Catholic Easter on Sunday 12th of April, 2009 !

[Mariria]

[center][color=red][i][b]Happy Easter 2009[/b][/i][/color][/center]

Easter Sunday celebrations on April 12th for the year 2009.

This is the Easter date for 2009 in the western calendar for the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has set the date for the Easter 2009 to be on  April 19th.

When is the Easter? it moves from year to year.
It has been happening since the year 325AD.
The Roman Emperor Constantine I got all the early Christian leaders together to fix matters of doctrine and dates of important Christian events such as Easter.

     The Easter eggs !

Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolize the Easter joy. This custom is found not only in the Latin but also in the Oriental Churches.
The symbolic meaning of a new creation of mankind by Jesus risen from the dead was probably an invention of later times.
Coloured eggs are used by children at Easter in a sort of game which consists in testing the strength of the shells.
Both coloured and uncoloured eggs are used in some parts of the United States for this game, known as "egg-picking". Another practice is the "egg-rolling" by children on Easter.
       
              The Easter rabbit
The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden.
              
               Men and women
On Easter Monday the women had a right to strike their husbands, on Tuesday the men struck their wives, as in December the servants scolded their masters.
In the northern parts of England the men parade the streets on Easter Sunday and claim the privilege of lifting every woman three times from the ground, receiving in payment a kiss or a silver sixpence. The same is done by the women to the men on the next day. In the Neumark (Germany) on Easter Day the men servants whip the maid servants with switches; on Monday the maids whip the men. They secure their release with Easter eggs.


I really like all this!
Enjoy your Easter!

And if you like to cook, please look:
http://www.russianfoods.com/recipes/item000B7/default.asp

You can read more here:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm

[Sennaya]

In 2013 Western Easter is March 31, 2013 and Orthodox Easter celebrated in Russia is a month later, May 5, 2013.

The date of the Orthodox Easter Sunday is the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (PFM) date for the year, using the Julian Calendar. For 2013 the date of the Orthodox Easter is May 5th. Catholic Easter on the other hand is calculated based on the Gregorian calendar, and for 2013 the date is on March 31st.

The two churches vary on the definition of the vernal equinox and the full moon. The Eastern Church sets the date of Easter according to the actual, astronomical full moon and the actual equinox as observed along the meridian of Jerusalem, site of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The Eastern Orthodox Church applies the formula so that Easter always falls after Passover, since the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ took place after he entered Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In the Western Church, Easter sometimes precedes Passover by weeks.

Maybe the later date helps the colder parts of Russia have Easter with good Spring weather!