Women at the empty tomb, by Fra Angelico, 1437-1446.
Easter Sunday is a holiday celebrated across the globe for a variety of reasons. Whilst most use the holiday to partake in the modern tradition of gifting your loved ones a delicious, massive chocolate egg, others still remember the religious symbolism behind the holiday. Whether you are stuffing your gob with delightful, creamy milk chocolate, preparing to attend Sunday mass to celebrate Jesus Christ or whether you are sitting down at the dinner table just waiting to devour that scrumptious Sunday Roast, Easter holds a special place in all of our hearts so today, let us talk about Easter Sunday, its significance and how our modern day traditions differ from that of the Tudors'.
What is Easter Sunday and why is it called 'Easter'?
Before we talk about the origin of the word 'Easter', let's talk about what Easter represents in Christian religion. The holiday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ who, in the New Testament of the Bible, was crucified by the Romans in roughly A.D. 30 for reasons unknown although it is believed it was because Christ challenged Roman imperial supremacy. Others say it was because he 'wrongly' claimed to be the son of God or because he was ultimately a threat to the Roman Empire. Christ's Crucifixion happened two days before his resurrection where he was forced to carry his own Cross to the site of his death before being nailed to it and forced to die slowly before the Romans and his loyal followers. Once dead, the Romans took down the Cross, prepared Christ's body for burial before placing him in a rock-cut tomb and sealing the door shut with a large rock. The site of his burial is believed to be located at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where it is said that three days later, Christ emerged alive and fully healed from his death but still had the scars from the nails being hammered into his hands and feet to prove his identity. Therefore the holiday concludes the 'Passion of Christ' as spoken of in the Bible.
This 'Passion of Christ' holiday begins Lent, a 40-day period where people fast, pray and sacrifice modern comforts to symbolize Christ's sacrifices and struggles (most people nowadays will choose to give up one item e.g. chocolate or eggs for this period), and is followed with the conclusion of the Holy Week. Holy Week includes Holy Thursday or 'Maundy Thursday' which is the celebration of the Last Supper Christ had with his 12 Apostles, Good Friday which is the day of Christ's crucifixion and, of course, Easter Sunday when he was resurrected once again. Good Friday and Easter Monday (the day after Easter Sunday) have been subsequently made bank holidays meaning that hard-working people have these days off to spend time with their family and partake in religious celebrations if they wish.
But where does the term 'Easter' come from?
Well...
It is in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum or Ecclesiastical History of the English People written in the 6th century by St. Bede the Venerable who maintained that the word 'Easter' originated from Eostre or Eostrae which is the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring and Fertility. This should come as no surprise as it is believed that a lot of the religious beliefs in Christianity originated from pagan beliefs and were adopted into their own religion when the Christianity began to dominate in ancient times. However, it is the belief of other historians that 'Easter' derives from the Latin phrase in albis that is plural for alba or 'dawn', linking to how when dawn rose, so did Christ.
How did the Tudors celebrate Easter?
As you can expect from how much England changed under Tudor rule and with the constant battle of Catholicism over Protestanism, each Tudor monarch brought about their own view on how religious holidays should be celebrated or whether it was wrong to do so. Obviously, England has always had a history for being overly religious and the Tudor era did not change that, in fact, it highlighted it. From Henry VIII breaking from the Church and Rome to make England Protestant (in which his only son Edward and youngest daughter Elizabeth continued in his footsteps by keeping England a Protestant country) whilst his eldest daughter Mary I defied her father's dying wish to keep England Protestant and reinstated the Catholic faith into her country, England was in constant turmoil over which religion was safe and with religion was under suspicion of acting out against the Crown. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that Easter was not exempt from changes being made to how it could be celebrated.
We have already mentioned the Holy Week and Lent above but let us go into more detail about how the Tudors celebrated Easter...
Lent
Traditionally, in the Tudor times, Lent consisted of 40-days of fasting commencing from Shrovetide or Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter and this period represents the 40 days and 40 nights that Christ spent in the desert without food or water. On Ash Wednesday, many people would try to use up the larger staple ingredients such as milk, flour and sugar (which was very expensive in those days) along with egg (as they would no longer be able to use it during Lent) to make pancakes so they could indulge in eggs a final time. Then, they would visit the Church and any churchgoers would have a Cross drawn on their foreheads in ash and oil, hence Ash Wednesday. Fasting consisted of a person abstaining from eating any product that an animal produce. This meant that meat, milk, eggs and some root vegetables (due to them being in the earth for a long period of time) were off the table and substitutes were used instead. For example, chickpeas (despite the name) is not produced from an animal and would be used during this period just like how almond milk was seen as a substitute for dairy milk. However, there were some exceptions to what people could eat during Lent, for example fish was permitted to be eaten during Lent but there was still a class divide in regards to the quality of the fish. Those within the higher classes of society most likely ate trout or salmon whilst the poorest person might have settled with a salted fish or stockfish. However, during the reign of Edward VI, he forbade the ability for people to eat fish during Lent as he felt it was closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church, and, being a Protestant monarch, he could not stand that. It was only brought back in 1548 after the King reviewed his earlier decision. Fasting was not expected for everyone to partake in especially those who would have been put at risk such as pregnant women, soldiers of the garrison, children and elderly people. Although Catherine of Aragon refused not to partake in fasting even when she was pregnant during all of her known pregnancies.
Palm Sunday
The sixth Sunday of Lent marks the start of Holy Week and is known as Palm Sunday as it commemorates the arrival of Christ into Jerusalem on a donkey where people laid out palm branches on the road before him as he passed. Sadly, this was just a week before he would be laid out on the Cross. The Tudors ensured that this glorious moment was represented appropriately as in Tudor times, a priest would read aloud the story as he was brought through the streets and the masses where it is said a wooden donkey on wheels was used during the procession and some people did actually leave branches of greenery out in the road in respect!
Maundy Thursday
In the Tudor era, celebrating Christ's Last Supper was something everyone was practically expected to do in order to appropriately honor the Lord, Jesus Christ. On this day, people would attend Church, partake in praying to God and confessing to their sins to purify them on this special day before taking a sip of wine (to represent his blood) and a small piece of bread (to symbolize his body). The church would have also used the wine along with water to wash the altars as if they were purifying it in God's name. Thought churches were already pure as they are the servants of God?
It is said that on this day, Henry VIII, a devoutly religious man despite his overinflated ego and his tyrannical ways, received 'discipline' in the early hours of the morning. By discipline, we mean that he would have lightly whipped himself with a rough material over his clothing so that he could be struck without mark. He did this to remind himself of Christ's suffering and remind himself that he was still a servant of God, even if he was King of England. After this, he would attend a private mass at Whitehall Chapel and partake in distributing alms and food to the poor after having washed their feet.
Good Friday
'Creeping to the Cross' is the ceremony that the Tudors used to celebrate Good Friday as it symbolized Christ's suffering during his crucifixion. During the ceremony, the clergy would crawl on their hands and knees to a crucifix displayed before the altar. Upon reaching it, they would kiss the feet of Christ, the crucifix would be taken down for the congregation and so on. They would also create a replica of Christ's tomb which had an image of Christ displayed within it to represent his burial before it was 'sealed' with a cloth. Then, after lighting candles, members of the church became the Roman soldiers who had guarded Christ's body and would be wary of anyone who dared to act against their God.
Which now brings us to arguably the most important day in celebrating Easter...
Easter Sunday
Now that Easter had come, this marked the end of Lent meaning that dairy products were back on the menu, hence why most people chose to host large dinners where roasted lamb, veal, peasant and most famously chicken were served. And in church, the 'tomb' that they had created would be opened, the candles relit to symbolize rebirth and mass was once again held to confess sins and pray to God for blessings. Additionally, now that the Tudors were allowed to consume dairy products again, they made some wonderful food creations which you can make yourself if you head over to Tudor Easter Recipes! The Great Tudor Bake Off - Week 3 - The Tudor Travel Guide!
Truly wonderful experience by remaking recipes that the Tudors used and I would highly recommend this if you're looking for a unique experience to share with friends and family this Easter!
And so, I do wish you a wonderful Easter and before you go, I will say one more thing:
Easter triumph, Easter joy, sin alone can this destroy; from sin's power do thou set free souls new‐born, O Lord, in thee. Hymns of glory and of praise, risen Lord, to thee we raise; holy Father, praise to thee, with the Spirit, ever be. {1}
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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