Happy Easter to you all! Today people all over the world are celebrating the resurrection of Christ with special services, processions and the giving of Easter eggs, symbols of new life and of the resurrection.
In Tudor times, on Easter Sunday, the candles in the church and around the sepulchre would be put out and then the church candles would be re-lit by the priest from a fire. The sepulchre, which had been prepared and sealed on Good Friday, would be opened and the resurrection of Jesus Christ celebrated with a special mass and communion using the consecrated host from the sepulchre.
Easter Sunday was also the end of Lent, the period of fasting where people had denied themselves food like dairy products and meat, and so was celebrated with good food, including roasted meat or poultry.
You may be wondering what is in the photo accompanying this post, well it is our village Easter “tree”. This pine tree is ‘built’ on Easter Saturday by the youths of our village who use a trunk as the base and then tie branches to it and stuff it with fireworks (yes, health and safety go out of the window). It is then lit later today as a celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
