Here we present our highlights of the second week of the Easter School Holidays from Directory of York.From 12 April 2010 onwards, there are many things to see and do for the children:

from Easter adventures to Easter Egg Hunts,

places to visit and great days out for the kids…

Enjoy a great Easter Break out and around North Yorkshire! 

Chester Easter | Liverpool Easter | York Easter | Leeds Easter | Newcastle Easter

Here we present our highlights of the first week of the Easter School Holidays from Directory of York.From Easter Bank Holiday Monday onwards, there are many things to see and do for the children:

from Easter adventures to Easter Egg Hunts,

places to visit and great days out for the kids…

Enjoy a great Easter Break out and around North Yorkshire!

 

Chester Easter | Liverpool Easter | York Easter | Leeds Easter | Newcastle Easter

Here is Directory of York’s selection of Family Activities for Easter Bank Holiday weekend.From Good Friday to Easter Bank Holiday Monday, there are many things to see and do:

from Easter Egg Hunts to family meals,

places to visit to great days out for the kids…

Enjoy a great weekend out and around North Yorkshire!

 

Chester Easter | Liverpool Easter | York Easter | Leeds Easter | Newcastle Easter

Chester Easter | Liverpool Easter | York Easter | Leeds Easter | Newcastle Easter

What does Easter mean?

For many people living in the UK, Easter is a double bank holiday during which it’s possible to scoff loads of chocolate eggs – after fathoming out where that anthropomorphic Santa Claus called the Easter Bunny has hidden them; or in some parts of the country, people roll hard-boiled eggs down a hill or indulge in a bit of Egg Jarping, a contest that involves smashing an opponent’s egg to smithereens.

Strange though it may seem, these rather eccentric traditions, including the egg-laying bunny, are inextricably linked with pagan tradition and the Christian Church.

Easter Traditions and History

The Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Egyptians and Persians celebrated the egg as a symbol of the universe.

In Pagan times it represented the rebirth of the earth and was believed to have special powers, buried under foundations of buildings to ward off evil and used by Roman women to foretell the sex of their unborn child.

In Anglo Saxon legend, the goddess Eostre was said to have changed a wounded bird into a hare so it could survive the winter; when the “hare” discovered its amazing egg-laying powers, it not only left them as an offering to the goddess every spring, but also decorated them in bright colours to symbolize the rebirth of the world.

The time of year became known as Eostre-monath, named after the goddess. When early Christians began to commemorate Christ’s resurrection from the dead, the celebration was known as Pascha, relating to the Jewish festival of the Passover.

Because this usually took place in Eostre-monath, the name evolved into Easter.

Easter: A Christian Festival

Forming the foundation of the Christian Church, Easter is the most important time in the liturgical calendar and refers to the events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus, who was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.

As a moveable feast, Easter can fall any time between March 22nd and April 25th: the actual date is linked to the Passover and falls on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon which, being an ecclesiastical full moon, varies slightly from the astronomical one.

Also marking the end of Lent, a time of fasting and abstinence, Easter Sunday signalled a return to a more indulgent diet when eggs could be enjoyed once more.

Another important symbol was gained with associations of the renewal and rebirth of the world with the death of Christ, and eggs also came to represent the rolling away of the stone to Christ’s tomb.

Easter Eggs and Pace Egging

Traditionally, boiled eggs were eaten on Easter Sunday and people used to wrap their eggs in onion skins, before boiling them and decorating them with flowers and leaves to give as gifts.

Traditions of Pace Egging, Egg Rolling and Egg Jarping evolved in villages, especially in the north of England: these sports and entertainments usually took place on Easter Monday.

Although customs vary, boiled eggs, artistically labelled with the owner’s name, were rolled down a hill or between two pegs, the winner being the one which either went the farthest or survived the most intact. Egg rolling still takes place in many villages in the UK especially in Lancashire and Cumbria, with Avenham Park in Preston being a popular event.

An even more famous venue further afield is the lawn of the White House in Washington DC, when competitors roll an egg along using a spoon in a desperate race to the finishing line.

The old custom of Pace Egging was related to the mumming tradition, and comprised a procession through the streets to the accompaniment of the Pace Egging song, culminating in an entertainment acted out by a group of local yokels known as Jolly Boys wearing elaborate costumes of animal skins and coloured ribbons and streamers. With a cast of characters that usually included Old Tosspot, St George, the Lady Gay, and a Turkish knight known as Bold Slasher, the actors’ comic antics were rewarded after a bit of friendly coercion, with gifts of decorated eggs from the crowd or a free pint of ale from the pub.

Egg Jarping or tapping – a kind of conker fight played with eggs – is popular in County Durham and contests are held in pubs and houses. A player is known as a “jarper” and a particularly good hit is known as a “dunch”. Competitions can be quite intense and some bouts are so hotly contested that they can last all day.

In Victorian times, with the advent of chocolate factories, larger chocolate eggs began to be all the rage. Easter egg hunts became popular, and sometimes Easter baskets were given containing candy.

Printed cards started to be sent as the holiday celebrations became more widespread.

Today, families wishing to celebrate Easter Sunday in a traditional manner will usually eat a dinner of roast lamb, followed by custard tarts and Easter biscuits, all rounded off with a piece of Simnel cake.

…after having had boiled eggs for breakfast of course!

 

Chester Easter | Liverpool Easter | York Easter | Leeds Easter | Newcastle Easter

If you would like to see your event here email support@directoryofyork.net

 

You May Also Be Interested In:

York Events 2010

Newcastle upon Tyne Events 2010

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For Jews the palm was traditionally a symbol of triumph and victory, and the leaves were often laid before people thought worthy of honour. The Roman Catholic Church considers palms to be sacramentals or an object that inspires devotion, and thus a means of obtaining grace.

In Eastern tradition the donkey was representative of peace – as opposed to the more warlike properties associated with the horse. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem was seen as the fruition of prophesies made by Zechariah who foretold in the Old Testament; “Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

In the days that followed, Jesus was to be betrayed by Judas, arrested and sent for trial. On Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion, many of the crowd who had welcomed him into the city so excitedly were now baying for his blood.

Because of this, concepts of hypocrisy and betrayal are traditional subjects for services on Palm Sunday when the congregation is asked to think about the strength of their commitment to their own beliefs.

Popular hymns on this day are “All Glory, Laud and Honour” and “Ride on, Ride on in Majesty.”

Palm Sunday Around the World

In Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, the palm crosses distributed are often kept in people’s houses for the year as a symbol of their faith. Although palms are now imported from Spain – which has the largest palm grove in Europe – the scarcity of the plant in the past meant that sometimes pussy willow, yew, or other indigenous trees were substituted.

After Palm Sunday, leftover palms are often burned and used for Ash Wednesday, when ashes are mixed with sacred oil and used to anoint the congregation as a sign of repentance.

Across the world the traditions associated with Palm Sunday vary: in the Eastern Orthodox Church for example, Palm Sunday is called the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and represents one of the 12 main feasts of the liturgical year; sometimes olive branches and leaves are used instead of palms which, in Malta and Gozo, are taken home and thought to ward off evil; in the Indian Orthodox churches flowers are scattered around the sanctuary as the Gospel describing Jesus’s welcome by the crowd is read; in Spain palm leaves are tied and braided into elaborate shapes, whereas in the Netherlands, bread shaped in the form of a rooster or a cross is decorated with candy.

Processions are held, sometimes incorporating a donkey. In one of the most famous processions, held in the diocese of Goningen-Leeuwarden, a walk with oil lamps takes place the night before in honour of the Sorrowful Mother of Warfhuizen – a statue sculpted by Miguel Bejarano Moreno and a place of unofficial pilgrimage.

Poland holds competitions to build the biggest artificial palm with the highest reaching 30 metres, and in Fiji the children of the Methodist congregation wear white to symbolise innocence or cleanliness.

Palm Sunday: 28 March 2010

Palm Sunday is a day of celebration and solemnity remembering Jesus Christ’s triumphal procession into Jerusalem in the week before his trial and crucifixion. It is a moveable feast that takes place on the Sunday of the Holy Week that precedes Easter, and in 2010 falls on 28th March.

The day is also known as Passion Sunday, Yew Sunday, Branch Sunday or The Sunday of the Passion. It is celebrated in Christian churches all over the world with the distribution of crosses made from palm leaves to the congregation. In some parishes, large palm branches are carried in processions around or outside the church in commemoration of Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of the Passover.

The story mentioned in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, relates how the night before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus dined with Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha at Bethphage, he asked two of his disciples to fetch a donkey from the nearby village. If anyone asked why, they were to say that it was needed by the Lord but would be returned later. The next day as Jesus rode the donkey through the Golden Gate into Jerusalem, crowds thronged the streets and laid palm branches in front of him, saying; “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Blessed is the King of Israel.”

 

Chester Easter | Liverpool Easter | York Easter | Leeds Easter | Newcastle Easter

If you would like to see your event here email support@directoryofyork.net
 

You May Also Be Interested In:

York Events 2010

Newcastle upon Tyne Events 2010

Leeds Events 2010

Liverpool Events 2010

Chester Events 2010

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Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, between 3rd February and 9th March, and in 2010 it takes place on 16th February: when it’s time to oil up the trusty old frying pan in preparation for the age-old tradition of pancake tossing.

Sandwiched between Collop Monday and Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday represents the final day before the Christian period of abstinence – called Lent – that lasts 40 days, in replication of Jesus’ time spent fasting in the wilderness.

Why is Tuesday Shrove? 

The day gets its name from the old ritual of shriving: when churchgoers would confess their sins and receive absolution, before coming home to finish off all the perishable ingredients in the larder that were forbidden during Lent.

As these included butter, eggs, milk and fat, pancakes seemed to be a good way of using up everything in one delicious dish.

The pancakes were traditionally served with a meat based stew, but nowadays are more usually sprinkled with caster sugar with lemon juice, syrup or jam – although savoury toppings are still used too.

Shriving used to start at 11.00am: tradition says that on Shrove Tuesday in 1445, a woman in Olney in Buckinghamshire was so busy making pancakes that she lost track of time and in her panic to get to church before the service began, ran through the streets in her apron and scarf, brandishing a frying pan complete with pancake.

The story is celebrated today in the Olney Pancake Race: housewives of the town compete in a race to run 415 yards from the Market Place to the Church, wearing a scarf, skirt and apron and tossing a pancake!

Similar antics take place all across Britain:

The Great Spitalfields’ Pancake Race which begins, after the toss, from the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane;

The Great Pancake Race starting from Tower Hill Terrace; 

The Rehab UK Parliamentary Pancake Race is a relay run at Westminster to raise money for the national charity Rehab UK, when members of the House of Lords, House of Commons and the Fourth Estate (members of the press) take up their frying pans and engage in a hotly contested battle for the title of Parliamentary Pancake Race Champions – terms of engagement are strictly observed, and the rule book advises the unruly MPs that “Frying pans must not be used as weapons…whatever the provocation.” .

In 2006 National Pancake Day was launched by the International House of Pancakes (IHOP), a fundraising event whereby people can visit their local shop to receive a stack of buttermilk pancakes and donate money to charities.

Not Just Pancakes @ Shrovetide

Shrove Tuesday is not just a day for pancakes: traditional Shrovetide Tuesday football games are held in many towns dating back to the 12th century.

In Ashbourne in Derbyshire, a rollicking event called the Royal Shrovetide Football Match has taken place since 1928, when Edward Vll received a bloodied nose in the action! Two teams, known as the Up’ards (those born on the north side of the river Henore) and the Down’ards (those born on the south side), kick off a wild football match that is played over the surrounding hills and dales.

A similar event called The Ball Game occurs in Atherstone in Warwickshire, dating from the time of King John, involving good-hearted rough and tumble through the streets in pursuit of a ball dropped from the upstairs window of the Barclays Bank!

Though the traditions of Shrove Tuesday are deeply rooted in the past, for most families it is a homely celebration centred round the stove, when pancake tossing skills can be put to the test…

…and probably represents the best fun you can ever have with a frying pan!