关于EASTER

自己并不知道多少,关于复活节: 只知道传统项目大人藏彩蛋,小孩子去找:); 教堂总要有
象话剧类的节目,展示JESUS的复活.WITHOUT懒的去教堂,也就没欣赏到.

朋友发来的一点介绍:
INTRODUCTION
The greatest festival of the Christian church commemorates the resurrection of
 Jesus Christ. It is a movable feast; that is, it is not always held on the sa
me date. In AD 325 the church council of Nicaea decided that it should be cele
brated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal eq
uinox of March 21. Easter can come as early as March 22 or as late as April 25
. 

LENT
Connected with the observance of Easter are the 40-day penitential season of L
ent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, t
he day before Easter Sunday. In many churches Easter is preceded by a season o
f prayer, abstinence, and fasting. This is observed in memory of the 40 days  
fast of Christ in the desert. In Eastern Orthodox churches Lent is 50 days. In
 Western Christendom Lent is observed for six weeks and four days. 
Lent may be preceded by a carnival season. The origin of the word carnival is 
probably from the Latin carne vale, meaning flesh (meat), farewell. Elaborate 
pageants often close this season on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginni
ng of Lent. This day is also called by its French name, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesda
y). 
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its name from the practice, mainly 
in the Roman Catholic church, of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithfu
l to remind them that man is but dust.

OTHER IMPORTANT DAYS
Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusa
lem. Holy Week begins on this day. Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is in me
mory of the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples. Good Friday commemorates
 the crucifixion. 

SYMBOLS
Many Easter customs come from the Old World. The white lily, the symbol of the
 resurrection, is the special Easter flower. Rabbits and colored eggs have com
e from pagan antiquity as symbols of new life. The Easter rabbit, a symbol of 
fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors t
o represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or
 given as gifts. Easter Monday egg rolling, a custom of European origin, has b
ecome a tradition on the lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. During th
e Octave of Easter in early Christian times, the newly baptized wore white gar
ments, white being the liturgical color of Easter and signifying light, purity
, and joy. 

ORIGIN OF THE NAME
The name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally 
of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor. S
ome Easter customs have come from this and other pre-Christian spring festival
s. Others come from the Passover feast of the Jews, observed in memory of thei
r deliverance from Egypt. The word paschal comes from a Latin word that means 
belonging to Passover or to Easter. Formerly, Easter and the Passover were clo
sely associated. 
The resurrection of Jesus took place during the Passover. Christians of the Ea
stern church initially celebrated both holidays together. But the Passover can
 fall on any day of the week, and Christians of the Western church preferred t
o celebrate Easter on Sunday the day of the resurrection