0.200 grams of powdered sugar.
0.150 grams of multi-colored confectionery powder.

Cooking process:

You need to add yeast, sugar and two tablespoons of flour to warm milk. Mix everything well so that the yeast dissolves in the water. Place the dough in a warm place until it starts to bubble.
We take our eggs and rinse them well under water. Then separate the whites from the yolks and beat the whites with a mixer. Add half the sugar to them and continue whisking until the mass increases in volume and the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour the rest of the sugar into the yolks and beat them in the same way as the whites.
Add sour cream, salt, beaten yolks and whites to the container with our dough, mix everything until smooth. Then add cognac, vanilla and a little lemon zest. Then add half the flour and knead our dough. In the process, add butter and sunflower oil, continuing to knead our dough. Then add raisins and mix everything well again.
Afterwards, the dough is covered with a napkin or towel and placed in a warm place so that it rises and increases in size several times. This will take about two hours.
To make the dough stick to your hands less, grease them with vegetable oil and separate small pieces from the dough and place them in baking molds. Do not fill the entire pan with dough, as the dough will rise in the oven and overflow. Optimal filling of the mold is 2/3. We leave our dough in the molds for 45 minutes, and then in an oven preheated over low heat, we begin to bake them.
As soon as the molds are loaded into the oven, the temperature should be increased to 200 degrees. Baking Pasok requires 20 to 25 minutes. During the baking process, you should test the dough to see if it is done.

Glaze

Beat 2 egg whites into a fluffy, light mass and mix them with powdered sugar. Mix everything well so that the powdered sugar dissolves well. Then add a tablespoon of lemon juice and mix our mixture again.
Then we dip the top of our Pasoks into the prepared glaze and sprinkle with confectionery powder.

Chocolate Easter

Ingredients:

1 kilogram of fat cottage cheese.
0.200 grams butter (67%)
3 chicken eggs.
0.150 grams of sugar.
0.200 grams dark chocolate.
1 vanilla stick.
0.5 ml heavy cream.
0.100 grams of nuts.
0.200 grams of candied fruits.

Cooking process:

The cottage cheese needs to be squeezed out to remove excess moisture from it. Then grind it in a meat grinder.

Melt butter and mix with cottage cheese.

Remove seeds from the vanilla stick, but do not throw away the seeds themselves.

Mix sugar and eggs.

Put cream in them.

Throw the reserved seeds into the pan.

The mixture should be cooked for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The heat must be reduced to medium so that the mass does not burn.

The nuts need to be crushed into fine crumbs.

Melt dark chocolate in a water bath.

Mix the cottage cheese with the cooled mixture with eggs, cream and sugar.

Add melted chocolate and mix everything well.

Then put nuts and candied fruits in a bowl.

Place gauze in the Easter mold as shown in the photo. It needs to be folded in two layers and our chocolate mass placed in it.

Cover the mass with gauze and let the serum drain from it.

Place a weight on top and move our structure into the refrigerator for 13 hours.

Then turn the mold over and place the prepared Easter on a plate. On top it can be decorated with icing, or confectionery letters or sprinkles.

Orthodox Easter Holiday: what it means, what it is called correctly, what it is dedicated to

History of Easter

Passover Old Testament

Easter of the New Testament

Popular message topics

Date of celebration of Orthodox Easter

Legacy of the Pagans

Where did the custom of dyeing eggs for Easter come from?

Kulich is a symbol of the reproductive organ, masculinity and the body of Christ

Easter traditions

Easter symbols and ancient rituals associated with them

How to celebrate Easter

Easter Service

Congratulations

Happy Maundy Thursday

Happy Good Friday

Easter

Recipes for Easter

How to dye eggs

Onion skins

With the help of greenery

Natural dyes

Eggs and stickers

How to bake a delicious Easter

Tender Easter

Easter with almonds

Easter with cognac

Chocolate Easter