Thursday 18 April 2019

Warming up for Easter

Whoop, whoop, we had warmth and sunshine yesterday afternoon and I'm loving the look of the weather forecast for the weekend. Outdoor things are planned.........

Easter is almost upon us, it's the main festival of the Christian church, and is a moveable feast. Why.....?.

Easter Day falls anytime between 21st March and 25th April. The date depends on the first full moon of spring. It is calculated  as the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the 21st March. But if the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is the following Sunday. 

Hope that clears that question up?!


Pagan traditions give us the English word Easter coming from the word Anglo Saxon word Eostre , meaning openings and that comes from the Saxon goddess of the dawn Eostre.

The weather at Easter could have an impact on the harvest

Rain on Good Friday or Easter Day,
A good crop of hops, but a bad one of hay.

If the sun shines on the altar during the service on Easter Day, there will be a good harvest .

Fair weather from Easter to Whitsuntide,
Butter will be cheap with cream on the side


Easter Sunday is the proper day for exchanging Easter eggs. The egg is the symbol of new life and because they were forbidden during Lent, people gave eggs as presents to their friends and servants once Lent was over, often decorating them with natural dyes.

In the past Easter was often the time for a new set of clothes for Sunday best. This would have included a new hat for the ladies.........  so   Easter Bonnets.

I'm ready for an Easter Sunday egg hunt!



Back Tomorrow
Sue

21 comments:

  1. Lily is insisting on an egg hunt this year and, given the weather forecast, we will have to be careful the chocolate eggs don't melt! X

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  2. I spent an hour with the septic tank which was emptied the day before. Two new pumps needed but what a difference to be kneeling in the grass in the warm sun whatever the job. I like Easter. I was an Easter baby as was one of my brothers although our birthdays are 12 days, apart. He was born at the very latest Easter can be. It doesn't get repeated at that date very often.

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    1. Touch wood my septic tank has been OK without any blockages since last summer. I do check now and again and chuck some extra buckets of water from the water butts down the manhole nearest the house.

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  3. I was born early on Easter Sunday morning, following a complex delivery. My father was a Baptist minister, and almost missed the first service. People said it was the only time he was late for church!

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    1. Ah, you've sorted out when Easter was in 1955. So I was born the Saturday after. My niece was born on an Easter Sunday on April 15th in I think 1990

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  4. Thanks for explaining why Easter moves around like the Easter bunny is chasing it. I never knew we were simply waiting for the full moon, well it was last night .... so chocs away we're off 😀

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    1. Chocs away is right - I'm eating my Easter Lindor's already!

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  5. I have little eggs here in Italy, does your egg hunt extend this far.

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    1. That would be quite a hunt - all the way from here to Italy!

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  6. I hope the powers that be do not decide to fix Easter like they did the May bank holiday - I like it being a movable date. We are having a family party so any warm weather will be most welcome so we can spill over outside and have our egg hunt.

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    1. We are very glad about the warmer weather as all the people invited will never fit into Sons house for Willows party. Son and DiL thought as it was Easter some people wouldn't be able to come but there might be 30+!

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  7. You've reminded me about having a new outfit for Easter as a child. I suppose most of us would only have had new clothes at Easter, Christmas and birthdays then. How things have changed!

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    1. We used to have a new dress for Chapel Anniversary which was in May. Chapel ladies always had a new hat!

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  8. So much history, tradition and myth, surrounding Easter, it seems more so than any other feast day except Christmas.

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    1. I could have written loads more from that book but didn't have time...... all sorts of Easter customs from different places

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  9. When I was a child out chapel Sunday school anniversary was always on Easter Sunday and I always had a new dress and shoes.

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  10. Patricia (in West Suffolk)18 April 2019 at 19:08

    I remember when we were about 15, my three friends and I decided to make ourselves a new suit for the Easter Sunday service (in those days "suit" meant "skirt suit" - no trousers in church!). We felt so grown up but I can't imagine any 15 year olds wearing a skirt suit nowadays. How times change.

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