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Easter
(April 20, 2003) --- Lent, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (or Maundy
Thursday), Good
Friday, Holy Saturday*, and Easter Sunday* (20030417;
added: 050321)
Lent is
considered the forty days, not counting Sundays, before Easter. Lent begins with
Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter). For
Catholics, Lent is a time of fasting, prayer, and reflecting on the life of
Jesus. During this time, meat should not be eaten on Fridays.
This is a
symbol of remembering the suffering Jesus.
Note: During Lent, fish can be eaten on Fridays but other meat
should not be eaten. Some restaurants serve fish or clam chowder on Fridays.
This may be related to the fact that many Catholics are not eating meat
on these Fridays.
On Ash
Wednesday, Catholics are expected to attend church. During the service, the
priest will use ashes (made from the previous year’s blessed palm) to make the
mark of the cross on everyone’s forehead.
On Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus’ entering
Jerusalem
where crowds
worshipped him by laying down palm leaves (Photos)
before him. In church, the priest will bless palm and give it to those at mass.
Since this palm is blessed, it should never be discarded. This palm may be
burned when it gets old and dry and then discarded. It can then be replaced by
next year’s palm.
Holy Thursday (or
Maundy Thursday+) marks
the day that Jesus had his Last Supper with his disciples.
On
Good Friday, Jesus was crucified and buried.
Easter Sunday*
celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. This day and Christmas are considered the
most important days in the church. The church will be the most heavily decorated
on these days. These two days are also when the most people will attend mass.
Many people, who do not go to church on any other Sunday, will show up at church
on Christmas and Easter. You should plan to get to the church early on these
days or you may have to stand all mass.
Easter used
to be an annual pagan festival to celebrate Spring's return. In
addition, Easter used to be written “Eastre”, the
goddess of offspring and of springtime. The Easter bunny stems from
fertility and the Easter egg means re-birth; it looks like both are relating to
the pagan festival. Christians gradually converted the festival of Easter into a
Christian holiday. Details**
Easter foods: ham, mashed potatoes, other vegetables, rolls, pies, and
colored hard boiled eggs are common
Keywords: Lent, Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2003), Palm Sunday (April 13), Holy
Thursday (April 17), Good Friday (April 18), Holy Saturday (April 19), Easter
Sunday (April 20)
Note: We
wrote a short article on Lent and Easter. It is how the Catholic church views
it, but we think most Christen religions see it about the same.
Also, we added a very short note on the pagan festival.
+ Maundy
Thursday: see <
http://www.st-peters-ucc.org/maundy_thurs_good_friday.html >
*) Easter (or Easter Sunday) is the first Sun. after the date of the
first full moon that occurs on or after March 21.
The full moon for this year is April 16 and Easter Sunday will be April
20, Sun.
Holy Saturday is the Sat. before Easter.
**) < http://www.pastrywiz.com/letseat/easter.htm
> < http://wilstar.net/holidays/easter.htm
>
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