The gate of the year

Figure above:

Fresco representing the Resurrection, realized by Piero della Francesca around 1460, now in the Museo Civico di Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Italy.

[Image: http://www.wikiart.org/en/piero-della-francesca/the-resurrection]

Figure below:

Decorated eggs, offered during the Easter feasts in Lithuania.

[Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg]

The celebration of Easter is the most important celebration in Christian liturgy and dates back to the earliest phase of Christianity. The Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) prescribed that it should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox. Its name derives from the Hebrew Passover (Pesah), a spring feast and at the same time the celebration of the future harvest and the remembrance of the deliverance of the Jews from the Egyptian slavery. In the world of German languages, the term derives probably from the Norse word eostur (“Spring season”), from which the modern English “Easter”. Originally, Easter was mainly a nocturnal feast, which took place starting from Saturday evening, with the lighting of lamps and torches, and was for this reason called “the night of illumination”. In Northern European countries, this custom came to overlap with the ancient tradition of lighting bonfires on top of hills to greet the arrival of the new season.
Strictly associated to the Spring rebirth, the egg, since Antiquity a symbol of regeneration, constitutes a recurrent element in the Easter festivals throughout Europe. In many countries, it is still customary, during these days, to exchange decorated and coloured eggs as sign of good wishes (Baldovin 2005b).




Feasts

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Figure above: Fresco representing the Resurrection, realized by Piero della Francesca around 1460, now in the Museo Civico di Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Italy. [Image: http://www.wikiart.org/en/piero-della-francesca/the-resurrection] Figure below: Decorated eggs, offered during the Easter feasts in Lithuania. [Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg] The celebration of Easter is the most important celebration in Christian liturgy and dates back to the earliest phase of Christianity. The Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) prescribed that it should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox. Its name derives from the Hebrew Passover (Pesah), a spring feast and at the same time the celebration of the future harvest and the remembrance of the deliverance of the Jews from the Egyptian slavery. In the world of German languages, the term derives probably from the Norse word eostur (“Spring season”), from which the modern English “Easter”. Originally, Easter was mainly a nocturnal feast, which took place starting from Saturday evening, with the lighting of lamps and torches, and was for this reason called “the night of illumination”. In Northern European countries, this custom came to overlap with the ancient tradition of lighting bonfires on top of hills to greet the arrival of the new season. Strictly associated to the Spring rebirth, the egg, since Antiquity a symbol of regeneration, constitutes a recurrent element in the Easter festivals throughout Europe. In many countries, it is still customary, during these days, to exchange decorated and coloured eggs as sign of good wishes (Baldovin 2005b).