Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A time to look back, a time to look forward
By Marisa de Silva
Long before Easter became a religious festival it was a celebration to welcome spring. In Europe, it was a time of springtime festivals - a time to welcome back the tulips, the crocuses and the daffodils. During this time new clothes and shoes, marked an end to the long cold winter. It was also a time for chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks and coloured eggs.

These celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin. The name Easter itself, comes from the Scandinavian ‘Ostra’ and the Teutonic ‘Ostern’ or ‘Eastre,’ both goddesses of mythology signifying spring and fertility.

So what does Easter mean to us? Why do we have to make sacrifices for the 40 days leading up to Easter? What we’ve been taught at catechism class from the time we were little, was that the 40 days in Lent represent Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, which were meant to act as a period of preparation.

The number 40 seems to have held some significance in Judeo/Christian history relating to preparation (the Israelites, for example, wandered for 40 years in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land). Why we need to make sacrifices during this time is so we can begin a ‘preparation period’ of our own, which may lead us to understand and be a part of the Easter Mystery, which necessitated that Jesus pay for our sins by suffering and dying for us.

Lent is a time when Christians are called to examine their lives and pray for the forgiveness of sins. Some of us decide to set aside all or part of our allowance or earnings and donate it to a charity. Others might prefer to go through their clothes and toys, choose some items and donate them to a needy family. Still others might opt to give up eating sweets or not watch a favourite TV programme, others may even want to be more tolerant or control their tempers… it’s up to the individual to decide what he or she would give up for lent.

What is important about this period of sacrifice is that it’s not just about consoling yourself that you’ve fulfilled an obligation. Each individual sacrifice has to be a meaningful gesture carried out with a grateful heart to thank God for all he’s done for us. Not just because our parents want us to, or because it’s supposedly the ‘done thing’ during this period, but because it actually means something to us.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, celebrated on Easter Sunday, breaks the finality of death. Therefore, Easter should not be just the day when you can start eating sweets again or watching your favourite TV programme again. It should be a day to reflect on how and why it came about and to thank God for all our blessings (if you already do it as a daily practice then it’s well and good, but for those of us who don’t, let’s try for at least once a year shall we?).

After Jesus was put to death and left in a tomb, everyone took it for granted that he was dead and thus gave up all hope. However, when they saw first- hand his resurrection from the dead, their perceptions changed drastically and they were filled with love and courage. The greatest message of Easter then, is hope; hope that should engulf us and strengthen our faith. A thought worth reflecting on today methinks…

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