Why do we celebrate Easter?

The story of the Israelites escaping from Egypt is the beginning of Easter. In Christianity, Easter has become a holiday to celebrate the rebirth of Jesus. But Easter is also about Easter eggs, cabin trips, crime books and holidays.

Påskebakgrunn med påskeegg
Påskebakgrunn med påskeegg

Lent

Lent is the time before Easter. Lent means fasting, which is when you avoid everything that is not necessary. Today, some people still do this, but it was more common in the olden days. Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday, six weeks before Easter, to Friday at Easter. 

During Lent, people were supposed to eat very little and reflect on the message of Easter. In the days leading up to Lent people could feast and enjoy food as they pleased. Celebrations and Mardi Gras, a French term meaning “Fat Tuesday” took place in this period. Many people still enjoy celebrating this tradition.

Shrovetide is the days before Lent. The first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday. On this day, some people wear ashes on their heads. The ashes sometimes come from palm branches that were burned the previous year after the Sunday before Easter, called Palm Sunday. 

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Fastelavnsris
Fastelavnsris

Pesach – Jewish Easter

Pesaḥ, or Pesach, is one of the most important Jewish holidays. Pesach is an eight-day festival in memory of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. The story is in the Book of Exodus. It says that the Jews were slaves in Egypt, but Moses freed them. 

Egypt experienced ten plagues. One of them was that all first-born Egyptian children were killed. This was before the Jews left. When this happened, the Jews escaped by spreading blood from lambs around their doors. 

A ritual meal

The Jews have a ritual meal called the “Seder”. The rules for this meal can be found in the Haggadah book. This celebration should create the feeling of being free people.

The food that is served on the plate is not eaten, but it is a symbol. The symbols tell the story of the Jews’ experiences in Egypt. 

Symbolic food

One thing that is on the plate is bitter herbs. They are a reminder of the bitter time in Egypt. The lamb represents the sacrifice. There is also a mixture of apples, nuts, raisins and spices that symbolizes the mortar the slaves used when they built for the Egyptians. Flat bread is also served. The Jews did not have time to wait for the bread to rise before they escaped, and the bread became hard and thin. There is also a bottle of salt water on the table to symbolize the tears of the Jews.

Forbidden food

During Pesach, it is forbidden to eat anything that is made with yeast. This is called “Hamets”. Hamets are all foods with different grains, for example, wheat and oats. You can’t even have it in your house. One big preparation for Pesach is to remove bread, cakes and pasta from the house.

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Flukten fra Egypt
Flukten fra Egypt

Christian Easter

Easter is the oldest and most important Christian holiday.  It is celebrated in memory of Jesus’ coming back from the dead. This is a drama about life and death from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

Each day at Easter, something happened in Jerusalem. This was over 2,000 years ago and has become an important part of our history. We call the time from Palm Sunday to Easter Eve Holy Week. In many languages Holy week is called “silent week”.  The name comes from the fact that it was a very quiet week, no bells rang, and you shouldn’t work if you didn’t have to. Everything should be quiet.

Jesus inntog i Jerusalem
Papir bakgrunn
Papir bakgrunn

Palm Sunday

Israel and its capital Jerusalem were occupied by the Romans. The Jewish people got tired of this, and wanted freedom. They read that a savior would come, but they didn’t know when.

Jesus and his disciples would celebrate the Jewish holiday of Easter in Jerusalem. Jesus staged a message from the prophets, which sounded like this: “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.“. This is what he did on Palm Sunday.

On his way into Jerusalem, Jesus was celebrated by the people who waved palm branches and shouted “hosanna” which means “save us”. Still, many churches use this tradition with palm branches. Palm Sunday is supposed to be a day of celebration. 

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Palmesøndag
Palmesøndag
Papir bakgrunn
Papir bakgrunn

Good Friday

Jesus understood that he had an important task in life: because people sinned against God, he had to die to save people from being doomed. Like the lambs in Egypt, he had to die in order for the Jews to escape the angel of death. 

Jesus was seen as a dangerous man by those in charge in Jerusalem. They thought Jesus turned people against them. So they captured him and left him to die on a cross. In the Nordic countries this day is called Long Friday.

In English, it is called Good Friday. Some people believe it is called Good Friday because the old English word for holy was good. Others think it is because Jesus came back to life, making it a good day.

On this day, there is not much decoration in churches and no organ music. This is because it is a sad day. Some people march with crosses and others let themselves be tortured.

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Jesus på korset
Jesus på korset

Easter Eve

Many people have parties on Easter Eve, Holy Saturday. We eat good food and Easter eggs. According to tradition the Easter Bunny lays these eggs, but we often have to look for them. When you find the egg, you can eat what is inside.

In church, there is a service in the evening or at night. The church is often dark and people sing hymns. At sunrise, they celebrate Jesus coming back from the dead.

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Påskeegg fylt med godteri
Påskeegg fylt med godteri

Easter Sunday

It is what happened on Easter Sunday that makes it so special. This is the reason why we celebrate Easter. 

After Jesus died, he was placed in a grave. Three days later, some women were going to look after the dead, but he was gone. Jesus had risen from the dead. This is the event that makes Christianity the world’s largest religion.

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Jesu oppstandelse
Jesu oppstandelse

Watching the sun dance

A few hundred years ago, many people went to a mountain top on Easter Sunday to see “the sun dance”. People also believed in witches. It was best to avoid cutting nails, because the waste could be used by evil.

Whipping

On Good Friday, children and animals could be beaten before eating what is called old man’s porridge. People also had to torture themselves with hard work, or walk with sand in their shoes.

Egg yolk and baptism

It was said that when you ate eggs, you were told fortunes in the yolk. The bigger the yolk, the better the year would be. On Maundy Thursday it was common to baptize and name newborn animals.

Half mast and shooting rifles

The flag was halfway up on the flagpole. Easter weekend often started with shooting rifles and pistols in order to protect oneself from evil.

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Eggeplomme på en gul bakgrunn
Eggeplomme på en gul bakgrunn

Easter today

Easter today is more about cabin trips, Kvikk lunsj, eggs, reading crime stories,  going skiing or just having some time off. Some people still go to church or sing hymns.

The Norwegian tradition of Easter crime started in 1923. Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie wrote the crime novel “Bergenstoget plyndret i natt”. It was an advert in the paper, but people didn’t see that, so they thought it was real.

Norwegians are among the people who read the most crime books, and we have many crime writers who sell many books both in Norway and abroad.

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Et barn som detektiv
Et barn som detektiv

Why is yellow the color of Easter?

Yellow is the color of Easter, but why? Easter comes in the spring when it is lighter outside and the sun shines bright. 

We decorate with yellow flowers, eat oranges, drink orange soda and eat yellow marzipan.

Påskekylling
Påskekylling

How do you calculate when Easter is every year?

In spring, we have one day with the same number of hours with and without sunlight. This always happens between March 20th and 21st. The first day of Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after this day. So Easter can take place between  March 22nd and April 25th.

Dame som markerer i en kalender
Dame som markerer i en kalender

Easter in art

Jesus’ suffering is common in Western art. In the Middle Ages, Easter was common in art. In old churches, we often see Jesus on the cross. Jesus has been painted in many different ways.

It is not only the death of Jesus that is shown, but also when he returns to life and the Last Supper. Easter was a big part of what happened to Jesus, so it is just normal that artists are inspired by it.  

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Nattverden, Leonardo da Vinci
Nattverden, Leonardo da Vinci

Sources:

  • God påske – familieboken fra fastelavn til vår (1988)
    Sigrun Nygaard     Moriggi / H. Aschehoug & Co.
  • Stordalen, Terje; Thorbjørnsrud, Berit S.; Stensvold, Anne; Barstad, Hans M.; Kværne, Per; Winje, Geir: Påske i Store norske leksikon på snl.no. Hentet 23. februar 2021 fra https://snl.no/påske
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Media Rights:

    1. Getty Images
    2. Getty Images
    3. James Tissot
    4. The Musée Condé, Chantilly / Getty Images
    5. Meister der Palastkapelle in Palermo
    6. Catholic Online – YouTube / Getty Images
    7. Gabriel Wüger / Getty Images
    8. Getty Images
    9. Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov / The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – YouTube
    10. Getty Images
    11. Getty Images
    12. Getty Images
    13. Getty Images
    14. Leonardo da Vinci