With this article we will tell you about the origin of the Easter holidays and we suggest you how to celebrate this important event in the Monferrato countryside.
Easter: from the Jewish tradition to the Christian Easter
Before celebrating it, it is important to know the origin of this religious event. To understand how the celebration of Easter in Christianity and Judaism was born, we must go back in time. Let’s retrace the main stages of this story together.
Slavery in Egypt and the 10 plagues
The book of Exodus tells the story of the 400 years of Jewish slavery in Egypt. During this long period their numbers grow so much that Pharaoh orders to kill the male children of the Jews. Moses, left in a river by his parents to avoid his death, is saved by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in her court. When he became an adult, God called him and forced him to save the Jewish people from slavery, to overcome the refusal of Pharaoh God, prayed by Moses, sent 10 plagues: the invasion of frogs, mosquitoes, flies, grasshoppers, turned the water into blood, send a rain of fire and as the last plague he decides to kill all the firstborn of the Egyptians including the son of Pharaoh. To distinguish the houses of the Egyptians it requires the Jews to mark their houses with the blood of a lamb so as to “pass beyond “, in Hebrew Pasach and bring death only in the houses of the Egyptians.
The term Pasach, from which Easter derives, therefore symbolizes liberation from slavery.
Easter of Christians in the Roman Empire
Christ was born under the emperor Augustus, in one of the moments of maximum splendor of the Roman empire. In March, on the occasion of continuous holidays, the beginning of the new year was celebrated, the feast of fertility with the Liberalia, the feast linked to the new sowing with the Bacchanalia.
With the advent of Christianity it was very important for the church to make pagan feasts forget and replace them with a Christian feast combining the rebirth of nature with spring with the birth of the kingdom of God through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and his Resurrection.
The word Easter, derived from Pasach, then takes on the new meaning of “pass beyond” the original sin and start the new Christian world.
The date of Easter
Constantine with the edict of Milan of 311 AD puts an end to the persecution of Christians but must immediately face the first heresies that oblige him to convene the first council in Nicea in 325 AD.
During the council the Aryan heresy is condemned and the date of Easter is fixed in order to distinguish it from the Jewish one. To make pagan holidays forget, the date is set in the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, set for March 21.
This choice determines a great variability in the date of Easter, and, consequently, a similar variability in the dates of Lent and Carnival which are closely linked to Easter.
Easter can therefore be “low”, “medium” or “high” and varies between the dates of March 22 and April 25. Easter 2023 is April 9.
Real or chocolate eggs for Easter
The egg is not only a symbol of perfection, like Giotto’s egg, but it is also a symbol of the new life that is born inside, for this reason the egg is the typical Easter gift.
In ancient times, real eggs were colored or decorated according to the taste of the moment. From this tradition, in the nineteenth century, the tradition of giving chocolate eggs was born, a new product arrived from Central America two centuries earlier, perfect for being decorated with fantasy motifs and for containing gifts impossible to insert in traditional eggs.
Easter Monday what does it mean
The term Easter Monday seems to indicate a less important day than Easter but, in reality, it is of equal importance because it is the day when the “Marys”, going to the sepulcher of Christ, found it empty. Sitting on the sepulcher, an angel dressed in white robes warned them that Christ had risen according to the prophets. Easter Monday is therefore the “Monday of the angel”, the day on which the Resurrection of Christ was officially announced to the world.
Easter in a farmhouse from Milano
If you live in Milano and you did not yet decided what to do and where to go for Easter you can spend 4 nights payng only 2 using the voucher Piedmont.
4 reasons to spend Easter and Easter Monday in a farmhouse in Gavi, in Monferrato
Trekking to the Marchesa lake
It is now spring and it is nice to walk among the vineyards and woods reaching the lake where the first flowers announce the new season.
Easter at Serravalle Outlet
If you want to spend Easter at Serravalle Outlet, just 2,5 miles far from us, you can buy gift for your childern and for yourself.
Eat well on Easter and Easter Monday
If you want to eat genuine food such as those home made, in our farmhouse with restaurant you will find the surprise of rediscovering the taste of peasant cuisine reviewed in a modern way.
The Easter and Easter Monday menu will be send on demand.
The Brut rosé sparkling wine
Fresh and lively, with a beautiful pink color, the new Marchesa Rosé Brut Spumante will be the Easter surprise, a new sparkling wine with the charm of Gavi and the scent of Pelaverga native grape risch of perfume of white peppes and blackcurrant.
In addition to the Spumante Brut Rosé you will find Gavi 2022 and the traditional Red wines Monferrato, Albarossa and Pelvaro.
If we have convinced you to spend Easter holidays in a farmhouse in Monferrato and you have chosen to come to the Marchesa farmhouse in Gavi, fill in the format below and we will welcome you with great pleasure.