Easter traditions

Easter lilies, a symbol of the resurrection, adorning the chancel in a Lutheran church in Baltimore
Flowered cross prepared for Easter Sunday

Easter traditions (also known as Paschal traditions) are customs and practices that are followed in various cultures and communities around the world to celebrate Easter (also known as Pascha or Resurrection Sunday), which is the central feast in Christianity, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. The Easter season is seen as a time of celebration and feasting, in contrast to the antecedent season of Lent, which is a time of penitence and fasting.[1]

Easter traditions include sunrise services or late-night vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, flowering the cross,[2] the wearing of Easter bonnets by women,[3] clipping the church,[4] and the decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb).[5][6][7] The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Christianity,[8][9] traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.[10] There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture. Many traditional Easter games and customs developed, such as egg rolling, egg tapping, and cascarones or confetti eggs.[11] Egg hunting, originating in the idea of searching for the empty tomb, is an activity that remains popular among children.[11][12][13] Today Easter is commercially important, seeing wide sales of greeting cards and confectionery such as chocolate Easter eggs.

  1. ^ Pennoyer, Greg; Wolfe, Gregory (1 December 2015). God For Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter (Reader's ed.). Paraclete Press. ISBN 978-1-61261-822-7. With the creation of Lent, the church brought together many of these preexisting customs and directed them to a common need--not only among those entering the life of the church for the first time, but also among practicing Christians for whom the mystery of Easter might threaten to become a mere commonplace. Lenet became a way for Christians to mindfully prepare for the coming feast, to open themselves to their own spiritual hunger in order to make room for the life and fulfillment offered at Easter.
  2. ^ Whitehouse, Bonnie Smith (15 November 2022). Seasons of Wonder: Making the Ordinary Sacred Through Projects, Prayers, Reflections, and Rituals: A 52-week devotional. Crown Publishing Group. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-0-593-44332-3.
  3. ^ Friedman, Sally (27 March 2016). "Easter bonnets top at Burlington City shop". Burlington County Times. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  4. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2003). "clipping the church". Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780198607663.001.0001. ISBN 9780198607663. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  5. ^ Jordan, Anne (2000). Christianity. Nelson Thornes. ISBN 978-0748753208. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Easter eggs are used as a Christian symbol to represent the empty tomb. The outside of the egg looks dead but inside there is new life, which is going to break out. The Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus will rise from His tomb and bring new life. Eastern Orthodox Christians dye boiled eggs red to represent the blood of Christ shed for the sins of the world.
  6. ^ The Guardian, Volume 29. H. Harbaugh. 1878. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Just so, on that first Easter morning, Jesus came to life and walked out of the tomb, and left it, as it were, an empty shell. Just so, too, when the Christian dies, the body is left in the grave, an empty shell, but the soul takes wings and flies away to be with God. Thus you see that though an egg seems to be as dead as a stone, yet it really has life in it; and also it is like Christ's dead body, which was raised to life again. This is the reason we use eggs on Easter. (In olden times they used to color the eggs red, so as to show the kind of death by which Christ died, – a bloody death.)
  7. ^ Gordon Geddes, Jane Griffiths (2002). Christian belief and practice. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0435306915. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Red eggs are given to Orthodox Christians after the Easter Liturgy. They crack their eggs against each other's. The cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from the bonds of sin and misery and enter the new life issuing from Christ's resurrection.
  8. ^ Collins, Cynthia (19 April 2014). "Easter Lily Tradition and History". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2014. The Easter Lily is symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Churches of all denominations, large and small, are filled with floral arrangements of these white flowers with their trumpet-like shape on Easter morning.
  9. ^ Schell, Stanley (1916). Easter Celebrations. Werner & Company. p. 84. We associate the lily with Easter, as pre-eminently the symbol of the Resurrection.
  10. ^ Luther League Review: 1936–1937. Luther League of America. 1936. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  11. ^ a b Hunt, Scott (15 March 2016). "What's Up with Eggs and Easter?". St. George's Anglican Church. Retrieved 10 April 2023. The egg, with its hard shell, was used to represent Jesus' tomb. Outside it looks lifeless. But, after a time, from inside breaks out new life. In some traditions the eggs were painted red to represent the blood of Christ shed for us. Easter egg hunts were organized to represent searching out the risen Jesus. Egg rolling was a game to remember how the stone was rolled away from the entrance of Jesus' tomb. Even Martin Luther is said to have been a fan of Easter Eggs and Easter Egg hunts.
  12. ^ Black, Vicki K. (2004). The Church Standard, Volume 74. Church Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-0819225757. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. In parts of Europe, the eggs were dyed red and were then cracked together when people exchanged Easter greetings. Many congregations today continue to have Easter egg hunts for the children after the services on Easter Day.
  13. ^ Davis, David (20 April 2014). "Easter Traditions Explained". CBS News. Retrieved 20 April 2014. The German church reformer Martin Luther, Larson-Miller said, also appeared to encourage the tradition. "We know that Martin Luther had Easter egg hunts where the men hid the eggs for the women and children went and it probably has this connection back to this idea of eggs being the tomb."