Easter - cross

Along with Christmas, Easter is one of the biggest and oldest Christian holidays. It is a "movable feast", meaning that it does not fall on the same date every year. Instead the date must be computed each year according to the phases of the moon. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first spring full moon, in other words between 22 March and 25 April.

When we talk about Easter, of course, we are not only referring to the one or two days of the celebration itself, but to the entire period from the Wednesday after Shrove Tuesday (known as Ash Wednesday) until Easter Sunday. "Eastertide" meanwhile, refers to the period of fifty days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. Throughout this period a whole series of customs and traditions are observed. These do not only derive from the earliest periods of Christianity and are not merely a commemoration of events in the Bible but are in fact much older, with elements dating back to ancient, pre-Christian, pagan periods.

The Easter festivities fall at a time that represents the end of early spring and the start of the true, green spring, so in many elements of individual costumes we can detect various forms of old beliefs connected to the spirits of fertility and growth. These were believed to ensure a good harvest, health for the family and livestock, and everything necessary for a tranquil life. Christianity took over many of these elements and adapted them to its own purposes and, of course, its calendar. Thus, for example, the week before Easter is called Holy Week. It begins on Palm Sunday, which since the ninth century has represented the Christian memory of Christ's reception on his arrival in Jerusalem, but is actually far older. Even in pre-Christian times, people celebrated a festivity connected to belief in the special, supernatural power of plants, trees, bushes, herbs and flowers. These were believed to increase fertility, ward off evil spirits, and protect against lightning bolts and other misadventures that could befall people and animals.