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A few friends have asked me what is the reason for celebrating Easter as they are more familiar with the more commercialized aspects of Easter such as the Easter Egg, Easter Bunny and so on. Although, I'm not a full-fledged, baptized Christian, please allow me to offer an explanation.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ while Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The whole six weeks leading up to Easter is known as Lent.
Lent
Lent lasts for about 6 weeks or 46 days and usually starts in February or March. It begins with
Ash Wednesday. During the Ash Wednesday Mass, ash is placed on the forehead in the sign of the cross.
Ash Wednesday. During the Ash Wednesday Mass, ash is placed on the forehead in the sign of the cross.
This is done to remind Christians that life on Earth is transitory and that we humans will all be turned to dust when we die. In other words, our body will become ash.
The 40 days of Lent represents the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting while He endured temptation by Satan. Thus, during Lent, Christians are also encouraged to practice abstinence which means to give up something they have previously enjoyed such as meat. It is also the time for reflection, prayers and repentance of sins.
Holy Week
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which falls on the Sunday before Easter, the sixth Sunday of Lent. During the Palm Sunday Mass, palm leaves are distributed to the congregation.
The Thursday of the same week is known as Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday. It commemorates the last supper of Jesus before He was crucified.
The next day is known as Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.
Jesus, betrayed by His disciple, Judas Iscariot* is sentenced to death. This death sentence is due to the fear towards Jesus, felt by those in power as Jesus was beginning to amass lots of followers and was changing the way of life at that time through His teachings and performance of miracles**.
* This is where the definition of "Judas" as a traitor or someone who betrays a friend comes from. So when you say, "He's such a Judas", you are saying that he is someone who cannot be trusted or he's a traitor.
** Many miracles performed by Jesus were recorded. These miracles are divided into four : cures, exorcisms, resurrection of the dead and control over nature. This includes Jesus' healing of blind men, lepers, cripples and the cure of a bleeding woman.
He also raised people from the dead, the most famous is the raising of Lazarus, who had been dead for four days and is brought back to life by Jesus. Other miracles are Jesus walking on water and calming a stormy sea.
Jesus is put to death in the most horrific and torturous way imaginable, where He is flogged, beaten, a crown of thorns is forced upon His head, forced to carry the heavy cross for many miles and then He was crucified. Crucifixion is the most cruel form of death that Jesus had to endure, in which Jesus' hands and feet were nailed to a cross and He is left hanging on the cross for 6 agonizing hours till He dies.
On the third day after His death, Jesus is resurrected from the dead. He rises from the dead and walks out from the tomb, where He was buried. This is celebrated as Easter Sunday.
Nowadays, the celebration of Easter has been commercialized with the introduction of Easter eggs (either jelly beans or chocolates) and the Easter Bunny, who is believed to hide Easter eggs for children to find in the morning. The symbolism of Easter eggs does have its origins in Christianity with the hard shell of the egg symbolizing the locked tomb, where Jesus was buried and the breaking of the egg, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus.
Sources :
So that is the description of Easter. In my family, my mom becomes a vegetarian (abstaining from meat, chicken, seafood, eggs and dairy products) during the entire six weeks of Lent, only breaking her abstinence after Easter Mass. In recent years, my sister has begun to follow her example, by also becoming a vegetarian the entire period of Lent. What about me, you might wonder. Am I vegetarian too? I can only answer with three phrases : "Bad Daughter", "Black Sheep" and "Weak Willpower". It's not that I don't want to but every year, when I tell my mom, I want to become vegetarian too, she looks at me in horror and says, "No. No. I won't know what to cook. I can just eat onions and rice. I can't do the same for you". So for fear of causing her a stress filled Lenten festival, I abstain from abstaining. Yeah. Excuses I know. Telling myself this and using my mother as an excuse not to feel guilty or ashamed. It ain't working, I blush to confess.
Ever since we were small, we used to have family gatherings at our home after Easter Mass. My mom will cook up something special and her brothers and their family will join us at our home for dinner. Do I actually deserve to enjoy the food, when I've not been on any vegetarian diet during the entire Lenten period, is not a question I'm going to answer. I have tried to be on a vege diet but most of my attempts have been foiled. Next year. I will try next year. I shall be strong. Fingers crossed.
Here's wishing everyone a blessed Easter. My way of thinking is that it does not matter whether you believe in Jesus or if you believe in other religions or even if you don't believe in God at all, maybe you just believe in the Universe. The important thing to cherish during this Easter season is the message Jesus shared, which is to have goodwill, peace and respect for all humans and that even though we may have different skin color, beliefs, principles, religions and way of life, we should always have love for one another.
Here is a video I did for Easter. The video is my way of commemorating Easter. It features :
- My favorite Christian songs
- Scenes from the movie, The Passion of the Christ.
- My favorite pictures
- Photos I took from our recent trip to the St. Anne's Church in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia. The St. Anne's Church has been around from the 19th Century but in the 21st Century, a new church was built. The new church that was opened on 26th July 2002 could fit 1500 people and is one of the largest churches in Malaysia, attracting a crowd of 100,000 during the Feast of St. Anne. Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anne%27s_Church,_Bukit_Mertajam
