In 325CE the Council of Nicaea
established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full
moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward,
the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21
for the Spring equinox.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/determining-easter-date.html
Easter
2018 falls on April 1st. Hummmmm,
do I remember the last time that occurred? I googled it and alas, I found the
following:
https://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/easter/easter_text2b.htm
1 April, 1584, 1646, 1657, 1668, 1714, 1725, 1736, 1804, 1866, 1877,
1888, 1923, 1934, 1945, 1956, 2018,
2029, 2040, 2108, 2170, 2181, 2192, 2238, 2249, 2260, 2306, .... From AD 1583
to AD 3000 Easter Sunday will fall most frequently on 16 April, though over longer intervals the
most frequent date will be 19 April.
Voila! The last year
that it happened was 1956 and I was 3 and a half years old.
Would you be fooled if I
tried to convince you that the egg is celebrated on Easter as a symbol of new
birth and resurrection? And that the
coloring of eggs, particularly of red, represented the blood of Christ spilled
on Good Friday (Why isn’t it called Bad Friday?), and that the hunting
of Easter eggs represents the hunting for the tomb of Christ?
Regardless of the fact
that many people can be fooled by almost anything, today at Merry Mount we will
celebrate Easter and will pay homage to the EGG.
What came first, the
chickens or the eggs? In our case (no
fooling here) the chickens came first.
These hens have blessed
us with fresh eggs almost everyday since the late summer of 2014.
A couple of times a single egg has contained triple yolks! Yum. |
Rett and I have the
great fortune today to host an Easter brunch for our immediate family: Simon
and Kris, Caroline and Jess, Julie and Jason, but the center of attention will
be on Joy and Eva.
While they will no doubt
understand the task of finding the eggs, we adults who are enamored by the
twins, will get the most enjoyment guiding and observing their first Easter egg
hunt at Merry Mount.
Rett has planned a
special Easter brunch menu of green
ham (April Fool) and biscuits, sausage chili grits, Bacon-Hash Brown Asparagus Quiche, fruit bowl, and of course
her “Deviled Eggs” (even on Easter).
Anyone who wishes to be
creative will also have the opportunity to color and/or decorate an egg or
two. We will see if anyone comes close
to competing with the images of eggs that follow:
Who knows, maybe the Easter Bunny will bring a few
eggs of the chocolate variety.
It is no April Fool that
we at Merry Mount will enjoy a few traditions associated with Easter today,
therefore, I leave you with an original limerick and a final April Fool. Enjoy!
There once was a man
with two legs
Whose kids sat and
whined and begged.
He told them to stand,
and give him a hand
For today they will hide
and eat eggs.
CPW
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ReplyDeleteWhat a treat!!!! Many thanks for composing,C. Patrick Woliver! 😘
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