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Why is Easter celebrated on different dates? Why is Easter on a different day every year?

When is Easter this year? When is Maslenitsa? When does it start Lent? People ask each other these questions year after year. Many people wonder why some church holidays are celebrated on the same day year after year, while others fall on the same day every time. different dates? How are these dates determined? Let's figure it out.

Easter in the Old Testament

The celebration of Easter among the Jews was established by the prophet Moses in honor of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt (see Passover). “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Nissan (Aviv) the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night” (Deut. 16:1). In memory of the Exodus on Passover, the ritual slaughter of a one-year-old male lamb, without blemish, was prescribed; it should be baked over a fire and eaten completely, without breaking the bones, with unleavened bread (unleavened, unleavened bread) and bitter herbs in family circle during the Passover night (Exodus 12:1-28; Numbers 9:1-14). After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, ritual slaughter became impossible, so Jews eat only unleavened bread - matzah - on Passover.

Easter among the first Christians

In the Christian church, Easter has been celebrated since the first centuries, but due to local traditions, peculiarities of the calendar and calculations in communities different cities Easter days did not coincide. Therefore, at the First Ecumenical Council in 325, it was decided to adopt a uniform method for determining the date of Easter for the entire Christian world. It was then decided that Christians should not adhere to the custom of the Jews in determining the day of this holy day. At the Council it was forbidden to celebrate Easter “before spring equinox together with the Jews."

When is Easter this year?

In 2019, Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter on April 28. The date of Easter celebration is determined by a special calculation called Orthodox Easter.

Easter is a calculation system that allows, using special tables that determine the relationship of a large number of calendar and astronomical quantities, to determine the dates of Easter celebrations and moving church holidays for any given year.

Russian Orthodox Church to calculate the date of Easter and moving holidays, he uses the traditional Julian calendar, created under Julius Caesar in 45 BC. This calendar is often called “old style”. Western Christians use the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. It is usually called "new style".

According to the rules of the First Ecumenical Council (325, Nicaea), the celebration of Orthodox Easter takes place on the first Sunday after the spring full moon, which occurs after or on the day of the vernal equinox, if this Sunday falls after the day of celebration Jewish Passover; otherwise, the celebration of Orthodox Easter is transferred to the first Sunday after the day of Jewish Passover.

Thus, the day of Easter celebration turns out to be from March 22 to April 25 of the old style, or from April 4 to May 8 of the new style. After calculating the date of Easter, a calendar of the remaining moving church holidays is compiled.

Church holidays

Every day calendar year dedicated by the Church to the remembrance of one or another sacred event, the celebration of the memory of saints or the glorification of the miraculous icons of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The most important day church year- the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, or Easter. Next in importance are the 12 great twelve holidays (the name itself - the twelve - indicates their number). Then, according to their significance, the Church identifies 5 great holidays. There are others holidays, celebrated by performing solemn services. Particularly highlighted Sundays, which are also dedicated to the memory of the Resurrection of the Lord and are called “Little Easter”.

The twelfth holidays are divided into non-transitionable and transferable. The dates of permanent holidays do not change from year to year; moving holidays fall on different dates every year and depend on what day Easter is celebrated in the current year. The beginning of Lent, the popularly beloved Maslenitsa, Palm Sunday, as well as Ascension and the Day of the Holy Trinity also depend on the date of Easter.

The twelfth holidays are divided into the Lord's (in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ) or the Theotokos (dedicated to the Mother of God). Some of the events that became the basis for the holidays are described in the Gospel, and some are established on the basis of information from church tradition.

Twelfth moving holidays:

  • Bright Resurrection of Christ. Easter
  • Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday (7 days before Easter)
  • Ascension of the Lord (40th day after Easter)
  • Day of the Holy Trinity. Pentecost (50th day after Easter)

Twelfth Immovable Holidays:

  • September 21 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
  • September 27 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
  • December 4 - Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the temple.
  • January 7 - Christmas.
  • January 19 - Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany.
  • February 15 - Presentation of the Lord.
  • April 7 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
  • August 19 - Transfiguration of the Lord.
  • August 28 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.


Lent

Easter is preceded by Lent - the strictest and longest of all. Orthodox posts. When does Lent begin? It depends on the date on which Easter falls in the current year. Lent always lasts 48 days: 40 days of Lent itself, called Lent, and 8 days of Holy Week, starting from Lazarus Saturday until Great Saturday on the eve of Easter. Therefore, the beginning of Lent can be easily determined by counting 7 weeks from the date of Easter.

The significance of Lent lies not only in the strict rules of abstinence from food (the consumption of only plant products is prescribed, fish is allowed only twice - on the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday), and avoidance of various entertainments and amusements, but also in a liturgical structure that is very deep in its content. The services of Lent are completely special, unlike anything else. Each Sunday is dedicated to its own special theme, and together they incite believers to deep humility before God and repentance of their sins.

How is the date of Easter calculated?

In the era of the creation of Paschal (a system for calculating the dates of Easter), people imagined the passage of time differently than they do now. They believed that all events happen in a circle (“everything returns to normal”). And the whole variety of events is determined by the fact that there are many such “circles” (“cycles”) and they different sizes. In a circle, day turns into night, summer into winter, new moon into full moon.

It is difficult for a modern person to imagine this, since in his mind he builds a “straight line” historical events from past to future.

The simplest and most famous (and still used) circle is the day of the week circle. Resurrection is followed by Monday, Monday is followed by Tuesday, and so on until the next Sunday, which will certainly be followed by Monday again.

The calculation of the date of Easter is based on two cycles: solar (lasting 28 years) and lunar (lasting 19 years). Each year has its own number in each of these cycles (these numbers are called “circle to the Sun” and “circle to the Moon”), and their combination is repeated only once every 532 years (this interval is called the “Great Indiction”).

“Circle of the Sun” is associated with the Julian calendar, in which 3 consecutive years are simple (365 days each), and the fourth is a leap year (366 days). To reconcile the 4-year cycle with the 7-day weekly cycle, a 28-year cycle (7?4) was created. After 28 years, the days of the week will fall on the same numbers of months of the Julian calendar (in the “new” “Gregorian” calendar everything is more complicated...). That is, the 1983 calendar had exactly the same appearance as the 2011 calendar (1983+28=2011). For example, the 1st (14th according to the “new style”) of January 2011 is Friday; and January 1, 1983 was also a Friday.

That is, the “circle to the Sun” helps to find out which days of the week the corresponding numbers of the months of the year fall on.

"Circle of the Moon" is intended for coordination lunar phases(new moons, full moons, etc.) with dates of the Julian calendar. It is based on the fact that 19 sunny years almost exactly equal to 235 lunar months.

The equinox is the moment when the Sun, in its apparent motion, crosses the “celestial equator.” At this time, the length of the day is equal to the length of the night, and the Sun rises exactly in the East and sets exactly in the West.

A solar year (otherwise known as a "tropical" year) is the period between two successive spring equinoxes. Its duration is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds (365.2422 days). In the Julian calendar, for convenience and simplicity, the length of the year is assumed to be 365 days 6 hours (365.25 days). In about 128 years, the spring equinox shifts by one day (in the 15th century " new era"The equinox was on the 12th-13th of March, and in the 20th - on the 7th-8th of March).

A lunar month (otherwise known as a “synodic month”) is the interval between two new moons. Its average duration is 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 3 seconds (29.53059 days).

That is why it turns out that 19 solar years (19365.2422 = 6939.6018 days) are approximately 235 lunar months (23529.53059 = 6939.6887 days).

In 19 years, the lunar phases (full moon, for example) will fall on the same numbers of the Julian calendar (this is not observed over long periods of time - an error of one day accumulates over approximately 310 years). It's about, of course, about average values. Due to the complexity of the Moon's movement, actual dates of lunar phases may deviate from average values. For example, the real full moon in Moscow in April 1990 was on the 10th (“new style”) at 06:19, and in 2009 (19 years after 1990) it was on April 9 ( "new style") at 17:55.

Based on the tables obtained, you can determine the date of Easter for any year.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) gives a not so clear, but more mathematically simple method for calculating the date of Orthodox Easter: "Of all practical ways In calculus, the simplest method is considered to be that proposed by the greatest German mathematician Carl Gauss (1777 - 1855). Divide the number of the year by 19 and call the remainder “a”; Let us denote the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 4 by the letter “b”, and by “c” the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 7. Divide the value 19 x a + 15 by 30 and call the remainder the letter “d”. The remainder of the value 2 x b + 4 x c + 6 x d + 6 divided by 7 is denoted by the letter “e”. The number 22 + d + e will be Easter day for March, and the number d + e will be 9 for April. For example, let's take 1996. Dividing it by 19 will leave a remainder of 1 (a). When divided by 4, the remainder will be zero (b). Dividing the number of the year by 7, we get a remainder of 1(c). If we continue the calculations, we get: d = 4, and e = 6. Therefore, 4 + 6 - 9 = April 1 (Julian calendar - old style - approx. editorial staff)».

When is Easter for Catholics?

In 1583, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new Paschal in the Roman Catholic Church, called the Gregorian. Due to the change in Easter, the entire calendar also changed. As a result of the transition to more precise astronomical dates, Catholic Easter is often celebrated earlier than the Jewish one or on the same day, and ahead of Orthodox Easter in some years for more than a month.

The discrepancy between the dates of Orthodox Easter and Catholic Easter is caused by the difference in the date of church full moons, and the difference between solar calendars - 13 days in the 21st century. Western Easter in 45% of cases is a week earlier than Orthodox, in 30% of cases it coincides, 5% is a difference of 4 weeks, and 20% is a difference of 5 weeks (more than the lunar cycle). There is no difference of 2-3 weeks.

1. G = (Y mod 19) + 1 (G is the so-called “golden number in the Metonic” cycle - the 19-year cycle of full moons)
2. C = (Y/100) + 1 (if Y is not a multiple of 100, then C is the century number)
3. X = 3*C/4 - 12 (adjustment for the fact that three out of four years divisible by 100 are not leap years)
4. Z = (8*C + 5)/25 - 5 (synchronization with the lunar orbit, the year is not a multiple of the lunar month)
5. D = 5*Y/4 - X - 10 (in March the day? D mod 7 will be Sunday)
6. E = (10*G + 20 + Z - X) mod 30 (epacta - indicates the day of the full moon)
7. IF (E = 24) OR (E = 25 AND G > 11) THEN increase E by 1
8. N = 44 - E ( March Nth- day of the calendar full moon)
9. IF N 10. N = N + 7 - (D + N) mod 7
11.IF N > 31 THEN Easter date (N ? 31) April ELSE Easter date March N

Photo - photobank Lori

How to calculate the date of Easter? My grandmother knew how to calculate the date of Easter using some method.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

The rules determining the time of Easter celebration were developed in the 3rd century by the Church of Alexandria and enshrined in the decrees of the First Ecumenical (325) and local Antioch (341) councils. This establishment remains in force to this day: celebrate Easter on the first Sunday with the onset of the full moon on the day or immediately after the spring equinox. At the same time, it was strictly determined by the Holy Fathers to perform this main Christian holiday only after Passover. If a coincidence occurs, then the rules dictate moving to the full moon next month. Consequently, Easter cannot be earlier than the equinox, i.e. March 21 (April 4 according to the Gregorian calendar) and no later than April 25 (May 8). In the ancient Church calculation Easter day was entrusted to the Bishop of Alexandria, because the Alexandrians used the most accurate 19-year cycle (discovered by the ancient Greek astronomer Meton, 5th century BC), after which the full moon and phases of the moon fell on the same days of the month as the previous ones.

An illiterate person cannot calculate the time of Easter himself. Your grandmother, apparently, performed the simplest action: with the onset of Lent, she determined the day of the Holy Resurrection of Christ based on its duration (48 days). Of all the practical methods of calculus, the simplest is the method proposed by the greatest German mathematician Carl Gauss (1777 - 1855). Divide the number of the year by 19 and call the remainder “a”; Let us denote the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 4 by the letter “b”, and by “c” the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 7. Divide the value 19 x a + 15 by 30 and call the remainder the letter “d”. The remainder of the value 2 x b + 4 x c + 6 x d + 6 divided by 7 is denoted by the letter “e”. The number 22 + d + e will be Easter day for March, and the number d + e will be 9 for April. For example, let's take 1996. Dividing it by 19 will leave a remainder of 1 (a). When divided by 4, the remainder will be zero (b). Dividing the number of the year by 7, we get a remainder of 1(c). If we continue the calculations, we get: d = 4, and e = 6. Therefore, 4 + 6 - 9 = April 1 (Julian calendar).

For Orthodox Christians around the world, the bright holiday of Christ's Resurrection will soon come - Easter 2018. Next year this event will fall on April 8th. Orthodox Christians will be able to spiritually cleanse themselves, feel divine blessing and rejoice for several days that Jesus saved all of humanity, sacrificing himself, and opened the way to the Kingdom of Heaven for people.

What is Easter

Now Easter is celebrated as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the holiday itself came from another event. Even before the birth of the Savior, the ancient Jews celebrated this day in honor of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. There these people were like a slave force, doing all the difficult, dirty work. Prophet Moses brought out the people for whom the new life, in which they were liberated from the Egyptians. The word "passover" from Hebrew means "exodus."

What date is Easter in 2018?

Many are already wondering when Easter will be in 2018. Orthodox Christians will celebrate it on April 8. The date of the holiday changes every year; as a rule, it falls in April or May. The date of this great day may differ among different Christian religions, although the holiday is the same. Thus, Catholics will celebrate Easter a week earlier in 2018, and the Jewish people will celebrate from March 30 to April 7.

Holy Resurrection of Christ among the Orthodox

Easter 2018 is the main one religious holiday for the Orthodox, it follows the Jewish Passover. It is believed that on this day Jesus resurrected after his crucifixion many years ago. This event is a kind of statement that all righteous people will be resurrected after their death. Jesus seemed to open the way for all people to the Kingdom of Heaven, and atoned for all human sins.

For Orthodox Christians, the festive service begins on Saturday before midnight and ends with matins on Sunday. At the end of the ceremony on Easter night, parishioners break their fast with Easter cake, eggs, and Easter cottage cheese. Easter 2018 lasts seven days, which are called bright week. The next 40 days before the Ascension of the Lord are considered Easter, special. On the holiday, it is customary to treat yourself to colored eggs, Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, and meat delicacies.

Date of Easter for Catholics

Catholic Easter in 2018 it will be April 1st. The principles of celebration among believers of this religion coincide with Orthodox Christians, only small nuances differ. Rituals of Catholics on Easter Day:

  1. During the festive service mandatory attribute fire appears and is distributed to all parishioners. A candle called Easter is lit from it. Fire is a symbol of God's light, so people take it home, light lamps, and strive to preserve it until next year.
  2. At the end of the service there is a religious procession with prayers and songs. All words are solemn, the priests praise Jesus.
  3. Treat with colored eggs.
  4. Catholics in many countries believe that eggs are brought easter bunnies or rabbits. This is not true, but the animal is another symbol of the holiday. Its figures are used to decorate houses and make cookies and other sweets of this shape.
  5. The festive meal unites the entire Catholic family; many different dishes, among which there will definitely be eggs, pastries and meat. Everyone congratulates each other on happy holiday and have fun, but Catholics do not have the custom of making Christ (“Christ is Risen!”).

Jewish Easter

The Jews celebrate this holiday in a special way and it falls on the 14th day of Nisan according to the Jewish lunar calendar. This celebration commemorates the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, not the resurrection of Jesus. The holiday is celebrated with a rich feast. On this day, it is customary to have matzah (unleavened bread) on the tables. It is believed that in Egypt the Jews ate it, and when they left it, it was the only food they had with them. Some features of the celebration of the Jewish Passover:

  1. Products that are made on the basis of fermentation should absolutely not exist; they are called chametz. So that there is no forbidden food left at home, and also to celebrate the holiday cleanly, before it spring-cleaning.
  2. On the first evening after returning from the synagogue, a festive dinner- a seder attended by relatives, friends and invited poor Jews. Blessings are said at the table and stories of the exodus are told.
  3. On the first day of Passover, any type of work is prohibited, the last day is considered a holiday, the rest seem to be working, but with a solemn mood.
  4. The seventh day of Passover is the crossing of the Red Sea by the Jews, people are having fun, dancing and singing.

Why does the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ fall on different days?

Easter 2018 is not celebrated on any fixed day because it depends on the lunar calendar. Yes, y Orthodox holiday The Resurrection of Christ occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. If the equinox is always March 21, then the first full moon may occur in a day or several weeks. In addition, the Christian Easter of 2018 cannot be earlier or simultaneously with the Jewish one. If they accidentally coincide, then the Christian one is moved forward a week.

For Orthodox and Catholics, dates also often do not coincide. Initially, both Jews and Christians had Easter at the same time, but then in the second century, on the initiative of the Pope, Christians began to celebrate the holiday later. In the 16th century, Pope Gregory introduced a new special calendar, which the Orthodox did not want to follow. For this reason, Catholics live according to the Gregorian calendar ( a new style), and the Orthodox adhere to the Alexandrian or Julian calendar.

Alexandrian and Gregorian Paschals

Catholic and Orthodox Easter have different dates due to the fact that religions live according to different calendars. Sometimes the dates of two calendars coincide. Easter this year for Orthodox and Catholics was April 16. Here are several holiday dates according to two calendars for future years:

Preparation for the holiday

To spend the holiday without worries, having purified yourself, you need to properly prepare for it. To do this, you need to go through a number of steps:

  1. Strict 48-day fast. Traditionally, Easter is preceded by a strict fast that lasts 48 days. It exists in memory of Jesus' 40-day wanderings in the desert. The remaining 8 days are Lately existence of Jesus on earth. Before fasting, Orthodox Christians ask the priest for a blessing, confess and receive communion. During all these days, you cannot speak loudly, use bad words, allow conflicts, hold a grudge or anger, envy, lie, you need to help, do not drink or smoke, and attend liturgies. Throughout Lent, Orthodox Christians refuse food of animal origin and meat.
  2. Putting order and cleanliness in the house. Cleaning before Easter 2018 needs to be done starting on Monday holy week, that is, April 2. At the same time, housewives try to do not just ordinary cleaning, but general cleaning: wash everything until it shines, paint, whitewash, repair, etc. Tuesday is reserved for washing, ironing and preparing the clothes that will be used for the holiday. The bulk of the work accumulates on Wednesday, because on Maundy Thursday the whole house should sparkle, and it’s time for people to get themselves in order before the holiday.
  3. Bakery Easter cakes. The tradition of painting eggs falls on Maundy Thursday, but baking Easter cakes and making Easter cottage cheese is necessary on Friday. Housewives should not do any heavy tasks. It is believed that they should do everything for the soul: decorate the house, cook delicious dishes for the holiday. On the same day, wealthy people can share food with the poor. Many people visit the temple and remember Jesus and his suffering. On Saturday, all work is completed, all preparations for the festive table are completed. Everyone is waiting for the coming of Christ's resurrection.

Easter traditions

On the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ, it is customary to exchange eggs and congratulate everyone on the great event. People meet and greet each other “Christ is Risen!” and “Truly he is risen!”, after which they hug and kiss three times. Such special greetings are called “Christifications”. Lunch for festive table with family and friends is an integral part of many Orthodox peoples.

Descent of the Holy Fire

Every year, people who are in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the day before Easter can witness the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire. After serving in Holy Saturday all sources of light are extinguished, an unlit lamp with oil is placed in the middle of the bed of the Life-Giving Tomb, and cotton wool is placed around it. This place is fenced and locked.

Next come songs, prayers, and religious processions to memorable places that are associated with the life and death of Jesus Christ. After this, the Orthodox patriarch, stripped to his vestment, enters the cave with the lamp, where he prays. The rest are waiting for the blessed fire, with which the patriarch soon leaves the cave. This fire is distributed to all Orthodox churches in many countries.

Bell ringing

To announce to everyone upcoming holiday, make it clear how important it is, bell ringing before Easter and during the week has great importance. First, before the Midnight Office, the bell sounds for five minutes, warning about the upcoming event. When the procession begins, the bell rings loudly and only stops when the procession stops at the western doors of the temple. The Easter celebration takes place there, after which people go inside the temple, and the bell ringing lasts about 5 minutes.

Easter service and blessing of Easter dishes

The holiday begins with a night solemn service in Orthodox churches the day before. After reading the stichera in the church, believers go in procession around it with the same church chants. They move towards the savior, glorifying the miracle of the resurrection. This is followed by a festive service and celebration of Jesus' victory over death as a symbol of eternal life. The food is consecrated on Saturday, after the festive night service or morning liturgy.

Treats and meals

The Easter meal always began with traditional and symbolic dishes: blessed eggs, Easter cake, Easter cottage cheese. After the Orthodox have eaten a little of these products, it is time to start eating other dishes: meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, cereals, baked goods, sweets, etc. Among drinks, preference was previously given to jelly, compotes and weak wine (Cahors). People at the table are having fun, congratulating each other on happy holiday.

Traditional dishes

There must be main dishes on the festive table. These include:

  1. Kulich. If prepared correctly, it can last for several weeks without spoiling. It is customary to add candied fruits and dried fruits to give it a rich taste.
  2. Curd Easter. Made from cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar and other ingredients. It has the shape of a truncated pyramid, symbolizing the Holy Sepulcher. Sometimes people, instead of cottage cheese Easter, put sweet cottage cheese with sour cream and raisins on the table.
  3. Painted eggs. Previously, it had to be red, which symbolized the blood shed by Jesus for the people. Now the eggs are multi-colored, you can use stickers and paint on them with special paints.

“Fighting” with colored eggs

Easter 2018 is not only a solemn, religious event, but also a time for entertainment. Fighting with colored eggs is not a battle in the literal sense of the word. When people meet on holidays, they greet each other according to the accepted custom and, if there are eggs, they hit the other person’s egg with a blunt or sharp end: whose egg breaks, he loses. The winner takes not only what is his, but also what is cracked. This game brings a lot of fun not only to children, but also to adults.

Easter is not assigned to any specific date, since it occurs according to the lunisolar calendar. And lately, the idea has increasingly arisen to call on all Christians to celebrate the Holy Day. Christ's Sunday one day. In 2018, Orthodox Easter is celebrated on April 8.

When is Easter in 2018, why is Easter celebrated on different days: the date of celebration is calculated according to the lunisolar calendar

For Christians, Easter is considered the most important holiday. After all, this day is the whole essence of Christianity. If you don't know why the date of Easter changes every year, then the answer is simple - this religious holiday is considered transferable.

It is also useful to know that the date of Easter is calculated every year according to the lunisolar calendar. The only thing about Easter that does not change from year to year is that it is always a Sunday.

There is a single rule according to which Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, which follows the day of the vernal equinox. Moreover, if the first full moon falls on Sunday, then Easter is celebrated on the next one. In addition, Christian Easter is not celebrated on the same day as Jewish Easter.

The lunar calendar is 354 days, in contrast to the solar calendar, which is known to be 365 days. Which means moon calendar less sunny. IN lunar month 29.5 days, i.e. a full moon occurs every 29 days.

Thus, the first full moon after March 21st occurs on different days, which leads to a shift in the day of Easter.

Since the vernal equinox most often falls on March 21, Easter can be celebrated no earlier than April 4 and no later than May 8.

When is Easter in 2018, why is Easter celebrated on different days: celebration traditions

The tradition of celebrating the Resurrection of Christ comes from the Jewish holiday of Passover. It was first celebrated 1,500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ after Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. After the death of the son of the Lord, the apostles decided to establish Christian Easter, which in the New Testament symbolizes victory over death.

On this day, it is customary to remember the martyrdom of Jesus, who gave his life for the good of humanity.

Sleep on the night Easter Sunday not accepted, but you need to go to church for evening service;
- after 12 o'clock at night the priests dress festive outfit and announce: “Christ is risen!” Then the consecration occurs - - of everything that Christians brought to Easter baskets: paska, eggs, cheese, butter and candles;
- the festive breakfast begins with a blessed egg and a piece of paska. And only after this they feast on meat and fish dishes;
- the second day of Easter is Bright Monday. It is also called “pouring”, because on this day young people go to “water” their relatives and wish them happy holidays;
- if it rained on Bright Monday, our ancestors believed that summer would be like that;
- Bright Tuesday is the third day of Easter. On this day, believers continue to celebrate Easter and begin to visit and have fun.

There are also a number of prohibitions on certain things on Easter Sunday:

You can't be greedy;
- you can’t swear and be sad;
- cannot be taken a large number of alcohol, because Easter is not an ordinary holiday;
- you cannot work to the detriment of a bright holiday;
- you can’t do the cleaning, everything must be done before Easter;
- You cannot appear at the cemetery and mourn for the dead.

Easter, translated from Greek as “deliverance,” serves as a reminder that Christ, who endured all suffering for the human race, was resurrected on the third day after burial. Easter in England, Russia or Italy is the main Christian holiday, which millions of believers around the world look forward to every year. On this great day for all Orthodox Christians, believers celebrate the deliverance of the Son of God from torment and the granting of eternal life to people. Easter is celebrated, as a rule, on one of the Sundays in spring. Why is Easter celebrated in different time Every year?

Based on the message, the death of Jesus Christ fell on the celebration of the Jewish Passover, which was previously always celebrated after the first full moon following Since all the months of the Jewish calendar used to begin on the new moon, the full moon always fell on the 14th, and the first month of the year began on the first spring full moon, that is, the Jewish Passover was always celebrated on the nearest full moon after this date, so the day of celebration of Passover could be shifted. In the 4th century, they tried to choose a general date that would preserve the peculiarities of calculating the Jewish Passover from the time of Jesus. Thus, a “mobile” date for the great event has been established and now everyone knows why Easter is celebrated at different times.

Main Easter traditions

House cleaning

It is believed that all housework should be done three days before the holiday. Knowing why Easter is celebrated at different times, the date of its occurrence is easy to calculate. On Thursday before the long-awaited day, believers wash windows and floors to let more light into the house. Great holiday. In Rus' there were many traditions associated with Maundy Thursday. Christians cleaned the house and yard of dirt and debris, fumigated the room, garden and domestic animals with juniper, trying to scare away illness and misfortune. Then people bathed in the bathhouse, and the girls combed their braids under the apple trees to make their hair grow thicker. To this day, it is believed that you can’t do anything on Friday, not even wash.

Easter table

Happy Easter brought us a lot beautiful traditions, which are loved by Orthodox Christians today. The main dishes that are on the table are Easter cakes and colored eggs. Today few people bake Easter cakes because they are easy to buy in the store. It is also customary to color eggs with store-bought stickers. Many have already forgotten where exactly the tradition of giving came from. This custom came to us from St. Mary Magdalene, who, after the ascension of Christ, presented Emperor Tiberius with a red egg, a symbol of the life-giving death of Jesus, before the start of her sermon. Just as a clean egg emerges from under a hard shell, so Jesus rose from the grave to eternal life.

Why is Easter celebrated at different times? The question is not the most important for Christians. For many today, this is a reason to gather with the family at the festive table, break eggs, give Easter cakes, greeting each other with traditional phrases: “Christ is risen!” - “Truly risen!”