In 2009, Easter Sunday is on 12th April with Easter Monday Holiday on 13th April and the Holy Day of Good Friday on April 0th. Good Friday (Holy Friday) What is the meaning of Good Friday? Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day, Christians remember the day when Jesus was crucified on a cross. The date of Good Friday changes every year. See the Easter page to find out why. The date of the first Good Friday will never be known, but many scholars believe that the event took place on April 7th, A.D. 30. If they are right the calendar is wrong, by three years. The Anglo-Saxon name for Good Friday was Long Friday, due to the long fast imposed upon this day. Why is it called Good Friday? The name may be derived from 'God's Friday' in the same way that good-bye is derived from 'God be with ye'. It is 'good' because the barrier of sin was broken. What happened on Good Friday? Jesus was arrested and was tried, in a mock trial. He was handed over to the Roman soldiers to be beaten and flogged with whips. A crown of long, sharp thorns was thrust upon his head. Jesus was forced to carry his own cross outside the city to Skull Hill. He was so weak after the beating that a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was pulled from the crowd and forced to carry Jesus' cross the rest of the way. Jesus was nailed to the cross. Two other criminals were crucified with him, their crosses were on either side of him. A sign above Jesus read "The King of the Jews." According to the bible: • The third hour of the day - Jesus was nailed to the cross. (9:00 am ) • The Sixth Hour of the day - darkness covered the land ( 12:00 noon ). • The ninth hour of the day - the darkness left, and the Lord died ( 3:00 pm). The hours in the bible are calculated from the first hour of the day, being 6 in the morning. Christians believe that Jesus stood in our place. His death paid the penalty not for his own wrong doings but for ours. What happens on Good Friday today? Since the early nineteenth century, before the introduction of bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day were the only two days of leisure which were almost universally granted to working people. Good Friday today is still a public holiday in much of the UK. This means that many businesses are closed. Some Christians fast (go without food) on Good Friday. This helps them remember the sacrifice Jesus made for them on the day of crucifixion. Many churches hold a special service. This may be a communion service in the evening or a time of prayer during the day, especially around 3 o'clock as that is about the time of day when Jesus died. Many Churches hold services lasting three hours. They may celebrate the Stations of the Cross, or take part in Passion plays and dramatic readings. Some Christians take part in a procession of witness, carrying a cross through the streets and then into church. Churches are not decorated on Good Friday. In some churches, pictures and statues are covered over. It is seen as a time of mourning. It is traditional to eat warm 'hot cross buns' on Good Friday. Hot Cross Buns with their combination of spicy, sweet and fruity flavours have long been an Easter tradition. Why eat Hot Cross Buns ? The pastry cross on top of the buns symbolises and reminds Christians of the cross that Jesus was killed on. The buns were traditionally eaten at breakfast time, hot from the oven. They were once sold by street vendors who sang a little song about them. "Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns, One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns." Hot Cross Bun Ceremony At the London Pub, The Widow's Son, a Hot Cross Bun Ceremony takes place each Good Friday. In the early 19th century, a widow who lived on the site was expecting her sailor son back home for Easter, and placed a hot cross bun ready for him on Good Friday. The son never returned, but undaunted the widow left the bun waiting for him and added a new bun each year. Successive landlords have kept the tradition going after the pub was opened. Other traditional Good Friday food It is traditional to eat fish on Good Friday instead of meat. Good Friday Traditions Traditionally Good Friday was the day when everything was cleaned and whitewashed in preparation for Easter Sunday. Old Traditions on Good Friday Cramp Rings From the reign of Edward III to that of Mary Tudor, monarchs used to bless a plateful of gold and silver rings every Good Friday at the Chapel Royal. By rubbing the rings between their fingers, the royal touch was believed to cure cramp and epilepsy. The custom was abolished during the reign of Elizabeth I. Holy Saturday Holy Saturday is also known as Easter Even and the Great Sabbath. The term "Easter Even" was used by the 1549 Prayer Book. The 1979 BCP uses the title "Holy Saturday" for the Saturday before Easter (p. 283) When is Holy Saturday? It is the Saturday before Easter, the last day of Lent and is the day when Christ's body lay in His Tomb. In the early church Holy Saturday was a day of fasting and preparation for the Easter Vigil. What happened on the day before Easter Sunday? This day was the Sabbath and the day which Jesus rested in the grave. Easter Vigil Easter Vigil, dating back to at least the Roman times, takes place on Holy Saturday. The Easter Vigil is a service held in many Christian churches as the official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The service includes the first use of the word alleluia since the beginning of Lent as well as the first Eucharist of Easter. The Easter Vigil is celebrated by the use of a wax candle which is inscribed with a cross. The letters alpha and omega are inscribed at the top and bottom and the four numbers representing the current year are inscribed above and below the cross arms. Five grains representing the wounds of Christ are sometimes pushed into the soft wax. Traditional Holy Saturday Event The Bacup Nutters Dance traditionally takes place on this day in the small Pennine town of Bacup. Each year a team of folk-dancers with blackened faces dance through the town from boundary to boundary. A form of morris dancing, the blackened faces may either reflect a need for the dancers to disguise their faces from evil spirits, or have a mining connection. The tradition of this dance is thought to date back to 1857. www.coconutters.co.uk Easter Saturday Holy Saturday is also often incorrectly called Easter Saturday, a term that correctly refers to the following Saturday after Easter. Why do we give Easter eggs? Eggs are a forbidden food during Lent, making them a welcome return to the menu on Easter Day. For Christians, Easter eggs symbolise new life. They believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death and sin and offers people the promise of eternal life if they follow his teachings. Eggs have been a symbol of continuing life and resurrection since pre-Christian spring celebrations. Eggs had a religious significance in many ancient civilizations; Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs as did the Greeks; A Roman proverb states, "All life comes from an egg". It’s probably no surprise that Christianity should also adopt the egg to symbolise the resurrection of Christ. The Traditional Egg Gift The first eggs given at Easter were birds eggs. These eggs were painted in bright colours to give them further meaning as a gift. As chocolate was becoming more wide spread in the 20th Century, a chocolate version of the traditional egg was developed. The size of the chocolate egg has grown over the years and is now more likely to be the size of an ostrich egg rather than a small birds egg. Easter Presents Chocolate eggs are given to children. The eggs are either hollow or have a filling, and are usually covered with brightly coloured silver paper. Around 80 million chocolate eggs are eaten each year in Britain. Easter Egg Hunt Small chocolate eggs are hidden for the children to find on the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. In recent years this game has been linked to the Easter Bunny, which only arrived in Britain relatively recently. Pace Egging Easter eggs are sometimes known as pace eggs, a name that is ultimately derived from Pesach (Passover). All kinds of fun are had with the hard-boiled decorated pace eggs. The background colour of the eggs is provided by onion skins, with designs created by leaves and flowers placed next to the shell. Origins of Colouring Eggs at Easter Decorating and colouring eggs for Easter was a common custom in England in the middle ages. Eggs were brightly coloured to mimic the new, fresh colours of spring. The practice of decorating eggs was made even more famous by King Edward I of England who ordered 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and coloured for Easter gifts in 1290. Egg rolling Egg rolling is very popular in England and is an Easter Monday sport. Hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a hill. Customs differ from place to place. The winner's egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled between two pegs. Egg Jarping (Egg Tapping) Another activity that takes place on Easter Day is the playing of a game with the eggs known as "jarping", It's a bit like playing conkers, with players tapping their opponents' eggs until one breaks. The victor goes through to the next round and it's a process of elimination until there's only one good egg, the winner's, left. Easter cards Easter cards arrived in Victorian England, when a stationer added a greeting to a drawing of a rabbit. The cards proved popular. Special Food at Easter After the lean months of winter and the fast weeks of Lent, food at Easter was always a special treat. Easter day, like Christmas day, is also associated with special food. Boiled eggs are traditionally served at breakfast, then Easter cards and gifts may be exchanged. Roast lamb, which is the main dish at Jewish Passover, is the traditional meat for the main meal on Easter Day. It is served with mint sauce and vegetables. The traditional pudding are custard tarts sprinkled with currants and flat Easter biscuits. Simnel cake is baked for tea. Eleven balls of marzipan are placed around the top layer to represent the eleven true disciples (excluding Judas). Originally the simnel cake was a gift to mothers on Mothering Sunday in Mid Lent. Easter Biscuits Easter Biscuits are sometimes called "Cakes", and are eaten on Easter Sunday. They contain spices, currants and sometimes grated lemon rind. Traditional Easter Events / Customs Calendar Easter Monday Easter Monday, another public holiday in much of the UK, has little religious significance but is the occasion for numerous secular customs. Egg rolling Egg rolling is very popular in England and is an Easter Monday sport. Hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a hill. Customs differ from place to place. The winner's egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled between two pegs. Biddenden Dole At Biddenden in Kent, the Biddenden Dole, in the form of bread, cheese, tea (formerly beer) and cake is distributed. The cake bears an image of two women said to be the founders of this charity, a pair of Siamese twins who were born in 1100 and died within a few hours of each other at the age of 34. Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking At Hallaton in Leicestershire, the Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking begins with the blessing of a pie (usually made with beef rather than hare), which is subsequently broken up and thrown to the assembled crowd. This is followed by an unruly football game between the village of Hallaton and Medbourne. Small wooden barrels filled with ail are used as rugby balls in the no-holds barrel contest, the object of which is to get each of the three casks to a touchline in either village. Palm Sunday Pax Cakes In 1570, to encourage good neighbourliness among parisherners, Lady Scudamore arrange for five shillingsworth of cake and ninepenn'orth of ale to be provided every Palm Sunday in four Herefordshire churches. Nowadays small biscuits stamped with the image of the Pascal Lamb and the words ' God and Good Neighbourhood' are distibuted at the church doors after the service. Good Friday Hot-Cross Buns Service - St Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield. Starts 11.30 In a ceremony that dates back hundreds of years, 21 widows are given money and hot-cross buns after the church service Easter Bun Ceremony A London pub in Bromley-by-Bow, holds an annual Easter Bun ceremony on Good Friday. Each year a sailor adds a hot cross bun to the many that hang already in commemoration of a poor widow who baked a bun for her only son that never returned from sea. Midgely Pace Egg Play - Calder Valley, West Yorkshire Easter Saturday Nutters Dance - Bacup, Lancashire Easter Sunday Egg Jarping and Egg Rolling Easter Monday London Harness Horse Parade- Easter Monday 17th of April 2006 Usually held at Battersea Park. CHANGE OF VENUE In 2006, it will be held at the South of England showground, Ardingly, West Sussex. The first parade occurred in 1885 to encourage drivers to take a humane view of their horses. Today a huge variety of vehicles can be seen in action from rarely used horse drawn fire engines to the Harrods delivery ‘unicorn’ which is used every day. Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking - Hallaton, Leicestershire World Coal Carrying Championship - Nr. Wakefield in Yorkshire Easter Tuesday Tuppenny Starvers Thanks to a bequest made in 1739, children attending morning service at St Michael's Church, Bristol, on Easter Tuesday are given enormous spicey buns to eat. At the time of the bequest, tuppenny buns, intended for the choir boys, were a special treat compared with the more usual penny ones. Second Tuesday after Easter (Hock Day) This day used to be held as a festival in England and observed until the 16th century. According to custom, on Hock Monday, the women of the village seized and bound men, demanding a small payment for their release. On the Tuesday of Hocktide the men similarly waylaid the women. The takings were paid to the churchwarden for parish work. Hocktide Festival - Hungerford, Berkshire Hocktide is a very old term used to denote the Monday and Tuesday in the week following the second Tuesday after Easter. Hungerford is now the only place in the country still to maintain the annual Hocktide festival. The festival dates from the 14th century when Prince John of Gaunt gave the rights of free grazing and fishing to local ‘commoners’. To celebrate the town's patronage from Prince John of Gaunt, the town crier blows his horn and calls together the Hocktide Court in the town hall. Here, all commoners, living in the most ancient house in the High Street, must pay a fine to ensure their rights of fishing and grazing. While the court continues, "Tutti-Men" with florally decorated poles are led through the streets by the "Orange-Man" to collect kisses from all the ladies resident in the High Street. They receive an orange in return. Various traditional suppers, ale-tastings, lunches and balls follow. April Walpurgis Night, Beltane Eve Celtic Fire Festival celebrating the coming of summer. Easter is a time of springtime festivals. In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

Scholars, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe the name Easter is thought to come from the Scandinavian "Ostra" and the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre," both Goddesses of mythology signifying spring and fertility whose festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

The Christian celebration of Easter embodies a number of converging traditions with emphasis on the relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name used by Europeans for Easter. Passover is an important feast in the Jewish calendar which is celebrated for 8 days and commemorates the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt

The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets. (For more information please visit our Passover celebration - Passover on the Net)

The Date of Easter

Easter is therefore observed by Western churches on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or following the spring equinox (March 2I). So Easter became a "movable" feast which can occur as early as March 22 or as late as April 25

Christian churches in the East which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival

The Lenten Season

Easter is at the end of the Lenten season, Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. The Lenten season itself comprises forty days, as the six Sundays in Lent are not actually a part of Lent. Sundays are considered a commemoration of Easter Sunday and have always been excluded from the Lenten fast. The Lenten season is a period of penitence in preparation for the highest festival of the church year, Easter.

Holy Week, the last week of Lent, begins it’s with the observance of Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday takes its name from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the crowds laid palms at his feet. Holy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, which was held the evening before the Crucifixion. Friday in Holy Week is the anniversary of the Crufixion, the day that Christ was crucified and died on the cross

Holy week and the Lenten season end with Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Cross

The Cross is the symbol of the Crucifixion, as opposed to the Resurrection. However, at the Council of Nicaea, in A.D. 325, Constantine decreed that the Cross was the official symbol of Christianity. The Cross is not only a symbol of Easter, but it is more widely used, especially by the Catholic Church, as a year-round symbol of their faith.

The Easter Bunny

Traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in coloured Easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

The Germanic tribes including the Saxons introduced the rabbit symbol of the God Eastre to most of Europe and in particular Britain in the 8 th century. Later immigrant Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America . Were it was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the American Civil War. In fact, Easter it was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

The Easter Egg

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

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