Jawhar Sircar, 3rd April, 2015
A question that comes up often is if Jesus Christ died with so much pain
on the Cross why is the day called 'Good Friday'? Some
Christian traditions like the Germans actually call it Karfreitag or ‘Sorrowful Friday’ and in English the origin of the
term 'good' is said to have come either from ‘God's Friday’ or from an archaic
translation of the term ‘Holy’ or ‘Pious’. It leads the
main celebrations of 'Easter' that reaches its peak on Sunday, the day that
Jesus arose from his dead state and began his journey to heaven. The
dates for Good Friday and the Easter season were not always been agreed upon
and initially they were linked to Spring Equinox of the 21st of March.
Christianity was indeed a struggling movement till 313 AD, when Emperor
Constantine of Byzantium (present day Istanbul) recognised it as one of the
official religions of the Roman Empire. Its early history is thus crowded in
myths and legends. The death of Jesus was
originally calculated to have been in AD 33 and 'Good Friday' was reckoned to
be the 3rd of April: a remarkable coincidence with this year’s
celebration. Sir Isaac Newton, however, brought it to AD 34 with all his
mathematical calculations of the differences between the conflicting calendars
and the movements of the moon. The Western Churches follow the Gregorian
calendar while the Eastern Churches abide by the Julian calendar, thus they
differ on the dates of their celebrations but what are common are the special
prayers and Masses that mark the period. The Easter season actually begins with
40 days of 'Lent' that precedes Easter Sunday and many actually observe fasts
through so many days.
As a festival, however, Easter goes back well before Christ arrived. It
was originally celebrated for a pagan goddess called Eostre or Ostara or even
Astare. She was worshipped in Spring as the dead winter found fresh life
through her and Norma Goodrich mentions in her book that ancient Saxon poets
had found associations between India’s dark goddess and this Eostre, as both
followed the death and life cycle. The Easter Bunny is also older than Christianity
because it was known as the companion or vahana
of the goddess and was called the Moon-hare. The Germans said that this hare
would lay golden eggs for good children on Easter Eve, and this belief has been
explained in Claudia De Lys’ book on superstitions. In fact, scholars like Homer Smith claim that
the Christian festival was not even called 'Easter', until the late Middle
Ages. Several nations like the Irish,
however, kept Easter on a different date from that of the Roman Church, as the
original date of the 'festival of Eostre', until the Roman calendar was imposed
on them in 623 AD.
Eggs were always symbols of rebirth, which is why Easter eggs were
usually coloured red, especially in Eastern Europe, to symbolise the blood of
Christ. The Russians used to lay red Easter eggs on graves to serve as ‘resurrection
charms’ and in the Czech republic, Christ was duly honoured on Easter Sunday,
but his pagan rival was recalled on Easter Monday: which was the ‘Moon-day’ as
opposed to the Sun-day. A curious 16th
century Easter custom was known as “creeping to the cross with eggs and
apples”, which was a significant use of the ancient female symbols of birth and
death. The older traditions used dyed chicken eggs, but now substitutes come in
chocolate, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jellybeans. Even so, many
still insist on the tradition of colouring their hard-boiled eggs. In Poland and in the Slavic traditions of
Eastern Europe, Easter eggs are a widely popular symbol of new life and a
batik-like decorating process known as pisanka
produces intricate, brilliantly-colored eggs. In Bulgaria, traditional egg
fights are a rage and the winning egg is titled as the borak, the fighter. Germans and Swiss hang decorated eggs from
branches or bushes and even the top of wells are dressed up for Easter as Oster-brunnen. The celebrated House of
Faberge created exquisite jeweled eggs for the Russian Imperial Court that took
this humble folk art to new heights.
Like
the celebration of Christmas, many traditions of Easter were altered, censored
or even abandoned altogether by various offshoots of Christianity, especially
during the Protestant Reformation. The Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans,
however, chose to retain a large proportion of the old observances along with
many of their associated traditions, even though the Presbyterian Puritans regarded such festivals
as abominations. In today's world, Easter also has a commercial side, as
evidenced by the mounds of chocolate eggs, jelly beans and marshmallow chicks
that appear in shops each spring. Like
Christmas, there is a thriving industry that runs on Easter eggs, bunnies and
baskets of condiments, as this holy day continuously combined various folk
customs, pagan traditions and current fads with religion and piety. The Easter
Bunny has become a popular legendary Easter gift-giving character, somewhat
analogous to Santa Claus in American culture and on Easter Monday, the President
of the United States holds an annual Easter egg rolling event on the White
House lawn for excited children.
Bermudans choose Easter to fly kites and hold colourful competitions,
but all in the name of God, as priests say these celebrate Christ's ascent to
heaven. Fish cakes are a favourite dish and Bengalis could well think of
visiting this island for this delicacy. In Jamaica, the baking of buns with
raisins becomes the main occupation from Good Friday onwards, and once their
crusty tops are seared with two strokes of the knife, they become the famous
'Hot Cross Buns'. While some East Europeans prepare a special nut-cake called potica, the Polish prepare excellent
white sausages for this season.
Easter is, however, not food and fun, for it also associated with the
painful emulation of bodily tortures that were heaped upon Christ, called 'The
Passion'. Filipinos and Mexicans go through Christ's last journey dragging
heavy crosses on their shoulders and whip themselves till they bleed. Some also
pierce their heads with crowns of prickly thorns. Formal religion has tried its
best to control men from such self flaggelation, but they continue
nevertheless: Like this one in Christianity. In Islam they appear in similar painful rites during
Mohurram: very much like the Indian ceremonies of piercing cheeks and bodies
with sharp metal or swinging high on poles on ropes tied to hooks inserted
under the skins of backs: as in Charak.
It is interesting to witness so many colourful processions that are taken out
through huge crowds in Easter in so many Catholic countries. They are quite
like Hindu celebrations and they carry quaint images, idols and dolls that
depict Biblical scenes and The Passion of Christ.
The
arrival of Spring often reminded people in cold Europe that it was time for a
bath and in Hungary and countries that were formerly in Yugoslavia, buckets of
cold water were literally poured on shivering humans. Men often wooed women
with perfumes or scented water, but the most peculiar custom was followed in
Czech and Slovak countries, where men literally spanked or whipped women with
willow rods and coloured ribbons. So deep-rooted was this custom that women
reportedly felt offended if they were not touched by this Easter whip. It is
hoped that this tradition is now gone, but what can never go from mankind is
its infinite capacity to use every religious occasion, however serious be it,
to celebrate their very existence with excitement, cheer and warmth.
No comments:
Post a Comment