Easter in Romania
I Introduction
Easter, annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the principal
feast of the Christian year. It is celebrated on a Sunday on varying dates between March 22 and
April 25 and is therefore called a movable feast. The dates of several other ecclesiastical
festivals, extending over a period between Septuagesima Sunday (the ninth Sunday before
Easter) and the first Sunday of Advent, are fixed in relation to the date of Easter.
Connected with the observance of Easter are the 40-day penitential season of Lent,
beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before
Easter Sunday; Holy Week, commencing on Palm Sunday, including Good Friday, the day of the
crucifixion, and terminating with Holy Saturday; and the Octave of Easter, extending from
Easter Sunday through the following Sunday. During the Octave of Easter in early Christian
times, the newly baptized wore white garments, white being the liturgical color of Easter and
signifying light, purity, and joy.
II Pre-Christian tradition
Easter, a Christian festival, embodies many pre-Christian traditions. The origin of its
name is unknown. Scholars, however, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century
English scholar St. Bede, believe it probably comes from ?astre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a
Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April.
Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the
festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally
painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling
contests or given as gifts.
Such festivals, and the stories and legends that explain their origin, were common in
ancient religions. A Greek legend tells of the return of Persephone, daughter of Demeter,
goddess of the earth, from the underworld to the light of day; her return symbolized to the
ancient Greeks the resurrection of life in the spring after the desolation of winter. Many ancient
peoples shared similar legends. The Phrygians believed that their omnipotent deity went to sleep
at the time of the winter solstice, and they performed ceremonies with music and dancing at the
spring equinox to awaken him. The Christian festival of Easter probably embodies a number of
converging traditions; most scholars emphasize the original relation of Easter to the Jewish
festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name for Easter. 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.
III The Dating Of Easter
According to the New Testament, Christ was crucified on the eve of Passover and shortly
afterward rose from the dead. In consequence, the Easter festival commemorated Christ's
resurrection. In time, a serious difference over the date of the Easter festival arose among
Christians. Those of Jewish origin celebrated the resurrection immediately following the
Passover festival, which, according to their Babylonian lunar calendar, fell on the evening of the
full moon (the 14th day in the month of Nisan, the first month of the year); by their reckoning,
Easter, from year to year, fell on different days of the week.
Christians of Gentile origin, however, wished to commemorate the resurrection on the
first day of the week, Sunday; by their method, Easter occurred on the same day of the week, but
from year to year it fell on different dates.
An important historical result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that
the Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in
which old traditions were strong, observed Easter according to the date of the Passover festival.
The churches of the West, descendants of Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a
Sunday.
IV Rulings Of The Council Of Nicaea On The Date Of Easter
Constantine the Great, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The
council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian
world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full
moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should
be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover
was thus avoided.
The Council of Nicaea also decided that the calendar date of Easter was to be calculated
at Alexandria, then the principal astronomical center of the world. The accurate determination of
the date, however, proved an impossible task in view of the limited knowledge of the 4th-century
world. The principal astronomi...
