Easter - revival
Originally I planned to write about Thursday night's training and about the first part of this weekend, but I thought another topic was more actual now, and it is Easter.
I was waiting for this very much, it is one of my favorite feasts during the year. I think I can say without exaggerating that I like it at least as much as Christmas. This whole thing might sound strange for those who know me and know that I am not Christian, but I would not say I was a pure Buddhist either. Why? Hmm. I don't think I can explain it here and now. There are just too many things that fit in my picture of the world, included things which are not necessarrily part of this or that religion. Anyhow. Christmas and Easter are also important days in my life, every year. Why? Christmas is because I love to give. Giving to others can satisfy me much more than taking or accepting things. I don't know why but it makes me so happy to see others' happiness over taking what I give. But maybe it is also a ind of selfishness at the end of the day :))))
And I love Easter because it is the celebration of revival.
Let's see a little summary about what Easter is about:
Easter is one of the sacred days of Christianity, a kind of „moving anniversary”. Why do we celebrate Easter on a different day every year? The date is constantly moving because Easter's Sunday is on the first Sunday after the first full moon, following the vernal equinox.
A part of pagan traditions got built into the european culture and also into the Christian religion. Most of our feasts have pagan origin. The first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox was the day of the goddess Ostra, the celebration of Spring.
The English Easter or German Oster words origin from the name of the Spring-Goddess, Ostra. Ostra, the goddess of revival and fertility. She is represented beset with flowers, trailers, with an egg in her hand, rabbits at her feet and birds flying above her, and there is a wreath, woven of spring flowers on her head. The goddess and the egg in her hand represents the revival of nature and humanity, the awakening of Spring. Legend says that Ostra had a special bird, which layed colourful eggs. One day the goddess turned the bird into a rabbit for entertaining the children. Rabbits are said to lay colourful eggs since then. The pagan celebration of Spring melted into the christian holy day. This feast carries on the traditions of mankind which say that we can live in harmony with nature and with supernatural powers, if we adapt to cycles of nature, to the change of seasons, to the course of the Sun and Moon. The revival of nature is also the revival of mankind – this is what we celebrate.
An old tradition in Hungary at Easter time is to paint eggs. Women paint eggs on Sunday. Usually these eggs are first boiled (hard), then decorated with beeswax, with a special tool, called "íróka" in Hungarian. Then they are placed in dye for a few hours, made of different plants, like the outer layers of onion, spinach, elder-berry. When they take them out of the liquids, the eggs have various colorus. Then they are dried and covered with a little bit of fat, to give them a nice glow.
The next day (Monday) men "water" the women - originally it is done by 3 men, two grabs the arms of the woman and the third one throws a bucketful of water on her. It is still done the same way at the countryside in smaller villages, but "civilisation" changed it too recently. Women prefer being "watered" either by soda water or by perfumes. Anyway, the payment for this "watering" is a beautifully painted egg.
Each man gets one. It is obvious that this tradition is a kind of ritual for preserving - attaining fertility.
Unfortunately thanks to the easily obtainble chocolate-eggs, less and less young women dye eggs, and even among those who do we can find a very feew who does it the traditional way, with beeswax and stuff. I am lucky to be one of them, as it makes my heritage richer. This is such a wonderful tradition, that I think we can not afford letting it vanish with history. It is one of our treasures I think.
Tomorrow or on Tuesday I will upload here the pictures of the eggs I made, with some additional comments maybe, so stay tuned! ;-)
Happy Easter to all of you! :-)
I was waiting for this very much, it is one of my favorite feasts during the year. I think I can say without exaggerating that I like it at least as much as Christmas. This whole thing might sound strange for those who know me and know that I am not Christian, but I would not say I was a pure Buddhist either. Why? Hmm. I don't think I can explain it here and now. There are just too many things that fit in my picture of the world, included things which are not necessarrily part of this or that religion. Anyhow. Christmas and Easter are also important days in my life, every year. Why? Christmas is because I love to give. Giving to others can satisfy me much more than taking or accepting things. I don't know why but it makes me so happy to see others' happiness over taking what I give. But maybe it is also a ind of selfishness at the end of the day :))))
And I love Easter because it is the celebration of revival.
Let's see a little summary about what Easter is about:
Easter is one of the sacred days of Christianity, a kind of „moving anniversary”. Why do we celebrate Easter on a different day every year? The date is constantly moving because Easter's Sunday is on the first Sunday after the first full moon, following the vernal equinox.
A part of pagan traditions got built into the european culture and also into the Christian religion. Most of our feasts have pagan origin. The first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox was the day of the goddess Ostra, the celebration of Spring.
The English Easter or German Oster words origin from the name of the Spring-Goddess, Ostra. Ostra, the goddess of revival and fertility. She is represented beset with flowers, trailers, with an egg in her hand, rabbits at her feet and birds flying above her, and there is a wreath, woven of spring flowers on her head. The goddess and the egg in her hand represents the revival of nature and humanity, the awakening of Spring. Legend says that Ostra had a special bird, which layed colourful eggs. One day the goddess turned the bird into a rabbit for entertaining the children. Rabbits are said to lay colourful eggs since then. The pagan celebration of Spring melted into the christian holy day. This feast carries on the traditions of mankind which say that we can live in harmony with nature and with supernatural powers, if we adapt to cycles of nature, to the change of seasons, to the course of the Sun and Moon. The revival of nature is also the revival of mankind – this is what we celebrate.
An old tradition in Hungary at Easter time is to paint eggs. Women paint eggs on Sunday. Usually these eggs are first boiled (hard), then decorated with beeswax, with a special tool, called "íróka" in Hungarian. Then they are placed in dye for a few hours, made of different plants, like the outer layers of onion, spinach, elder-berry. When they take them out of the liquids, the eggs have various colorus. Then they are dried and covered with a little bit of fat, to give them a nice glow.
The next day (Monday) men "water" the women - originally it is done by 3 men, two grabs the arms of the woman and the third one throws a bucketful of water on her. It is still done the same way at the countryside in smaller villages, but "civilisation" changed it too recently. Women prefer being "watered" either by soda water or by perfumes. Anyway, the payment for this "watering" is a beautifully painted egg.
Each man gets one. It is obvious that this tradition is a kind of ritual for preserving - attaining fertility.
Unfortunately thanks to the easily obtainble chocolate-eggs, less and less young women dye eggs, and even among those who do we can find a very feew who does it the traditional way, with beeswax and stuff. I am lucky to be one of them, as it makes my heritage richer. This is such a wonderful tradition, that I think we can not afford letting it vanish with history. It is one of our treasures I think.
Tomorrow or on Tuesday I will upload here the pictures of the eggs I made, with some additional comments maybe, so stay tuned! ;-)
Happy Easter to all of you! :-)
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