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Easter Traditions

The group from Vicenza

The first indication that Easter is near is at home where the women, the week before Easter, start a thorough cleaning. Long ago people used to have their pots and pans tinned. The ancient custom originates from the Jews; during Easter they could only use new-tinned kitchen utensils. Like the Jewish Easter, the Easter lunch consists of roasted lamb, eggs, salad, salami, from which they abstained during Lent. In Italy hen�s eggs used to be customary at Easter time. Easter breakfast consisted of hard boiled eggs, bread and other things, different for every region. Nothing special, but eggs are the tradition and symbol of death and rebirth. The shell, symbol for a grave ready to unclose, perpetuates the fascination for renewed life. The old popular saying recites �Pasqua cristiana e lumi pagani� (Christian Easter and pagan lights). After Lent and Holy Week, came the desire of new things. In some regions it is still the custom to eat hard boiled eggs for Easter, for example the egg laid by the hen on Holy Friday: eaten the same day, it was supposed to protect against the �mal de vita� namely backache (for adults) and falling into ditches and rivers (children). To colour the eggs people used to put nettles into the water (for the green colour), onion peel (yellow) and coffee dregs (brown). The Easter eggs had a symbolic value of fertility, depending on the importance the different nations attached to the egg. The interesting tradition to colour the eggs red derives from the popular saying that it has the power to cancel evil influence. In some countries, like Yugoslavia and Poland, people colour their eggs all year long, in Italy only at Easter time. In any case, eggs are a typical Easter gift and if, like the ancient Egyptians, making presents means to wish somebody a happy and healthy life, the egg is a suitable present: it is in fact a symbol for many things: immortality, perfection, rebirth, values that are part of the Christian theology. By giving each other eggs for Easter, believers intend to wish each other a life renewed by grace. In the graves of the first Christians, they often placed marble eggs and ova ignite ( hot iron eggs, to be swallowed by those that didn�t want to abjure), it was one of the tortures inflicted on martyrs. With the great Sant�Agostino, the eggs start to enter into the churches: we find eggs in Jerusalem, hung from votive candles, in the Burgos cathedral (one of the most beautiful expressions of gothic architecture in Spain) at the foot of the cross. Easter Sunday is dedicated to eating, Angel�s Monday or Pasquetta to the open air. With Pasquetta starts the official opening of festivals and village fairs. In the country there used to be an ancient game: the hard boiled eggs had to be hit by a copper coin called One palanca was the price to pay to participate in the game. A row of hard boiled eggs was the target to hit. The shooter, from a distance of 2 meters, had to throw the coin like a rotating disc to hit the eggs. If he didn�t hit the target he went home with only one egg, but if he succeeded in �planting� the coin into the egg, the winner had the right to take home a � processione bianca� or white procession, that is at least 10 eggs. The egg gets back on the scene with the benediction of the house. Families used to give a few eggs to the visiting priest. Interesting are the impressive manifestations connected with the Holy Week and Easter. The popular italian tradition is full of holy dramatic plays like the �Pianto della Madonna� (crying Madonna) by Jacopone da Todi, the Representation of the Saints John and Paul by Lorenzo il Magnifico. The �Via Crucis� and holy representations have come back to life in popular folklore in every Italian region.