Easter(A Sunday between March 22 and April 25)

T

he meaning of many different customs observed during Easter Sunday have been buriedwith time. Their origins lie in pre-Christian religions
and Christianity. All in some way or another are a"salute to spring," marking re-birth. The white
Easter lily has come to capture the glory of the holiday. The word "Easter" is named after Eastre, theAnglo-Saxon goddess of spring. A festival was heldin her honor every year at the vernal equinox.
People celebrate the holiday according to theirbeliefs and their religious denominations. Christians
commemorate Good Friday as the day that Jesus
Christ died and Easter Sunday as the day that He
was resurrected. Protestant settlers brought thecustom of a sunrise service, a religious gathering atdawn, to the United States.
Today on Easter Sunday children wake up tofind that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets ofcandy. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs
all around the house. Neighborhoods and organizations hold Easter egg hunts, and the child who finds
the most eggs wins a prize.
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, hewas called the" Easter Hare." Hares and rabbits
have frequent multiple births so they became asymbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg huntbegan because children believed that hares laid
eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that "All life
comes from an egg." Christians consider eggs to be"the seed of life" and so they are symbolic of theresurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why we dye, or color, and decorate eggs is notcertain. In ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia
eggs were dyed for spring festivals. In medieval
Europe, beautifully decorated eggs were given asgifts.

Egg Rolling
In England, Germany and some other countries,
children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, agame which has been connected to the rolling awayof the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb when he wasresurrected. British settlers brought this custom tothe New World.
In the United States in the early nineteenth
century, Dolly Madison, the wife of the fourth
American President, organized an egg roll in Washington, D.C. She had been told that Egyptian children used to roll eggs against the pyramids so she
invited the children of Washington to roll hardboiled eggs down the hilly lawn of the new Capitolbuilding! The custom continued, except for theyears during the Civil War. In 1880, the First Lady
invited children to the White House for the Egg Rollbecause officials had complained that they wereruining the Capitol lawn. It has been held there eversince then, only canceled during times of war. The
event has grown, and today Easter Monday is the
only day of the year when tourists are allowed towander over the White House lawn. The wife of thePresident sponsors it for the children of the entire
country. The egg rolling event is open to children
twelve years old and under. Adults are allowed only
when accompanied by children!
Traditionally, many celebrants bought new
clothes for Easter which they wore to church. After
church services, everyone went for a walk aroundthe town. This led to the American custom of Easterparades all over the country. Perhaps the most famous is along Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Celebrate! Holidays in the U.S.A. (1993)