[sw-l] Belfast Easter

[Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa]

In Ireland, we call Maundy Thursday "Holy Thursday" - most pubs here are
closed on Good Friday - not a very good idea!!!

For us Irish, Easter is to celebrate the end of the Lent (used to be very
important for us) and the Rising - some churches will visit each Station
(12, 13 or 15 stations) inside the Church.

However, as some of you may know, the Easter Rising is the popular term for
the Irish revolution calling for the independence from the British Empire
and all that - so we ll have marches and celebrations to celebrate our
independence etc - but it's not big anymore because everyone is more
interested in money, money and money - therefore acting more British than
the Brits that they broke away from!!!

I remember a funeral taking place on Chrism Wednesday (the Wednesday before
the Easter weekend) - Holy Communion is not allowed on that date so some
people thought the friend in the coffin is already damned by the priest and
that she was going to be buried at the crossroad!!! ;) - she just chose the
wrong day, that’s all!

We don't really take cross-buns very seriously - but with the influence of
the BBC, bakeries have started selling them here - that’s the problem with
us Irish - we take on other people's traditions etc and claim it as Irish
(!) - Easter eggs etc - yeah, eggs = fertility - that goes LONG before
Christ really - it do have very strong pagan roots - the celebration of
spring, the breaking of the long thaw and the end of winter etc and time to
be prepared for the May fairs etc.

There is a growing circle of people here who believe its okay to shoot the
Easter Bunny dead when he hops along visiting your house giving you eggs -
maybe next year, I'll go and wear a rabbit suit and hop all the way up
Antrim Road here ;-)

Casca shona daoibh!

Shaneybó






> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu [mailto:owner-sw-
> l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] On Behalf Of Trevor Jenkins
> Sent: 25 March 2005 11:31
> To: SignWriting List
> Subject: Re: [sw-l] Thank you, Everyone! and Easter around the world...
>
> On Thu, 24 Mar 2005, Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:
>
> > Here in the US in my experience, some families go to the park, and
> > cities have Easter Egg hunts ... and there are some Easter parades in
> > some cities, where people show off their Easter bonnets (hats) ...
> >
> > Do other countries have that at Easter?....
>
> Depends whether one sees Easter as holidays or holy-days. Also depends how
> "high" one is that is whether one is High Church with preparations for
> this year's Easter begun back on 9th Feb (Ash Wednesday) and the start of
> the Lenten Fast. Having had pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to use up all
> the eggs in the house; not to eat eggs again until 40 days later --- okay
> so that doesn't happen very much the Fast is usually taken to mean giving
> up some favourite food for example, chocolate, or TV or cigarettes :-)
> This is one reason for the Easter Egg symbolism on Easter Sunday.
>
> Possible to be very busy this week. Last Sunday (Pam Sunday) would have
> seen you parading around your parish with palm fronds as an act of
> commemoration for Jesus' entry in Jerusalem. Various church services on
> following days too. Maunday Thursday will see the monarch distributing
> "Maunday Money" to a group of elderly people in one of the Anglican
> Cathedrals. In the evening quite common for there to be all night prayer
> vigil to commerate the events in the Garden of Gethsemane. Today many
> parishes will organise a walk of witness as commemoration of the walk
> along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha.
>
> Then Easter Sunday itself may start with an outdoor sunrise service to
> commemorate Mary Magdalene meeting the Risen Christ in the Garden and
> mistaking him for the gardener. ;-) Then during the day celebration
> services. In past times people would turn out in the finest clothes. Eggs
> (chocolate and real) are exchanged as a symbol of new life and sign that
> the Lenten Fast is completed.
>
> I'm now a Low Anglican so about the only parts of all that I am involved
> in is eating the pancakes, participating in the prayer vigil, celebrating
> on Easter Day and eating the chocolate eggs. Still a busy time because
> this Easter Sunday happens to co-incide with our regular signed service so
> I'm probably signing in church.
>
> So lots of the activities that you describe are rooted in Christian
> observance though not many people know it. According to a survey published
> this week less than half the British population know what Easter is about;
> personally I'm surprised it is that high.
>
> Regards, Trevor
>
> <>< Re: deemed!
>