No.57

Two Easter chicks

on this Vintage Card

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I’m sure most people would prefer Easter to be celebrated on the same weekend every year.

Despite the fact that it’s a religious festival, the date is determined by the moon - Easter Sunday is always the Sunday which follows the first full moon after 21st March. Confusing?

To make things more complicated, Easter Sunday is not the same over Europe, because Western churches use the Gregorian calendar and Eastern churches the Julian calendar.

In pre-Christian times there was a pagan festival in March to celebrate the arrival of spring, and in particular Eostre who was the Goddess of Spring.

When I was a young boy, Easter wasn’t really important in Scottish life. Holy Week wasn’t observed in our Presbyterian churches and as for Good Friday - that was the day we got hot cross buns! Easter Monday was the Spring holiday in Glasgow, but in many other places the holiday was either the Monday before or the Monday after.

On Sunday of course we attended church. That was certainly an important occasion because, apart from the religious significance, Easter Sunday was the day when all the women and girls turned out in new hats, dresses, etc. And I know there was quite a bit of rivalry between certain ladies in our congregation.

I've just recently learned that by the end of the 16th century it had become the fashion to wear new clothes at Easter. Much later, an 18th century almanac maker known as Poor Robin is recorded as saying -
At Easter let your clothes be new
Or else be sure you will it rue.

And new bonnets leads me to Easter Parades. This is an American cultural event which over the years has spread to other parts of the world. This photograph shows a section of the New York parade on 5th Avenue in 1900.

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Next post here - Tuesday