The word ‘Easter’ itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess
Eostre/Ostara (with whom the association of rabbits is supposed to originate
from) and the Christian festival of Easter began pretty early on as a successor
of the Jewish Passover.
The actual date of Easter is one that has been contentious
for a very long time and anyone who has been to Orthodox areas of the world will
know that they have a completely different date to other areas of the Christian
world (I speak from experience, ended up having two Easter’s in one year and
was thoroughly confused until Google helped me out) (Barnett: 63-64).
For those of us in the West, the Council of Nicea in 325 AD decreed
that Easter would take place on the 1st Sunday following the 1st
full moon after the 21st March. This date was apparently picked in order that it
did not clash with passover and it was the Emperor Constantine that is
apparently responsible for the gaudy dress and elaborate church ceremonies that
form the Easter celebrations.
 |
| #WrongConstantine |
If in doubt, blame Constantine.
Easter celebrations continued to evolve over the years and
around the world and continued to incorporate pagan elements into the Christian
festival (the word for this is ‘syncretism’).
As I’m sure you know, Easter is the most important festival
in the Christian calendar and was taken very seriously as a result during the
middle Ages. At the abbey of Centula (Saint-Riquier) in Northern France for
example, on Easter Sunday it was such an important day that the priests
celebrated mass in the western gallery of the church (the bit upstairs if you’re
standing in the nave) in order that more men and women could be accommodated at
this public mass. Afterwards, “the priests could descent the spiral stairs to
give communion to those below” (Huitson: 45).
Not everyone felt holy during Easter week apparently and the
citizens of Whalley parish in the early sixteenth century decided to rat on
their neighbours. Jacob and Nicholas Robinson were accused of working too late
on Saturdays in general, AND of making a plough and cutting hedges during Holy
Week (the week before Easter). Meanwhile, the wife of John Hay was accused of
doing some gardening during this week. Several others even dared to plough
during this holy time (Cooke: 90-91). All of these accusations took place in
the same year and it makes you wonder which particular member of the parish was
the curtain ‘twitcher’ who ran to the local prior whenever they sensed infractions.
Notes
Barnett, J. (1949) “The Easter Festival -A Study in Cultural
Change” in American Sociological Review,
Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 62-70
Cooke, A. (1901), Act book if the ecclesiastical court of
Whalley (Manchester: Chetham Society)
Huitson, T. (2014), Stairway to Heaven: The functions of medieval
upper spaces (Oxford: Oxbow Books)
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