THE HISTORY OF EASTER
Easter is a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead on the Sunday after his crucifixion on Good Friday and marking the end
of Lent. Easter is the holiest day in the Christian calendar, followed by Christmas
and is recognized as a legal holiday in most countries with a significant Christian
tradition, with the notable exception of the United States where Easter is only
celebrated on Easter Sunday (and not also on Easter Monday).
The timing of Easter depends on the Jewish Pesach, in English Passover, which
commemorates the sparing of the Hebrew first-born, as recounted in Exodus, since
it is during this holiday that Jesus is believed to have been resurrected. In
Western christianity Easter Day must always fall on a Sunday on one of the 35
possible dates between March 22 and April 25
THE DATE OF EASTER
Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they
do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar (which follows the motion
of the Sun and the seasons). Instead, they are based on a lunar calendar like
that used by the Jews. At the First Council of Nicaea in 325 it was decided that
Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the first lunar
month of spring (in theory, the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the
day of the vernal equinox). Eventually, all churches accepted the Alexandrian
method of computing Easter, which set the northern hemisphere vernal equinox at
21 March (the actual equinox may fall one or two days earlier or later), and the
date of the full moon was to be determined by using the Metonic cycle. A problem
here is the difference between the western churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
The former now use the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of Easter, while
the latter still use the original Julian calendar. The World Council of Churches
proposed a reform of the method of determining the date of Easter at a summit
in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997. This reform would have eliminated the difference in
the date between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was due to be implemented
starting in 2001, but it failed. See Reform of the date of Easter.
Computing the date of Easter, known as computus, is somewhat complicated. The
Wiki page explains the traditional tabular methods, but also has algorithms such
as the one developed by the famous mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Easter has not fallen on the earliest date possible, March 22, since 1818, and
will not do so again until 2285; it fell on the latest possible date, April 25
most recently in 1943, and will next fall on that date in 2038.
EASTER IN FRANCE
France, with its deep roots in Catholicism, celebrates Easter with vigor.
First and foremost, a three-day weekend all around. In addition, the second spring
vacation for schools (two weeks each of them) is generally centered around Pâques.
Third, Pâques marks the beginning of the "high" season, when tourists come out
of the woodwork and hotel prices rise accordingly. A series of holidays (starting
with the three-day Easter weekend) continues into May, with a trio of three-day
weekends that month.
Church bells ring joyfully during the year but stop ringing on the Thursday before
Good Friday. They are silent for a few days while people remember the death of
Jesus. On Easter Sunday morning, the bells ring out, telling people that Jesus
is alive again and when people hear the bells it is customary kiss and hug one
another.
Many children wake up on Easter Sunday and find eggs scattered about their rooms
and also go to look for eggs in the nests they have placed in their yards or gardens.
The eggs are said to have been bought from Rome where the bell ringing had gone
to see the Pope and when the bells returned they bought with them the eggs, the
concept of the Easter Bunny is unknown.
For French stores keep the tradition of Easter eggs (les oeufs de Pâques) quite
popular as chocolate decorations abound; dark, milk or white, sculpted into eggs,
bunnies and chickens, with surprises hidden within. The shop windows are bathed
in bright and pastel colors, a true treat for the eyes as well as the stomach.
Besides the sweet treats, traditional Easter fare is spring lamb or baby goat
served with a harvest of new spring vegetables including fèves, asparagus, peas,
artichokes, and such. Families gather together for the five or six hour Sunday
dinner.
FRENCH TRADITIONS
The French begin their Easter season several weeks before Easter actually begins.
As noted above, shop windows are gayly decorated in a festive collection of white
and dark chocolate rabbits, chickens, bells and fish. The latter two being an
important part of the French Easter tradition.
An old French custom was a contest of rolling raw eggs down a gentle slope--the
surviving egg was the victory egg and symbolized the stone being rolled away from
the tomb. As for kids, they played a game in which one had to throw eggs up in
the air. The first one to drop it lost.
POISSON D'AVRIL
French Easter fish are called Poisson d'Avril. Chocolate fish are available in
most shops. The real Poisson d'Avril, however, makes his appearance on April 1st
as French children delight in playing a kind of 'April Fool's' trick. They stick
a paper fish onto the back of as many adults as possible--most of whom are quite
tolerant. The children then run away yelling Poisson d'Avril! which of course
means "April Fish". This tradition dates back several centuries. One account suggests
that it has evolved from a fish trick where the innocent person was sent off to
the market to purchase freshwater fish when it was not in season.
CLOCHE VOLANT
Cloche volant or Flying Bells are another important part of the French Easter
tradition. French Catholics have a tradition that on Good Friday all the church
bells in France miraculously fly to the Vatican in Rome. They carry with them
all the misery and grief of those who mourn Jesus' crucifixion on that day. These
flying French bells then return on Easter morning in time for the celebration
of Jesus' resurrection. They of course bring with them lots of chocolate and eggs
which are left in yards for the children to collect in their baskets when they
wake up in the morning. In keeping with the tradition, French church bells do
not ring from Good Friday to Easter morning.
