Easter C - Easter Cloth
Date of issue: 10.03.2023
Author: Anamarija Pocrnjič
Motive: Easter Cloth
Printed by: Agencija za komercijalnu djelatnost d.o.o., Zagreb, Croatia
Printing Process and Layout: Štiribarvni ofset v poli po 50 znamk
Paper: 100 g/m2 samolepilni papir
Size: 30.80 x 23.76 mm
Perforation: Serpentine die cut
Illustration:
Photo:
Easter
Images of the biggest and oldest Christian feast
Easter and Christmas are the two biggest Christian feasts. The Easter celebration takes place as early spring is ending and the true, green spring is beginning. Today’s holiday, of course, has much older roots that are represented by numerous beliefs from pre-Christian and Jewish traditions connected to spirits of fertility and growth. These were believed to guarantee a good harvest, health for families and livestock and all the other necessities of life. Christianity assimilated many of these aspects and adapted them to its beliefs and its calendar.
Easter is what is known as a movable feast, in that its date is not fixed and instead depends on the moon. The climax of Easter celebrations falls on the first Sunday after the first spring moon each year, in other words between 22 March and 25 April. Numerous festive elements form part of the Easter cycle, which begins on Ash Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday, and ends on Easter Sunday. As well as the Easter cycle, we also have Eastertide, which begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Spirit, 50 days later.
The richness of the Easter tradition and its contemporary manifestations is reflected in Easter celebrations that display numerous local and regional differences. This even applies to the name of the holiday, which alongside its official title also appears in older forms such as vuzem (Bela Krajina), vazem (Istria), vezom (the Kostel area), vüzen, vüzem (Prekmurje, eastern Štajerska), and so on.An important role is played by Easter dishes and foods, which are carried to the church to be blessed in baskets covered with hand-embroidered cloths decorated with traditional Easter symbols such as the Lamb of God. Among these foods, which also have a spiritual significance, are various styles of painted and decorated eggs. The egg is, in fact, an ancient symbol of fertility, while in Christianity a red-painted egg symbolises drops of the blood of Christ dying on the Cross.
Janez Bogataj
