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Showing posts with label celebrations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrations. Show all posts
The Story of Easter
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Easter is a time of springtime festivals.
In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity.
Traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.
The Christian celebration of Easter embodies a number of converging traditions with emphasis on the relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name used by Europeans for Easter. Passover is an important feast in the Jewish calendar which is celebrated for 8 days and commemorates the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Easter is at the end of the Lenten season, which covers a forty-six-day period that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter. The Lenten season itself comprises forty days, as the six Sundays in Lent are not actually a part of Lent. Sundays are considered a commemoration of Easter Sunday and have always been excluded from the Lenten fast. The Lenten season is a period of penitence in preparation for the highest festival of the church year, Easter.
Easter Eggs
Of all the symbols associated with Easter the egg, the symbol of fertility and new life, is the most identifiable. The customs and traditions of using eggs have been associated with Easter for centuries.
Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring.
Different cultures have developed their own ways of decorating Easter eggs.
Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring.
Different cultures have developed their own ways of decorating Easter eggs.
The Easter Bunny
The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore.
The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and
they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.
glitter-graphics.com
The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and
they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.
glitter-graphics.com
1st of April - April Fools' Day
The history of April Fool's Day is not totally clear. There really wasn't a "first April Fool's Day" that can be pinpointed on the calendar. Some believe it sort of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.
Practical jokes are a common practice on April Fool's Day.
Sometimes, elaborate practical jokes are played on friends or relatives that last the entire day.
April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April Fool!
The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees.
The Making Of - BBC
Practical jokes are a common practice on April Fool's Day.
Sometimes, elaborate practical jokes are played on friends or relatives that last the entire day.
April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April Fool!
The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees.
The Making Of - BBC
Egg Proverbs
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Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. (Unknown)
It is one thing to cackle and another to lay an egg. (Ecuador)
He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens. (Russian)
An egg thief becomes a camel thief. (Persian)
Eggs must not quarrel with stones. (Jamaican)
A turtle lays thousands of eggs, nobody knows, but when a hen lays an egg, the whole village know. (Malaysia)
Kill not the goose that lays the golden egg (Aesop)
Thanksgiving - November 26, 2009.
If you ask someone "What is Thanksgiving," the answers you get will depend largely on whom you ask!
American Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November. This year Thanksgiving will fall on Thursday November 26, 2009.
The custom of celebrating Thanksgiving, an annual celebration held after the harvest began around 1621 when the Pilgrims fulfilled a successful and bountiful harvest in the New World.
glitter-graphics.com
3 things you should know about Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving was the only time the Europeans were actually given land by the Native Americans
It was only through the giving nature of the Native Americans that the Europeans survived
Enjoy the holiday, but remember the Native Americans at this time.
Click to find out about American Traditions
American Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November. This year Thanksgiving will fall on Thursday November 26, 2009.
The custom of celebrating Thanksgiving, an annual celebration held after the harvest began around 1621 when the Pilgrims fulfilled a successful and bountiful harvest in the New World.
glitter-graphics.com
3 things you should know about Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving was the only time the Europeans were actually given land by the Native Americans
It was only through the giving nature of the Native Americans that the Europeans survived
Enjoy the holiday, but remember the Native Americans at this time.
Click to find out about American Traditions
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