Amazing Celebration Traditions: Interesting Easter Facts. Easter - interesting facts and stories Briefly interesting facts about Easter

What do you know about Easter - one of the most ancient and revered religious holidays today? A huge number of legends, many mythical stories and simply interesting events are associated with it, which, we are sure, will not leave you indifferent. Dni.Ru offers a selection of impressive facts about Easter.

Did you know that…

The word "Passover" is associated with the Jewish holiday Pesach (translated from Hebrew - to pass, step over, pass by) in memory of the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

After the New Year and the joy of your own birthday, Easter is the 3rd most popular holiday in Russia.

The most famous works of art dedicated to the Easter holiday are the Easter eggs of the jeweler Carl Faberge, which he annually created by order of Emperor Alexander III himself in honor of his wife Maria. Each egg was made within a year of gold and precious stones, and it also had to have a surprise inside.

Due to the difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars, the Catholic and Orthodox Church celebrate the holiday at different times, only in 30% of cases the date of Easter converges, and in as many as 45% of cases the Catholic celebration occurs a week earlier.

The authorities of Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Portugal and many other European and Latin American countries have made Good Friday an official holiday. In schools and universities in most countries, it is Easter that has a two-week vacation.

Christian teaching tells us that Easter cake is a symbol of church domes, and Easter is the symbol of the Holy Sepulcher. However, this type of treat appeared long before the birth of Christianity and was widespread in Rus' even during pagan times. People baked Easter cakes and Easter as a gift to the gods of spring and fertility in order to appease the heavenly powers. Cottage cheese pie, along with bread thickly smeared with egg whites, symbolized the male and female principles among the Slavs.

According to the official biblical version, the custom of painting eggs came from the Roman Empire. So, Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Jesus Christ, allegedly came to Emperor Tiberius with a lesson in faith - she gave him a chicken egg in honor of the resurrection of her teacher. He did not believe it, and in front of his eyes the egg turned blood red, forcing the emperor to change his mind. Well, modern scientists put forward a different version. As you know, during the 40-day fast, neither meat nor eggs could be eaten, and the chickens continued to lay. To prevent the products from being transferred, the peasants boiled eggs in onion peel, so as not to confuse old ones with fresh ones. This is how the tradition of making Easter eggs for Easter was born.

The largest Easter egg in the world is located in Canada in the city of Vegreville - weighing almost 2 tons and 8 meters in height! In Russia, the largest Easter egg was created from ice, its mass was about 900 kg.

In order for the date of the resurrection of Christ to take root in Rus', the clergy timed it to coincide with the popular among the Slavs holiday of Red Hill. It was on this day that the peasants met the arrival of spring and exchanged Easter eggs, worshiping the goddess Lada, and also buried memorial dinners on the graves of deceased relatives. So two different holidays intertwined together.

The Catholic symbol of Easter is the rabbit, whose worship roots came from the beliefs of the ancient Celts, who consider this animal a symbol of fertility. To amuse children, Europeans still have a tradition of hiding nests in the meadow with chocolate eggs from a rabbit that need to be found.

In America, the most common Easter tradition is egg rolling on the lawn of the presidential palace. The mass competition is usually held on the lawn outside the White House, where hundreds of children with Easter baskets compete to see who can roll their egg the farthest.

The most sought-after American sweets for the Easter holidays are Marshmallow Peeps - colored marshmallows in the form of rabbits, birds and chickens. Over 700 million copies are sold during the weekend.

Actions in the novel "The Master and Margarita", as conceived by the unsurpassed Bulgakov, take place just on Holy Week, and the story ends on the eve of Easter night.

On the day of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross - Good Friday - Christian temples and churches stop ringing their bells. The tradition of silence lasts for two days, while the body of the Savior is mourned. And on Sunday morning, the bell ringing solemnly returns, marking the resurrection of the Son of God and a feast in honor of the joyful news.

Only 1% of Russians observe Great Lent in all its severity - they go to church, read prayers and restrict themselves in food. Another 21% adheres to some limits, denying themselves small pleasures. However, this does not prevent almost all of us from celebrating Easter day, honoring each other with krashenka and Easter cakes.

Interesting facts about Easter

The Easter holiday in the minds of people is firmly entrenched as the brightest and most important holiday of Christians around the world. However, in European countries, the Easter holiday has more secular significance than religious. For many, this is an opportunity and a reason to rejoice together with relatives and friends in spring and the rebirth of nature that accompanies it.

Many myths, legends and facts are associated with this holiday, as well as customs of celebration, most of which are of particular interest regardless of the person's religion.

Easter is one of the most popular holidays for Russians. In terms of the number of those who celebrate it, this holiday invariably ranks third - after the New Year holiday and its own birthday.

The main Easter attribute - painted boiled eggs - symbolizes the resurrection, new life and is present in many customs, one of which is the most famous - the exchange of Easter eggs.

The custom of painting eggs is associated with the name of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. On the day Marcus Aurelius was born, one of his mother's chickens allegedly laid an egg marked with red dots. The happy omen was interpreted as the birth of the future emperor. Since 224, it has become a custom for the Romans to send colored eggs as a congratulation to each other. Christians adopted this custom, putting a different meaning into it: the red color has a special power, because the egg on Easter holidays is dyed with the blood of Christ.

Another legend of egg dyeing says: after the death of Christ, seven Jews gathered for a feast. Among the dishes were fried chicken and hard-boiled eggs. During the feast, one of those gathered, remembering the executed man, said that Jesus would rise on the third day. To this, the owner of the house objected: “If the chicken on the table comes to life, and the eggs turn red, then he will rise again.” And at the same moment, the eggs changed color, and the chicken came to life.

The third legend claims that it was the Virgin Mary, in order to entertain the baby Jesus, who first began to color the eggs.

Another legend connects this custom with the name of the French King Louis Saint, the inspirer of the Crusades. Released from captivity, he prepared to return to his homeland. Before his departure, a feast was held, at which, among other dishes, there were eggs painted in different colors.

Adherents of a rational approach are convinced that the whole thing is in animals, or rather chicken, instincts and a forty-day fast. During its course, it was impossible to eat many foods, including eggs. However, the Christian calendar had absolutely no meaning for the laying hens, who continued to rush with their former activity. The people, wanting to preserve the eggs, boiled them, and in order not to be confused with unboiled ones, they dyed them, mainly using natural dyes. Soon, the urgent need turned into an excellent ritual that accompanies the Easter holiday.

The official Christian version - during the time of Roman rule, it was customary, when visiting the emperor, to bring him a gift. And when the poor disciple of Christ, Saint Mary Magdalene came to Rome to the emperor Tiberius with a sermon of faith, she gave him a simple chicken egg. Tiberius did not believe Mary's story about the Resurrection of Christ and exclaimed: “How can someone rise from the dead? It is as impossible as if this egg suddenly turned red. Immediately before the eyes of the emperor, a miracle happened - the egg turned red, testifying to the truth of the Christian faith. And Tiberius exclaimed: "Truly risen!".

By tradition, on Easter days it is customary to give gifts, especially to poor relatives, and to do charity work. From ancient times, special attention was paid to poor wanderers - after all, the people said that "from Easter to Ascension, Christ wanders the earth with the apostles, experiencing the mercy and kindness of everyone."

In Russia, Easter festivities with round dances, games, swings continued in different areas from one day to two or three weeks and were called Krasnaya Gorka. To folk music, people lead a huge round dance - “kolo” in Bulgaria, “varosh” or “popular sabor” in Serbia, “taferich” in Bosnia.

In Bulgaria, hundreds of large and small earthenware pots made before Easter, decorated with good wishes, are thrown from the upper floors to commemorate the Easter victory over evil. Any passer-by can take a shard from a broken pot for good luck.

In Russia and Serbia, Easter eggs are “christened” - breaking different ends in turn, just as people are christened three times on their cheeks. Children arrange "pokatushki" - whose egg rolls further.

The Easter egg in the Christian tradition denotes the Holy Sepulcher: the egg, although it looks dead on the outside, inside contains a new life that will come out of it, and therefore the egg serves as "a symbol of the tomb and the emergence of life in its very bowels."

Kulich - the bread symbol of Easter, an indispensable attribute of the holiday, actually appeared much earlier than the advent of Christianity itself. In the Old Testament, there is no mention of either the Easter cake or the rites associated with it. All this is because the history of Easter cake dates back to pagan times. Many peoples had a custom - to bake bread in the spring and sacrifice it to the earth. The ritual was dedicated to the gods of fertility.

The shape of the traditional Easter cake resembles a church with a dome. No wonder it is customary to depict a cross on the crust. This is a special cake.- at times it is difficult to explain why yeast bread made for Easter can be stored for a long time, while not drying out or becoming moldy.

Today, Easter cake traditionally personifies how Christ ate bread with his disciples so that they would believe in his resurrection. Cottage cheese Easter is made in the form of a truncated pyramid, the letters "XB" are applied to it. It symbolizes the Holy Sepulcher.

Catholics have one of the symbols of Easter became rabbit. In many European countries, children believe that, subject to good behavior on their part, the Easter Bunny comes on the eve of the holiday and lays colored eggs in the nest. The nest (or basket) had to be prepared in advance in a secluded place. Kids usually used their hats for this purpose, laying them out in sheds, barns and other secluded rooms. The arrival of the miracle rabbit is almost as eagerly awaited as the visit of Santa Claus.

That Easter bunny with a bell hanging around its neck is good. On the eve of Easter, this eared character can be found everywhere and in different forms. Rabbits are made from chocolate, marzipan and other tidbits, they are sewn from plush and fur, and molded from clay. The "rabbit" ornament adorns many Easter items: festive tablecloths, napkins, dishes. And, of course, postcards.

Long before Easter, Easter markets open in the main squares of European cities, where you can buy things made by yourself. Bridges and fountains are decorated with greenery and colorful eggs, symbolizing Easter streams - Renewal and Spring of Joy. In many courtyards, you can see bushes and trees decorated with eggs and various characters, like a Christmas tree.

In most European countries, Holy Week and the week after Easter are school and student holidays. Many European countries, as well as Australia, celebrate Easter and Easter Monday as public holidays. In Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Latvia, Portugal, Croatia and most Latin American countries, Good Friday is also a public holiday. The entire Easter Triduum is a public holiday in Spain.

The theme of Easter inspired many great masters of art. Easter eggs, perhaps the most famous jeweler of all times and peoples - Peter Carl Faberge, became a true masterpiece. For example, in the product "Lily of the Valley" there is a mechanism, when "launched" from the egg, three small portraits appear and fan out - Emperor Alexander and his two daughters. Beginning in 1883, the autocrat annually ordered a set of festive precious eggs for his wife for Easter.

In Russia, there is a custom to visit the graves of relatives on Easter. At the same time, according to tradition, in the Orthodox Church, in connection with the joyful day of Easter, the commemoration of the dead ceases for the entire Bright Week. On the tenth day after Easter, the parental day is celebrated - Radonitsa.

The largest Easter egg in the world is located in Vegreville, Alberta, Canada. The weight of this egg is almost 2 tons, and the length is about 8 meters. In Russia, the largest Easter egg was made from ice in 2010. Its weight was 880 kilograms, and its height was 2.3 meters.

In America, an Easter game is very common - rolling eggs on a sloping lawn. The winner of the competition is the one who can roll his colored egg the farthest without stopping. The most massive competition takes place on Easter Sunday on the lawn near the White House in Washington. Hundreds of children come here with their Easter baskets filled with brightly colored eggs and roll them down the lawn outside the presidential palace.

Sweden has its own fun. They even have Easter witches. Little girls dress in rags and old clothes, most often their outfits consist of oversized skirts and scarves. In this form, the girls go from door to door with a copper teapot and collect treats. This custom is said to have originated from an ancient belief that witches fly to the German mountain Blokula on the Thursday before Easter and hold a sabbath. According to legend, when they returned back, the ancestors of the Swedes and Finns lit fires and frightened evil spirits. Also, people shot into the air and painted crosses on houses and barns to scare away evil spirits. In our time, the tradition is alive: in the days before Easter, the Swedes and Finns light bonfires and set off fireworks.

And in a number of Latin American countries and some parts of Greece, it is customary to hang up an effigy of the apostle who betrayed Christ and burn it. Sometimes fireworks are placed in a scarecrow. And in Bermuda, Easter kites are flown on Good Friday.

The tradition of placing a large candle at the altar during the Easter night service exists in all Christian countries. From this candle, then all the other lamps in the church are lit. The ritual originated in the 4th century AD, with the main candle being a symbol of Jesus Christ and its sacred flame a symbol of the Resurrection.

Many interesting signs have always been associated with Easter, and not only among righteous Christians, but also among those who seriously violate God's commandments. For example, thieves had a sign: if during the Easter service in the church you steal something from the parishioners and not be caught by the hand - you can boldly steal all year, you will not be caught. Card players believed that a simple ritual would bring good luck in the game - when going to church on Easter, you need to put a coin in your boot.

The word "Easter" came to us from the ancient Greek language, being, in turn, borrowed from Hebrew. True, some researchers who believe that the Christian Easter is absolutely not connected with the Jewish one, express the opinion that the etymology of the ancient Greek word is different. In ancient Greek there is a verb pa/sxw (paskho), meaning "to suffer". This is how it is translated, for example, in Mt. 16:21 - "From that time on, Jesus began to reveal to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer much (pa/sxw) from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and rise again on the third day." It is from the verb "suffer", according to some, that the word "Easter" comes. With this interpretation, the very idea of ​​Easter is reduced to the suffering of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew word xaseP (Pesach) literally means "passing by", reminiscent of the liberation of the Jews from slavery.

The general rule for calculating the date of Easter is: "Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring full moon."

Easter, or otherwise - the Bright Resurrection of Christ, is not without reason celebrated on the last day of the week - Sunday. According to the Russian etymological dictionary, the day of the week "Sunday" is named after the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after the crucifixion. The word originated from the Old Slavonic resurrection, resurrection, and came into the Russian language through Church Slavonic.

On Easter, as on the most important holiday of the church year, a particularly solemn service is celebrated. It was formed in the first centuries of Christianity as baptismal. Most of the catechumens after the preparatory fast were baptized on this special day.

Easter fire plays a big role in worship. It symbolizes the "Light of God that enlightens all nations" after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In major cities of Greece and Russia, Orthodox churches await the Holy Fire from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Holy Fire is annually delivered by special flights to Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Poland and Bulgaria, it is met with honor by state and church leaders.

Since the end of the 19th century, it has become traditional in Russia to send to those relatives and friends with whom you cannot be christened on Easter, Easter open letters with colorful drawings, the main theme of which was the following: Easter eggs, Easter cakes, Orthodox churches, people who celebrate Christ, Russian landscapes, spring flood, flowers. Many thousands of different types of Easter cards were published in pre-revolutionary Russia.

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In 2018, only 2% of Russians strictly observed Great Lent. 11% of the inhabitants of our country partially observed fasting, they tried not to eat meat and excluded alcohol, and another 6% of Russians strictly fasted only in the last week before Easter. And this is despite the fact that according to VTsIOM data for 2016, the number of Russians who began to rely on God in their lives increased from 49% up to 67% compared to 1991.

C o one of the most ancient and revered religious holidays a huge number of legends, many mythical stories and simply interesting events are connected.Everyone knows: dyeing eggs, christening, etc., but there are also less known facts about Easter that will be of interest not only to the Orthodox.

Highlander Magazineoffers a selection of the most impressive facts about Easter. But first, answers to a few curious "Why?".

Why "Easter"?

The word "Easter" comes from the Greek language ( Greek πάσχα) and means "deliverance". "transition". In other words, the feast of the Resurrection of Christ signifies the passage from death to life and from earth to heaven. As theologians note, with the death of Christ on the cross, redemption was made, and by His Resurrection people were granted eternal life.

Why is Easter a movable holiday?

Many people wonder why it is impossible to set one date for a bright holiday. The thing is that two thousand years ago, the Jews were calculated according to the lunar calendar. After the introduction of the new calendar, theologians decided to tie the celebration of Easter to the days of the moon. Now we celebrate Easter every first Sunday after the first full moon in spring, which is considered the first full moon after the spring equinox.

If the full moon occurs on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, then Easter is postponed to the next week.

Why the symbol of Easter is Easter eggs?

Legend has it that after the resurrection of Jesus, Mary Magdalene came to the emperor Tiberius to tell the amazing news and presented him with a chicken egg as a gift as a symbol of resurrection. Tiberius was more than skeptical about the girl's story, noting that the resurrection from the dead is also impossible, as if a white egg suddenly turned red. Before the emperor had time to finish, the egg presented to him turned purple.

Here are some interesting facts about Easter:

1. One of the main attributes of Easter - painted eggs symbolize rebirth and new life for Christians. That is why they are present in many Easter games and customs, one of which is the exchange of colored eggs.

2. It is curious that the custom of giving colored eggs to each other existed long before the advent of Christians. So did the ancient Egyptians and Persians, exchanging eggs as part of the celebration of the beginning of spring and wishing each other fertility.

3 . In Europe in the Middle Ages, painted eggs were presented to servants at Easter. In addition, they were presented to each other by lovers, this was regarded as a sign of romantic sympathy. The most traditional colors are red and purple because they symbolize the blood of Christ sacrificed for the people. You can also paint eggs in green, yellow and blue, which symbolically reflects the spring greenery, the sky and the warm sun.

4. The most expensive and famous Easter eggs were made by the jeweler Carl Faberge by order of Emperor Alexander III in honor of his wife Maria. Each egg was created from gold and precious stones and had to have a surprise inside. The first precious Easter egg made was gold, covered with white enamel, and inside it was a small golden hen.

Our children should know the history of their country, the history and traditions of holidays (state and religious). Children are interested in learning about the holiday through stories and poems.

We bring to your attention stories and poems about Easter for children of primary school age.

Drops drip loudly

In front of our window.

The birds sang merrily

Easter came to visit us (K. Fofanov)

Easter is the most important Christian holiday. On this day, believers celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Orthodox Church has been celebrating Easter for over two thousand years.

Church tradition says that after Jesus was taken down from the cross, his body was buried in a cave in the garden of Joseph, his disciple. But the entrance was blocked with a large stone and guards were placed so that the body of Christ would not be stolen. On the third night, an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled away the stone from the entrance. The soldiers who stood guard were petrified with fear, and then, waking up, ran to the Jerusalem priests to report what had happened. The women who came in the morning to anoint the body of Christ with fragrant myrrh, according to custom, did not find him. In the cave there was an angel who said to them: “You are looking for Jesus crucified, he is not here. He rose from the dead." Then Jesus himself appeared to Mary Magdalene and his disciples, with whom he spoke for forty days about the Kingdom of God.

That is why the celebration of Easter is a “feast of holidays”, glorifying the victory of good over evil, life over death, light over darkness. On this day, it is customary to bake Easter cakes, make cottage cheese Easter and paint eggs.

The egg is a symbol of life, its rebirth. Eggs are dyed in different colors and given with the words: "Christ is Risen!" In response, one should say: “Truly He is risen!” - and kiss as a sign of forgiveness and love for loved ones.

A. Blok

VERBOCHKI

Boys yes girls

Candles and willows

They carried it home.

The flames are warming

Passers-by are baptized

And it smells like spring.

The wind is distant

Rain, little rain

Don't blow out the fire.

Palm Sunday

I'll be the first to get up tomorrow

For a holy day.

Y. Polonsky

God is risen and death is defeated.

This victory rushed the news

Spring resurrected by God...

And all around the meadows turned green,

And the chest of the earth breathed with warmth,

And, listening to the nightingale's trills,

Lilies of the valley and roses bloomed.

A. Pleshcheev

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Everywhere the blessing is buzzing.

Of all the churches, the people bring down.

The dawn is already looking from heaven ...

The cover of snow has already been removed from the fields,

And hands are torn from shackles,

And the nearby forest turns green ...

Christ is risen! Christ is risen!

The earth is waking up

And the fields are dressing...

Spring is coming full of wonders!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen!

L. Charskaya

WONDERFUL SOUNDS

Earth and sun

Fields and forest

All praise God

Christ is risen!

In the smile of blue

living skies

All the same joy

Christ is risen!

The enmity is gone

And the fear is gone.

No more malice

Christ is risen!

How wonderful the sounds

holy words,

in which you hear:

Christ is risen!

Earth and sun

Fields and forest

Everyone praises God.

Today, the majority of Russians - about 70% or just over 102.5 million people consider themselves Orthodox Christians. But […]

Today, the majority of Russians - about 70% or just over 102.5 million people consider themselves Orthodox Christians. But they celebrate the main holiday of the Orthodox Church in completely different ways.

For most people who consider themselves believers, the celebration of Easter is another family holiday during which they make festive Easter, paint eggs and gather with close and distant relatives at the family table. At the same time, unfortunately, their participation in the church celebration consists mainly in the consecration of Easter cakes and eggs.

But there is another truth - many Russians with deep inner work on themselves go through the Great Lent, preparing themselves for a meeting with the risen Lord. We see this during the night Easter service.

The temples are full of people. Often people even have to listen to worship outside through speakers. So, if not every third, then certainly every fourth believer out of these hundred and a half millions celebrates Easter in the house of the Lord.

Of course, many of our readers are deeply churched people and most of the facts presented below will not be a revelation for them, but let's hope that they will find something interesting among them. But for believers who know little about the inner life of the Church, this selection can serve as an incentive for further development...

1. Easter

The date of the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ is calculated quite difficult, based on a certain ratio of the lunar and solar calendars. As a general rule, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, which occurs no earlier than the spring equinox.

The Church celebrates Easter according to the tables of the Alexandrian Paschalia, calculated by St. Cyril of Alexandria in the 4th century and subsequently continued. In a year, the date of Easter can be between March 22 and April 25.

2. Easter Hours

During the period of Bright Week, the morning and evening prayer rules usual for Christians are replaced by special solemn prayers, called Easter Hours or Holy Easter Hours. They are printed as a special section in Orthodox prayer books.

3. Egg as a symbol of the Resurrection

The Easter egg is often symbolically compared to the Holy Sepulcher. Although it looks dead on the outside, inside it already contains a new life that will come out of it.

4. Kyriopaskha

Is there a church holiday even more significant than the Resurrection of Christ? No. And even more solemn? Yes. Kyriopaskha. The day when the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos falls on the same date.

This happens only on March 25 (April 7, new style). In the period of one indiction (532 years), after which the Paschalia sequence begins to repeat itself, Kyriopascha occurs only 12 times. The last one was in 1991 and will not happen again until 2075.

5. The tradition of dyeing eggs

The Lord's disciple Mary Magdalene preached faith in Christ along with the apostles. One day, a chance brought her to the emperor Tiberius. It was not customary to come to the ruler of great Rome without a gift, while the gift had to be worthy of the emperor.

Since ancient times, the egg has been considered a symbol of life. Therefore, Saint Mary, who did not have a lot of money, took him with her. The emperor listened to her story about the resurrected Savior and, laughing, said that this incredible story is as possible as it is possible for the egg presented by Mary to turn red.

Mary prayed to God to help her reason with Tiberius and a miracle happened. The chicken egg in his hands changed color from white to red. The emperor was amazed... That's what we should keep in mind when painting Easter eggs.

6. Holidays holiday

After Easter and before the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, for 40 days, the Church cancels kneeling during divine services and home prayer. Also, according to tradition, in connection with the joyful day of Easter, the commemoration of the dead ceases for the entire Bright Week. And only on the tenth day after Easter, the parental day is celebrated - Radonitsa, when it is worth going to pray at the graves of relatives.

7. Why do Easter services begin in white and continue in red?

In the first centuries of Christianity, during Great Lent, it was customary to prepare catechumens (who wished to become Christians) to enter the Church. During the Sabbath service, all these people were baptized en masse (and the Sacrament of Baptism is performed in white robes to commemorate the cleansing from sins).

Since then, the tradition has remained to start the service in white vestments. Already during the service, the priests change into red vestments, the color of which symbolizes the blood of Christ shed for us and the color of the blood of the martyrs.

8. Holy Fire

The Holy Fire descends in Jerusalem on the eve of Easter - on Holy Saturday on the candles of the Jerusalem Patriarch, who for this purpose enters Kuvuklia (the chapel above the Holy Sepulcher). The removal of the Holy Light symbolizes the exit from the Tomb of the True Light, that is, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

Then the Holy Fire is delivered by special flights to Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Poland and Bulgaria and transported to churches. Many people try to take the Holy Fire home in order to light a home lamp from it.

9. Passover

The word "Passover" comes from the Jewish holiday Pesach (in translation - "pass, cross, pass by") in memory of the tenth Egyptian plague, when the angel of death took the soul of the firstborn in every Egyptian family, but spared the children in the homes of the Israelis, who smeared the doorposts the blood of an immaculate sacrificial lamb (a type of the Savior's sacrifice).

10. Faberge eggs

On Easter, people not only gather the family at the same table, but also give their loved ones a variety of gifts: Easter eggs, postcards, and much more. So, Russian emperors gave their spouses special works of art - Faberge's jewelry, made in the form of Easter eggs. Each year is done in a different way. Today this unique collection is kept in state museums of the country.

11. Antipascha

The Sunday after Easter is called Anti-Easter. On this day, the Church remembers the appearance of the resurrected Lord to the Apostle Thomas, who did not believe the stories of the other apostles about the Savior they met, and to other disciples.

12. Sunday

In the Jewish week, its last day was Saturday (Shabbat), which was customarily dedicated to the Lord. Sunday, in the understanding of the first Christians, was not the last, but the first day of the new week, the new world.

Today every week has its own Sunday. On this day, even in small village churches, it is customary to celebrate divine services and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. The very name of this day of the week reminds us of the Resurrection of Christ.

13. Ring all the bells

On Bright Week, in commemoration of the holiday, it is customary to make beautiful Easter bells and generally ring the bells often, even between services. Anyone can do this.

Also during this period, all the doors of the altar are kept open and every Christian can see its internal structure.

14. Easter bombardment

In the Greek town of Vrontados on the island of Chios, a missile war breaks out on Easter. The common Greek tradition of launching fireworks on this holiday has been transformed here into a confrontation between two churches, whose parishioners launch tens of thousands of homemade rockets. Their goal is to hit the bell tower of the opponents' church, and the winner is determined the next day by counting the number of hits.

15. In all languages

In the Russian Orthodox Church, there is a custom to read the first 17 verses of the Gospel of John in various languages ​​at the festive Easter service.

In some churches, believers also perform the traditional Easter greeting in different languages: “Christ is Risen!” - "Truly Risen!"

From the editors of the Pravoslavie.fm magazine, we congratulate all our readers on the upcoming Holiday of Holidays and the Triumph of Celebrations. Where is your, death, sting? Where is your, hell, victory? Christ is risen and the demons are fallen, Christ is risen and the angels rejoice, Christ is risen and life lives!

Andrey Segeda

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