2 April 2015

2 April 2015

april, easter and spring celebrations around the world


Uma das minhas tarefas no trabalho passa por fazer a Newsletter do departamento, e este mes o artigo das curiosidades foi sobre a pascoa, onde pedi a alguns managers para partilharem algo sobre o pais onde moram, gostei tanto que vou tambem partilhar aqui:


Bulgaria - On the 1st of March Bulgarian people celebrate a traditional holiday called Baba Marta (or Grandma Marta in English) and it is related to welcoming the approaching spring. People all over the world meet spring with joy and new hopes but in Bulgaria it is saved as an ancient tradition.
On that day, Bulgarians exchange, so called "Martenitsa". This custom is essentially to wish great health, good luck, and happiness to family and friends.
The Martenitsa is made of twined red and white threads - woollen, silk, or cotton. The white is a symbol of strength, purity and happiness. The red is associated with health, blood, conception, and fertility.
 

Germany - In some regions most of them in the Middle and South of Germany with habitants who are members of the catholic church where is a special tradition at Palm Sunday. Young people take little fir trees and decorate them with colored paper ties, crosses made of wood, little flags with crosses on them and apples. The apples symbolize the paradise and the fall of mankind. In former times the people took apples to decorate also the Christmas tree. Poor people in the “Erzgebirge” who were Glassblower had no money for apples in the wintertime and therefore made balls of glass instead of apples and this is the origin of the Christmas tree baubles.
On Palm Sunday the young people meet at the church and then move together with the little trees into the church. This symbolizes the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem there the people took Palm branches to greet Jesus and threw their clothes on the earth to welcome him. After the worship the little trees are fixed at the houses and barns.
 


Israel - Jews all over the world celebrate Passover (“Pesach” in Hebrew) for seven days while the date varies annually; it’s always the same on the Jewish lunar calendar: the 15th day of Nissan, the first month of the Hebrew monthly calendar year, typically falling in mid-spring. This year it will take place on Apr 2-9. Passover celebrates the freedom from almost four hundred years of Egyptian slavery. Passover is a family holiday. It starts by cleaning the house of all Chametz (leaven) is out of the house. There is a ceremony to search for the Chametz and it is called Bedikat Chametz (the searching out of the leaven) and Biur Chametz (the burning of leaven).The highlight of Passover is the Seder (which means order). The Seder service is held at the dining table in most homes, and during the service the story of the Exodus from Egypt is told. The "order" of the Seder is told in a special book called the Haggada (which means narrative).
Until it was replaced by Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew New Year), Pesach was the most important religious holiday in the ancient Jewish calendar.


Portugal - Easter in Portugal is not just about bunnies and eggs, as the country is rich in age-old traditions and rituals that celebrate the main feast in the Christian liturgical year. Domestic celebrations always include the folar, a sweet or savory bread that comes with a boiled egg in the middle, representing rebirth and the resurrection of Christ; codfish is eaten at the main meal on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, due to the tradition of abstaining from meat until the resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday, which is always accompanied with the smell of roast lamb. During the Holy Week, which marks the end of Lent in the run-up to Easter, the deeply Catholic country is steeped in religious ritual and tradition (processions are very famous) followed by all kinds of people from the smallest villages to the largest cities.
 

 
Russia - The holiday came to Russia from Byzantium together with Russia’s christening in the end of the 10th century. Since then, this Christian holiday has been widely celebrated all over Russia. The day before Easter all churches hold night services and organize religious processions around churches. By that time, kulich, the traditional holiday baking symbolizing the body of Christ had been already baked and Easter eggs painted. The morning starts from visiting neighbors and giving away Easter eggs. The common phrase you can hear on that day is: "Khristos voskres!" (Christ is risen!), which is to be followed by "Voistinu voskres" (Truly He is risen! This traditional greeting followed by hugging and triple kissing is called "kiss of peace". Christian Easter feast lasts seven days and is called the Holy Week or Sedmitsa.
Traditionally Easter eggs are colored by boiling them together with onion peels, so the final color is quite specific.
 

UK - Maundy Thursday is a Christian observance in the United Kingdom. The day, also known as Holy Thursday, occurs during Holy Week and falls on the Thursday before Good Friday. It commemorates Jesus Christ’s last supper and the initiation of the Eucharist, which is observed in many Christian churches.
Maundy Thursday in the United Kingdom features the monarch offering Maundy money, also known as Royal Maundy, to selected senior citizens – one man and one woman for each year of the monarch’s age. The monarch presents each man and woman with a red and white purse during the service. The red purse traditionally contains an allowance for clothing and provisions and the white purse holds Maundy coins to match the monarch’s age.
 
 
US - The Easter parade and Bonnet Festival in NYC is pretty famous. It’s been held for 100+ years, but it’s not a formal parade. Part of Fifth Avenue is closed and people just meander down it, all dressed up in Easter finery – with crazy bonnets - pets too!  
The White House in Washington DC hosts an Easter Egg Roll every year as well, which is a tradition which started back in the 1800s. On the Monday after Easter, kids race against each other by pushing a decorated egg with a big spoon through the grass on the White House lawn.
Easter Baskets are made for the kids - filled with chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs, and jelly beans! Easter egg hunts are very famous and fun!
 


BOA PASCOA

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