Easter, along with Christmas and Pentecost, is one of the three main holidays of Christianity. She began to celebrate in Russia immediately after the baptism of the whole nation. Later, the feast of the Resurrection of Christ gained dominant importance in Orthodoxy. After all, if the Son of God trampled death, then all the people of Israel can escape the grave and pass into the light of eternal life.
How to meet this bright holiday in order to become involved in its main meaning - the resurrection from the dead? Now, in the age of secularity, it often comes down to baking cakes and dyeing eggs. And how did they celebrate Easter in the old days? Let's study this question in more detail.
Easter Day Calculations
The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ is not calendar. This means that it is not tied to a specific date, such as Christmas, which is always celebrated in Orthodoxy on January 7.
How is Easter celebrated in Russia? This day is calculated by the moon. After March 21, the full moon is expected on the church calendar, and the next Sunday (if it does not coincide with the Jewish holiday of Passover) is Easter. Thus, the date is changing every year. Sometimes it coincides with Catholic Easter, as in 2014, but most often follows it, being late for one or three weeks. This holiday is fundamental for other dates in the church calendar. So, Pancake Week, Palm Sunday, Ascension and Pentecost were calculated on Easter.
Holiday eve
What does tradition tell us? Easter was preceded by a long fast called popularly by the Great. It began immediately after Shrovetide. Restrictions on food affected not only priests and clergy, but also lay people. During this period, it was not allowed to eat products of animal origin (except for fish, which was considered a gift from the sea).
A week before Easter, Palm (Palm) Sunday was celebrated. This is the date of the solemn entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. After Palm Sunday, the Holy Week began. This week every day was called bright. Especially important for the believing Christian is Holy Thursday - the date of the Last Supper and the imprisonment of Christ.
How was Easter celebrated in Russia (or rather, prepared for it) on this day? We had to get up before dawn and swim. This showed a willingness to cleanse sins and soul. Then the believers went to church, where they confessed and communed. And then, having returned home, they started cleaning. By the day of Bright Sunday everything was supposed to shine with purity.
How Easter was celebrated in Russia
This tradition is already more than a thousand years old, and therefore it has acquired its cultural characteristics. Even for such close peoples as Russians and Ukrainians, the celebration of Easter is somewhat different. But everywhere, and with Catholics as well, on the eve of Good Sunday, on Holy Saturday, people go to the temple. Believers carry baked Easter cakes and dyes (flowered boiled eggs). Religious passages and all-night services are held in churches.
According to the annals, we know how Easter was celebrated in Russia. The priest, and after him the flock, went around the station of passions, stopping in front of each and telling about the thorny path of climbing Golgotha, after which he blessed the arthos (prosphora). This is a yeast-free unleavened bread, a small loaf of bread on which a cross was placed during baking. Later, the tradition of pinworms was transformed into sprinkling of Easter cakes with holy water.
The essence of Easter
It should be remembered that this is still a religious holiday. Its meaning for the believer is to feel involvement in the Christian Salvation. The whole Easter period, which lasted until the Ascension (forty days after this holiday), the faithful greeted the words "Christ is risen!" Everyone knows the answer. This is "Truly risen!" Having defended the entire all-night service in the church and exchanged a kiss of peace with each other, the faithful went home with blessed Easter cakes and eggs. On the way, it was customary to “christify” with everyone we met - kiss three times in the face.
How was Easter celebrated in Russia yet? An original tradition that no one else has ever encountered is the constant ringing of bells. The joyful noise did not subside until the evening. On this day, everyone could climb the bell tower and ring as much as they like.
Festive table
On this bright morning it was customary to chatter after a long fast. Different peoples have their own traditional meat dishes for this day. How was Easter celebrated in Russia? We started the meal with a bridle. Then they ate eggs - this is the beginning of everything, as the Romans said. They were painted in different tones of red. Kulich was considered the crown ritual dish. It was cut across, keeping the top of the head. And only Russians prepare curd Easter for the Feast of the Resurrection - a high cone, sprinkled with icing sugar, with a cross on top. By the way, believers had to bake enough cakes. On Holy week, we went to guests, giving small acquaintances, relatives and friends. Also, they went to Krasnaya Gorka (Sunday, the next after the holiday) to the cemetery, where cakes for the dead ancestors were also put on the grave. And, finally, they presented the poor, for Christ walks the earth forty days, taking the form of a beggar.