Easter 2021: history and traditions, how they celebrate, what not to do, congratulations

How to determine the date of Easter

In addition to calculating the number of celebrations according to the lunar calendar, there is a simpler mathematical method by Carl Gauss. Using the following formulas, you can calculate the date for the required year.

To begin the calculations, let’s take three numbers: 19, 4, 7. Next, you need to divide the year of celebration by each of these numbers. For convenience, we assign the letter 《A》 to the first result, 《B》 to the next, and 《B》 to the last. Next we perform the following action: (19×A+15)÷30, to the result of this example we assign the letter 《Г》. The next equation is (2×B+4×B+6×D+6)÷7, let’s assign the letter 《D》 to its result.

In the case of the sum of G and D < or = number 9, the celebration will be in the 03rd month. To calculate the day, you need to add the final numbers G and D to 22. If the sum exceeds the number 9, 9 is subtracted from it and 13 is added.

You can roughly calculate the date by adding 48 days to the number from which Lent began.

Easter calendar

To calculate the algorithm by which the date and month of Easter are calculated, a special system is used - Easter. Orthodox and Catholics use different Paschals to determine the date of this great day. Due to the use of each church's own Easter calendar, there is a difference in numbers:

1. Catholics use the Gregorian Easter, which is calculated according to the Gregorian calendar. The date of the vernal equinox is the 03rd day of the 04th month.
2. The Orthodox calculate the Alexandrian Easter according to the Julian calendar. In spring, the equinox occurs on the 21st of the 03rd month.

In the 20th-21st centuries, the Orthodox Paschal uses a later full moon indicator (a difference of about 4 days) in contrast to the astronomical one. This was due to accumulated error.

Signs and beliefs

• If all the snow melts by Easter, there will be a good harvest this year.
• If you feed street birds with bread crumbs on holiday, you will be blessed with good luck and wealth all year long.
• If you manage to see the Easter sunrise, you should expect good luck in business.
• A housewife who bakes successful Easter bread will have prosperity and well-being in her home.
• After the service in the temple, it is necessary to extinguish the candle for good luck. A candle that goes out during a service is a bad omen.

Easter is a great Orthodox holiday. On this day, Christians attend services where Easter cakes and colored eggs are illuminated. People are trying to free themselves from household chores and spend time with their loved ones.

Easter according to the Lunar calendar

The celebration of this great day takes place in the spring, and Easter is accurately calculated according to the lunar calendar. Let's take a closer look at how to calculate Easter according to the lunar calendar .

Finding out the date of this holiday is not easy. The main criterion for calculations is the following information: the celebration is scheduled for the Sunday of spring, which comes after the day with the full moon.

In order to find out how Easter is calculated according to the lunar calendar , you need to take into account the main features:

1. Calendar indicators of the solar system (revolutions of the Earth in relation to the Sun).
2. Calculation of calendar data of the lunar system (moon revolutions in relation to the Earth).
3. The constant, unchanging day of the week of celebration is Sunday.

If the full moon occurs earlier than the 21st day of the 03rd month, the Easter full moon will be the one following it. And if it falls on a Sunday, the holiday will begin on the next Sunday.

Due to the use of different Easter calendars by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, the dates of the holiday will vary. The date and month of Orthodox Easter were initially calculated in accordance with a regulated set of rules.

Their content reflects the following: the holiday should not be scheduled on an earlier date than the date of the celebration of the Jewish Passover or on the same day as it. However, they do not reflect how the calculations are carried out from the technical side.

After the final separation of the two churches in 1054, the Orthodox rules for calculating the date of Easter according to the lunar calendar were reflected in the “Syntagmas” of Matthew Blastar.

There are also 4 main decrees regarding Catholic Easter (two of them are from unwritten tradition):

1. The celebration takes place in the spring after the equinox.
2. The date is not assigned to the date of the Jewish celebration.
3. Calculations are made not only at the end of the equinox, but also at the end of the full moon that follows it.
4. The date is set after the full moon on the first Sunday.

But due to the fact that in 1582. Pope Gregory XIII introduced an updated Paschal, changes took place in the entire calendar. In this regard, the date of the Catholic celebration may fall at the same time as the Jewish one and often occurs earlier than in Orthodoxy.

Dates of Orthodox and Catholic Easter from 2021 to 2033

The table shows the date, month of celebration and year of Orthodox and Catholic Easter.

The holiday of Great Easter is one of the oldest and most revered in Christianity. It is marked by important events in religion - the resurrection of Jesus and the end of Lent.

Elena Baal

I have been living according to the lunar calendar since 2012. I first tried all the practices that I talk about on myself.

Traditions and rituals of the holiday

Easter is the main holiday of Christianity. On this day, a solemn service is held in churches. It starts before midnight. First, the Midnight Office is served, during which the priests take the Shroud to the altar and place it on the throne. Matins begins at midnight. The clergy sings a festive stichera in the altar. Then the clergyman makes a religious procession - a walk around the temple while the bells ring. In his hands he holds a lantern with a burning candle inside. He is followed by representatives of the clergy with church relics. The religious procession is accompanied by the singing of stichera. After going around the temple, Matins continues. Integral parts of the Easter service are the Easter Hours and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

In many churches, parishioners are allowed to ring bells on this day. Anyone, accompanied by the clergy, can climb the bell tower and try themselves as a bell ringer.

On Easter Sunday, churches consecrate Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, colored eggs (krashenki, pysanky) and other treats prepared for the festive table. People put food in a wicker basket, cover it with a beautiful towel and go to temples to bless it. Also on Easter, artos - leavened bread - is blessed in churches. It is distributed to believers to keep at home for a year. Artos is taken on an empty stomach for illnesses.

Have an interesting day

Today's task: Bake your own homemade cake

Kulich is a bread symbol of Easter, an indispensable attribute of the bright Christian holiday. Baking Easter cake and consecrating it in church is one of the most ancient Christian customs that has survived to this day. Each housewife has her own tricks for baking delicious Easter cakes, which are traditionally passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter.

For a long time, Easter cake was considered successful if it turned out to be tall, airy and soft. Today, there are many recipes for holiday Easter cake: with and without baking, with and without flour, traditionally decorated with icing and decorated with all kinds of elements. Only one thing remains unchanged - you need to prepare paskas with bright thoughts, putting all your love into them.

Bake your own homemade and specially flavored Easter cake and share the recipe.

One of the attributes of the holiday is flowers. People light up live or artificial bouquets at services. Then they bring them home, place them in front of the icons, and decorate the festive table with them.

On Easter, people greet each other with the phrase: “Christ is risen!”, to which they are supposed to respond: “Truly he is risen!”

Families have a tradition of measuring strength by breaking Easter eggs. The family member who breaks all the eggs and remains intact is considered the strongest.

On this day it is customary to visit relatives, spend time with family, organize festivities and entertainment. In some regions, this holiday is called “Green Christmastide,” during which people sing ritual songs, congratulate loved ones, go from house to house, praise the owner and wish well-being.

Many people believe that the heavens open on Easter. Therefore, they perform magical rituals on this day. Young girls cast love spells on their beloved men and tell fortunes about their betrothed. Traditional healers believe that the Easter holiday period is the best moment for healing from illnesses.

Easter symbols

The symbols of Easter are Easter cakes , symbolizing the church - the house of Christ; colored eggs are a symbol of eternal life and Resurrection; in Western tradition, wealth and fertility are symbolized by the Easter bunny or rabbit .

In Orthodoxy, an integral part of Easter is the procession of the cross , the tradition of welcoming the Holy Fire , as well as the ringing of bells .

Easter is celebrated for 40 days, and all this time the believers exchange apostolic greetings, which sound like this:

"Christ is risen! “Truly risen!”

It is customary to kiss three times during the Easter greeting, but due to the pandemic, believers are advised not to abuse this tradition.

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Easter table

Easter is preceded by the Great Lent of forty days, during which those fasting abstain from alcohol and food of animal origin. On the Bright Resurrection of Christ the breaking of the fast begins. Believers are allowed to consume fast food and red wine. Housewives prepare holiday treats the day before. Traditional dishes are: jellied meat, homemade sausages, lard, baked young pig, goose stuffed with apples, pies with meat and cheese fillings. At the festive meal, the central place is occupied by Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, and colored eggs. Eggs are colored with artificial or natural dyes and decorated with designs and Easter greetings. The traditional color is red.

Housewives cover the festive table with a new white tablecloth, embroidered on an Easter theme. A dish with the largest and most beautiful Easter egg and eggs around is placed in the center. Flowers are placed on the table and candles are lit. It is necessary to start the meal with foods consecrated in the church.

How the date is calculated

In 325 a set of rules was approved by which the date of celebration was calculated. They say that the date will fall on the Sunday of spring, which comes after the day with the full moon after the equinox. However, the Jewish celebration must take place earlier.

In this regard, Easter cannot be scheduled earlier than 04.04 and later than 08.05. according to the updated style. Calculating dates is quite difficult. Usually the calculations were carried out by the Alexandrian Church, which was able to most accurately determine dates with a full moon. She then reported the results to other churches.