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A PERSPECTIVE OF THE EASTER CALENDARApr 30 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line The Christian Calendar, also known as the Liturgical Calendar has been influenced by the Roman Church in its emergence of a series of liturgical seasons throughout the year.
Traditional civilized peoples have always associated the cycle of the times of the year with their religious practices. This has been true of the Jewish Calendar, the calendar of the Moslem; as well as the Chinese and Japanese calendar. These calendars began with the year 1 which corresponded to the year A.D.622. The Jewish Calendar consisted of 12 lunar months or 354 days with periodically an extra month inserted to bring it line with the solar calendar. Similarly, the early christian (Judeo-christian) Calendar followed the time cycles of 12 lunar months, amounting to 364 days in the year. This was incorrect and unlike the Jewish Calendar, could not be brought in line with the Julian Calendar. Therefore, the date of the new Christian festival, like that of the Jewish Passover, shifted from year to year in relation to the Julian Calendar. Inaccuracies in the Julian Calendar which was calculated according to the solar year, and used by the Romans, was corrected by the Gregorian Calendar under Pope Gregory the X111. The accumulated error of 10 days was eliminated, and the slight astronomical differences were corrected by recognition of the leap-year. Even today this is not entirely correct, for according to the true astronomical year, the 12 month cycle is off by 26 seconds annually. The first Nicene Council in A.D. 325 convened a meeting to settle the discrepancies between the Jews and christians on the dates of the old Passover festival, with the corresponding dates of the new Easter festival. That Council was responsible for setting the method of dates for determining the Easter season, and Easter Sunday. Annual variations in the Easter Sunday date were smoothed out according to the astronomical equinox of spring which falls on March 21. In other words, Easter Sunday fell on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrated it later. Therefore, Easter has remained a moveable date, falling anywhere between March 22, and April 22, but not after April 25. All events falling within the Easter cycle have so been determined annually. The Easter cycle maybe divided into 4 periods of Lent, Holy Week, the Octave, and Pentecost: (I) Lenten Season The preparatory fast of the 40 days of Lent, commencing from Ash Wednesday, marked the events that lead up to Christ's crucifixion. All carnivals, and masquerades were supposed to cease at least 3 days prior to Ash Wednesday. It is interesting to note, that those carnival events which proceed during the time of Lent; much to the disgust, and ire of the Institution of the Church, were started by devout Roman Catholics. Therefore, one may ask the question about the competitive marketing of these events which cannot supersede, the major carnivals of Brazil, Trinidad, Mardi Gras, and even Maastricht. Why do they not consider having these celebrations after Easter Sunday; and in preparation for another religious feast day like that of Pentecost? (II) Holy Week The 15 days beginning with the Sunday before, and ending with the Sunday after Easter, can be divided into Holy Week, and the octave of Easter. Holy Week was not only the last week of the Lenten season, but also honored the events of the last week of Christ's life on earth.
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