Romanian Easter Traditions

1. Romanian Easter Traditions Naftanaila Paula

2. Easter • Easteris a Christian festivalandholidaycelebratingtheresurrection ofJesusChrist on thethirddayafterhiscrucifixion at Calvary as described in theNew Testament. Easteristheculmination of thePassion of Christ, precededbyLent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, andpenance.

3. Easteregg • Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. As such, Easter r eggs are common during the season of Eastertide. The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth. In Christianity, for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus: though an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb, a bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians, is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe will also experience eternal life.

4. Date • Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Juliancalendars. Instead, the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon following the March equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March (even though the equinox occurs, astronomically speaking, on 20 March in most years), and the "full moon" is not necessarily the astronomically correct date.

5. Controversies over the date • The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter for contention. By the later 2nd century, it was accepted that the celebration of the holiday was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. The Quartodeciman controversy, the first of several Easter controversies, then arose concerning the date on which the holiday should be celebrated. • The term "Quartodeciman" refers to the practice of celebrating Easter on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew calendar, "the LORD's passover". According to the church historian Eusebius, the QuartodecimanPolycarpdebated the question with Anicetus. The Roman province of Asia was Quartodeciman, while the Roman and Alexandrian churches continued the fast until the Sunday following , wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus persuaded the other, but they did not consider the matter schismatic either, parting in peace and leaving the question unsettled.

6. Matzo • There are numerous explanations behind the symbolism of matzah. One is historical: Passover is a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt. The biblical narrative relates that the Israelites left Egypt in such haste they could not wait for their bread dough to rise; the bread, when baked, was matzah. (Exodus 12:39). The other reason for eating matza is symbolic: On the one hand, matza symbolizes redemption and freedom, but it is also lechemoni, "poor man's bread". Thus it serves as a reminder to be humble, and to not forget what life was like in servitude. Also, leaven symbolizes corruption and pride as leaven "puffs up". Eating the "bread of affliction" is both a lesson in humility and an act that enhances the appreciation of freedom.

7. Lamb • Lamb is one of the symbols of Easter, the first being a reference, of course, that of the Old Testament. According to Saint Ambrose of Milan, the animal God of Abraham in place of his son, Isaac, preinchipuitpascal lamb, which frees Israel from an inhuman, and Dominion is foreshadowing of Lamb, that is Jesus Christ who will immolate to save all mankind under the condemnation of sin, that is, from an unseen, Biblical, Dominion of Abraham. Indeed, the lamb is important to both religions, for both the Jewish and the Christian. But its meanings are different, though.

8. HolyWeek • Holy Week in the Christian year is the week immediately before Easter. The earliest allusion to the custom of marking this week as a whole with special observances is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions, dating from the latter half of the 3rd century and 4th century. In this text, abstinence from flesh is commanded for all the days, while for the Friday and Sunday an absolute fast is commanded. Dionysius Alexandrinus in his canonical epistle refers to the 91 fasting days implying that the observance of them had already become an established usage in his time. • There is some doubt about the genuineness of an ordinance attributed to Roman Emperor Constantine, in which abstinence from public business was enforced for the seven days immediately preceding Easter Sunday, and also for the seven which followed it. The Codex Theodosianus, however, is explicit in ordering that all actions at law should cease, and the doors of all courts of law be closed during those 15 days (1. ii. tit. viii.).

9. MondaytoWednesday • The days between Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday are known as Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, and Holy Wednesday. The Gospels of these days recount events not all of which occurred on the corresponding days between Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his Last Supper. For instance, the Monday Gospel tells of the Anointing at Bethanywhich occurred before the Palm Sunday event described in John 12:12-19. • The Chrism Mass, whose texts the Roman Missal now gives under Holy Thursday, may be brought forward to one of these days, to facilitate participation by as many as possible of the clergy of the diocese together with the bishop. This Mass was not included in editions of the Roman Missal before the time of Pope Pius XII. In this Mass the bishop blesses separate oils for the sic, for catechumensand chrism

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