Easter Traditions

1
Easter Traditions

• Name and date come from a pagan feast
  commemorating the Spring Sun

2
Celebration Date

• First Sunday following the first full moon after
  the first day of spring
• Comes close to Passover, but no longer tied to
  that date!

3
Easter Traditions

• Eggs tied to Easter - also of heathen origin

4
Easter Traditions

• Beginning of life
• Most creation stories show the earth as an egg
• Eggs offered as sacrifices to propitiate
  (appease) the spirits

5
Easter Traditions

• Eggs were brought to the church in the 4th
  century to be blessed at Easter -- some Jews use
  colored eggs at Passover too

6
Easter Traditions

• Hare and eggs appear to have originated in
  Germany

7
Easter Traditions

• Christian German woman wanted to give a gift to
  the children of her village - eggs were all she
  could afford

8
Easter Traditions

• She boiled the eggs with roots and mosses to
  color them (God makes fruits and berries pretty
  as well as good tasting)

9
Easter Traditions

• The children thought that the hens laid the
  colored eggs, but one little girl said no, it
  couldnt have been hens - it must have been a
  hare!

10
Easter Traditions

• Meaning for Christians
• Rising of Jesus from the grave (resurrection)