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Easter in Russia Easter eggs are associated with the most highly venerated feast in Russia - Paskha, Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ancient Old Testament feast of the Passover goes back thirteen centuries before the coming of Christ and is connected with some of the most dramatic events of biblical history. In the night before the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, God killed the first-born of every Egyptian family, sparing the houses of the Israelites whose doors were marked with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. Hence the name of the age-old Jewish feast - Pesach in Hebrew meaning “passing over”, “sparing”. At the Last Supper Christ invested the ancient Jewish Passover with new meaning. During the traditional Passover meal He turned the ritual of blessing the bread and wine into the sacrament of the Eucharist. At the Christian Pesach - Easter - the Son of God became the redemptive sacrifice - the new lamb that takes upon himself the sins of the world. After Christ’s ascension, his apostles and other followers went off to different countries to preach Christianity. Among them was Mary Magdalene, to whom Christ had first appeared after His Resurrection. Coming before the Emperor Tiberius with the words “Christ is risen”, she presented him in keeping with old Jewish tradition with a modest gift - a red egg, whose colour symbolized Christ’s redeeming sacrifice and Resurrection. The time when Christians should celebrate Easter was established on 19 June 325 by the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. It is celebrated after the spring equinox - between 4 April and 8 May (22 March and 25 April Old Style). Easter arrived in Rus’ with the adoption of Christianity under Prince Vladimir of Kiev in 988. The “king of days” and “feast of feasts”, as it is known in Russia, is the chief festival of the Orthodox Church. It is celebrated on Easter Sunday and for a whole week afterwards. The general celebration is preceded by the seven-week fast of Great Lent, during which the Orthodox abstain from meat and dairy products. The final week of the fast, Holy Week, is stricter and accompanied by sorrowful church services. In their daily prayers believers go over again, as it were, Christ’s path to the Cross. Holy Week ends with a service and procession around the church on Easter night. The clergy change their vestments for festive white robes, all the lamps in the church are lit and the Holy Gates to the sanctuary thrown open. In the depth of the night believers holding candles process around the outside of the church. The Lenten fast ends with a traditional meal. In the abundance of festive dishes a place of honour was occupied by the aromatic sweet loaves known as kulichi, the curds-based paskha and eggs, all blessed in the church. The joy of the Resurrection is reflected in the ritual of khristovaniye - kissing each other with the words “Khristos voskrese!” (“Christ is risen!”) and the ritual response “Voistinu Voskrese!” (“Risen indeed!”) and the giving of coloured eggs. The custom such Easter greetings also came from Byzantium together with Christianity, its rites and icons. The symbolism of the eggs goes back into deep antiquity. Even before the appearance of Christianity it was associated with the pagan beliefs and rituals of various peoples. The Christians’ Easter egg is a symbol of the appearance of new life. In the past the next night of the “Bright Week” was spent in amusements to the exultant ringing of church bells. On the central squares and other traditional fairgrounds swings and roundabouts were set up along with panoramas and show-booths for theatrical performances, hemmed in by the bright stalls of the sellers of victuals and Easter trinkets, gaily decorated coloured flags and posters. Around them the festive crowds pressed excitedly. Strolling among the smartly dressed lively public were barkers, pedlars, street musicians, mummers, fortune-tellers, jesters and trained bears with their handlers. The measured notes of the barrel organ were interrupted by the bold modulations of the accordions and the general hubbub of the crowd was broken by the cries of eager vendors. On stalls and on trays set up on trestles or slung from the necks of strolling hawkers there were bright heaps of painted Easter eggs. Gradually the eggs turned into a toy of sorts. Egg-rolling was a favourite Easter pastime. It began on the Sunday and sometimes continued for the whole of the week. The eggs were rolled down some hillock or a specially made, brightly coloured sloping track. When a rolling egg struck another lying on the ground, the player got to keep it. The eggs used for rolling were made of a variety of materials: coloured hen’s eggs, wood, plaster. Whole sets were made for the game. There were other eggs almost 50 centimetres high with smaller eggs within them, the smallest of which could be the size of a pea. They resembled the famous stacking Russian dolls or matrioshki. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
