Easter in Medieval Europe

Russian icon with 5 themes. The Holy Trinity of New Testament; Good Felon enters in Heaven; Adam, Eva and others follows Jesus from Hell to Heaven; Harrowing of Hell; Entombment of Christ. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less

Since it is that time of year, let us look at how Europeans celebrated Easter in Medieval times. As always, celebrations are based on local or regional customs, so what I describe will be a generalized approach to this topic.

Several factors we must remember when discussing such a topic. One, was the Catholic Church was the rule of law in medieval Europe. What the decreed was law even to the point nobility bowed to the churches wishes. Two, Easter in a way began with lent. This fact will become more important later in the article.

Easter is associated with the end of pass over, even though it is independent of it. Jesus had come to Jerusalem to observe Passover (the Last Supper was a Passover Seder) before his crucifixion. In Jewish history, a lunar calendar is used, so the end of Passover occurs on the night of a full moon after the first day of spring (northern hemisphere).  So usually, Easter which is held after Passover, usually happens after that full moon. This gets a little complicated when we are dealing with the Gregorian calendar and especially during leap years, but that is the general rule.  The calculation to determine Easter is called Computus, in Latin meaning computation. It took the Catholic Church generations to finally standardize when Easter would occur. This date also gets more complicated if the church is using the Gregorian or Julian calendar.

Let us first examine the observance called Tenebrae (darkness or shadows).  This meant the extinguishing of candles in the church, then a loud noise taking place in almost total darkness near the end of the service. The Tenebrae would be done during the last three days of the holy week before Easter Sunday (Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Easter is referred to as the Tridumm)

The first day we must consider during Easter week is Thursday.  This was the day that Christ has his last supper with his disciples. The observance is called Maundy Thursday.  Maundy is the name given the ritual of foot washing.  In many churches twigs were placed over alters to represent the scourging of Jesus.

During Easter church services, many people would creep to the cross.  This mean they approached the cross on their barefoot and on their knees.

Friday there would be no Eucharist. The Passion story would be read by the priest completely in Latin from the book of John. For most of the people in the congregation they did not understand Latin, but they did understand the passion story.

It was during the Passion that the Tenebrae really made an impact. The priest would read the passion as one by one the candles would be extinguished except one, a person (called a Hearse) would hold that candle. The word hearse, in this context, refers to the candelabra or other structure holding the candles.  At the end of the passion only one central candle was left, this would represent Jesus as the light in the darkness of the world.

On Easter morning (at dawn), the congregation would gather outside the church.  The priest would lead them inside the church. The Eucharist returned to the service. Unlike many services, Easter was a joyful one, where the emphasis was on the salvation of man and light returning to the world.

After the service, was when the fun really began. After 40 days of sacrifice and eating nothing but fish, it would be a welcomed feast.  The local nobility would put on this feast, having them pay for it was reflection of Jesus when he washed his disciple’s feet and served them.

This is where I noted earlier about the effect of lent.  During this period, you were not allowed to eat eggs.  Chickens do not know this, and continue to lay eggs.  To save even some of these eggs for later use they hard boiled them.  By the time, Easter came around, you had tons of boiled eggs, some of which had spoiled.

So what will you do with all of these eggs? Color them and make a game of finding them, this is the origin of the Easter Egg and hunt. Many times, the eggs were painted red to represent the blood of Jesus. In Germany, it was traditional to color them green and hang them in trees.  Others boil the eggs with onions which caused the shell to turn a gold color.  Some of the wealthiest in Europe had the eggs decorated with gold leaf. This elaborate decoration continued, the first Faberge egg was created as an Easter egg for Tsar Alexander III to be give his wife in 1885.

Now lets examine a complex issue, the Easter Bunny. In 1835 Jacob Grimm (I have mentioned him several times in my blog, and he is one of the Brothers Grimm) noted that this hare was a sacred animal of Eastre.  Eastre (Eostre) was the Saxon goddess of spring, and where we get the name Easter from.  Grimm’s account has been referred to by many historians.

However, there is no reference to an Easter bunny until 1682, this was referred as a hare who handed out Easter eggs to good children, similar to Santa Clause.  Further research confirmed this lack of a hare associated to Easter. Bede (Saint Bede) was a monk who was a skilled linguist and translator. His major work was in history of Europe. This included research into the religion and celebrations of pre-Christian religions and people.  He never mentioned the hare being associated with Eastre.

It was a day when people were given new clothes.  Nobility would even give their own clothes to certain officials during Easter.  This was such an important part of Easter that it was written in the laws of Wales called the Cyfraith Hywel Dda. This may seem like a great act of charity, but it was also a political move. Showing your subordinate rulers that you recognized their service strengthened their loyalty to you.

Wearing new clothes on Easter went further than medieval times. In ancient Roman times wearing new clothes in spring was thought to brought you good luck. Around 300 A.D. Emperor Constantine decreed that his court must wear their finest attire during Easter.

A great party needs more than just one day.  The day after Easter was called Hock Monday.  Here young woman would capture young men and hold them hostage until a ransom was paid for them. The ransom went to the church coffers.  Hock Tuesday was the time for the young men to do the same to the girls in the village.

Another holiday celebrated right after Easter is Dyngus Day. Technically known as Smigus-Dyngus (wet Monday). This holiday is celebrated in Poland and the Ukraine, similar celebrations occur in most Slavic countries. Traditionally this is where boys throw water on girls (or throw them in water) and spank them with pussy willow branches. In older times, the girls would get their revenge on Tuesday, now it is done on the same day.

I hope you enjoyed a little lesson on the celebration of Easter.

I would like to hear your remarks about my article, so please leave a comment.

W.A. Rusho is a professional wrestler, actor and author. Please contact him at his email, or via his website.

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