Celebrating Easter, seeing the happy faces of people around, hearing the joyful announcements “Christ is risen”, and, on the whole, enjoining these God-blessed sunny spring days, let us pause for a moment and ponder on some of the moral lessons given us by Jesus.

We well know that Christianity is ethical through and through, but strange as it may seem, the moral teaching of Christ himself is not very circumstantial. On the contrary, He appears rather terse on these matters, and it is in His deeds, not words, that the larger part of His mission found its expression. As a person, with all His inclinations and intentions, He does not seem to be a determined moral reformer, not to speak of a revolutionary; and he was not in the least a scholar or a man of letters. He wrote nothing. He mowed quietly and slowly along the highways and among the villages of Galilee and Judea and spoke to people not about any intricate problems of human existence, or theology, or the mysteries of life and death, but about things which belonged to the realm of daily life; and the words he chose for that were the words of common men, not those of a professor of ethics.

He summed up His “theology” in an amazingly short and simple phrase “God is love”; and meeting people He very often did not teach them, as He actually did from time to time, but offered them a ready sympathy and understanding, even to the degraded and the outcast. To them He spoke in the language of tolerance and benevolence, forgiveness and mercy. That was His love – and that was the beginning of the moral revolution that transformed the world.

2. When is a Easter?

The greatest Christian festival of the year is Easter. It is either in March or in April, and millions of people joyously observe Christ’s resurrection. This holy day never comes before March 22 or after April 25.

When is an Easter? That, of course, is celebrated on the first Sunday after the paschal moon, which is the first full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox, March, 21st. So all you need to do is look at the sky? Afraid not. For the moon in question is not the real moon, but a hypothetical moon. This one goes round the earth one month in 29 days, the next in 30 days, though with certain modifications to make the date of both the real and fictional full moons coincide as nearly as possible. It yields a date for Easter that can be as early as March 22nd and as late as April 25th. Today, Easters variability suits antiquarians, and the makers of pocket diaries, many of which devote a Full page to the calculation of Easter in perpetuity. But, nearly 1,700 years on, it does not suit those in (mostly European) countries such as Britain and Germany where both Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. Early Easters are too cold to enjoy. Late Easters are jammed up against the May Day public holiday.

3. Eastertide

Passion Sunday or Care Sunday two Sundays before Easter, is still known as Carling Sunday in parts of the north of England. Carlings are small dried peas, which are soaked in water overnight and then fried in an almost dry pan – when they start to burst they are ready. Greengrocers sell them, pubs serve them, and people eat them at home in a basin with a small piece of butter and plenty of pepper and salt. There seems to be no good reason, apart from the strength of the tradition, why they are eaten on this day.

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter; for people near Marlborough in Wiltshire it meant following a long-established custom in which willow hazel sprays – representing palm – were carried up Martinsell Hill.

Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter: the ‘royal maundy’ describes the gift which for the last five hundred ears or so has been given out by the sovereign on Maundy Thursday to as many men and woman as there are years in his or her age. Once it was clothing which was given out, now it is a sum of money; on odd – numbered years the ceremony usually takes place at Westminster Abbey, in even – numbered ones at a church or cathedral elsewhere in the country – though 1989 seems to have been an exception, for the distribution took place at Birmingham Cathedral in honor of the centenary of the city’s incorporation.

On Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, hot cross buns are always eaten as a sign of remembrance, and in some baker’s shops and supermarkets they are on sale for many weeks before. It is a nationwide tradition, though hot cross buns were unknown in some places – Bath, for example – until the twentieth century. The buns may in fact pre – date Christianity, since bread consecrated to the Roman gods was marked with lines intersecting at right angels.

People celebrate the holiday according to the beliefs and their religious denominations. Christians commemorate Good Friday as the day that Jesus Christ died and Easter Sunday as the day that He was resurrected. Protestant settlers brought the custom of a sunrise service, a religious gathering at dawn, to the United States.

Today on Easter Sunday, children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of candy. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs all around the house. Neighborhoods and organizations hold Easter egg hunts, and the child who finds the most eggs wins a prize.

In England, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game which has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ’s tomb when He was resurrected. British settlers brought this custom to the New World.

One unusual Easter Sunday tradition can be seen at Radley, near Oxford, where parishioners ‘clip’ or embrace their church – they join hands and make a human chain round it. It is Easter Monday, however, which sees a veritable wealth of traditional celebrations throughout the country: to name bat’ a few, there is morris dancing in many tows, including a big display at Thaxted in Essex; orange rolling, perhaps a descendant of egg roiling, which takes place on Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire; and for perhaps eight hundred years or more there has been a distribution of food at the Kent village of Biddenden, ten miles from Ashford.

Then there is Leicestershire’s famous hare – pie scramble and bottle – kicking which also takes place on Easter Monday; and another custom kept up in many parts of England and Wales and called ‘lifting’ or ‘heaving’ was taken by some to symbolize Christ’s resurrection. On Easter Monday the men lifted any woman they could find, and the women reciprocated the following day; the person was taken by the four limbs and lifted three times to shoulder height. When objections were made that this was ‘a rude, indecent and dangerous diversion’ a chair bedecked with ribbons and flowers was used instead – it was lifted with its victim, turned three times, and put down.

The Easter parade

The origin of this very picturesque traditional occasion, known affectionately as Easter Parade and starting at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of Easter Sunday, is not as remote, or mysterious, as many of the traditions and customs of England; there is no religious, or superstitious significance attached to it whatsoever.

In 1858 Queen Victoria gave it the ultimate cachet of respectability and class by paying it a state visit in the spring. For the occasion she wore, of course, a new spring bonnet and gown. This set the fashion for a display each spring of the newest fashions in millinery and gowns, and from then onwards that traditions has expanded; every society lady vied with her rivals to appear in something more spectacular than anything that had seen before.

4. Easter egg and Easter hare

An egg has a symbolical meaning in many centuries. It’s well known that eggs had a special significance even in the times of ancient Romans. Eggs were their first disk during meals (“ab ovo”) and they were also in the center of competition as a memory of Zeus’s sons, who hatched from eggs. Such competition took place in France, Germany, and Switzerland. Eggs was a sign of hope, life fertility even in the early epoch. In Christianity, the Lord’s gift, which has begun in Jesus Christ. Eggs’ spreading as the Easter symbols turned to be possible because they sewed as an original rent or as a tax. The Easter was one of the days when this pay could be accomplished.

Excavations witness that traditions of paintings on eggs have been existing for 5000 years and have their regional peculiarities. Especially in Slavonic countries eggs are decorated with many colored pictures of Christian motives. As expensive souvenirs it was a habit to give eggs made of noble metals, marble, was and wood.

The Easter hare, which, children believe, brings the Easter eggs, may be understood as a transformed Easter lamb. In those places, where there was no sheepbreeding, a hare substituted for a sheep in the Raster meal. Due to its ability not to sleep the hare become a symbol of resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter Eggs

Wherever Easter is celebrated, there Easter eggs are usually to be found. In their modern form, they are frequently artificial, mere imitations of the real thing, made of chocolate or marzipan or sugar, or of two pieces of coloured and decorated cardboard fitted together to make an eggs-shaped case containing some small gift. These are the Easter eggs of commerce, which now appear in shop-windows almost as soon as, and sometimes even before, Ash Wednesday is past, and by so doing lose much of their original festival significance.

This is a real egg, hard-boiled, died in bright colours, and sometimes elaborately decorated. In still appears upon countless breakfast-tables on Eater Day, or is hidden about the house and garden for the children to find. In some European countries, including England, the Easter Hare is said to bring the Easter eggs, and to conceal them in odd corners of the gardens, stables, or outbuildings.

Because eggs are obvious symbols of continuing life and resurrection, the pagan peoples of ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Persia used them, centuries before tile first Easter Day, at the great Spring Festivals, when the revival of all things in Nature was celebrated.

Colouring and decorating the festival eggs seems to have been customary since time immemorial. And old Polish legend says that Our Lady herself painted eggs red, blue, and green to amuse the Infant Jesus, and that since then all good polish mothers have done the same at Easter. A Romanian tale says that the vivid red shade, which is a favorite almost everywhere, represents the blood of Christ.

There are many ways of tinting and decorated the eggs, some simple and some requiring a high degree of skill. They can be dipped into a prepared dye or, more usually boiled in it, or they may be boiled inside a covering of onion-peel. Ordinary commercial dyes are often used today for coloring, but originally only natural ones, obtained from flowers, leaves, mosses, bark, wood-chips, or other sources, were employed. In England, gorse-blossom was commonly used for yellow, cochineal for scarlet, and logwood-chips for a rich purple.

In Switzerland, minute flowers and leaves are sometimes laid on the egg underneath the onion-peel to make a white flower-pattern on the yellow or brown surface.

The decoration of Easter eggs is a traditional peasant art in Eastern and Central Europe. Favorite designs vary in different regions. In Hungary, red flower-patterns on a white ground are often seen; sometimes the decorated eggs are fitted with tiny metal shoes, with minute spurs attached, and curious little metal hangers. In Yugoslavia, the letters XV usually form part of the design. They stand for Christos Vaskrese, meaning ‘Christ is risen’, which is the traditional Easter greeting of Easter Europe. Russian eggs are sometimes elaborately decorated with miniature picture of the saints, or of Our Lord. Polish designs are often geometrical, or abstract, or they may include Christian symbols, like the Gross or Fish, mixed with pagan emblems of new life. Painted eggs of this type, know as pisanki, always appear on the Easter Table.

In some East European countries, scarlet eggs, as symbols of resurrection, are placed on, or buried in, the graves of the family dead. The latter custom was known in northern England until about the middle of last century. One or two of the most beautifully ornamented Pace-eggs – the name by which Easter eggs are still most commonly called in the northern counties – would be saved and kept in tall ale – glasses in a corner cupboard, or some other place where they could be easily seen. In Scotland, Easter eggs are often called Peace or Paiss eggs. ‘Pace’ and ‘Paiss’ are all corruptions of Pasch, or Paschal, of which the original root is the Hebrew word pisach meaning Passover.

In parts of Germany during the early 1880s, Easter eggs substituted for birth certificates. An egg was dyed a solid color, then a design, which included the recipient’s name and birth date, was etched into the shell with a needle or sharp tool. Such Easter eggs were honored in law courts as evidence of identity and age.

Easter Bunny

That a rabbit, or more accurately a hare, became a holiday symbol can be traced to the origin of the word “Easter”. According to the Venerable Bede, the English historian who lived from 672 to 735, the goddess Easter was worshiped by the Anglo – Saxons through her earthly symbol, the hare.

The custom of the Easter hare came to America with the Germans who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

From Pennsylvania, they gradually spread out to Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, New York, and Canada, taking their customs with them. Most eighteenth – century Americans, however, were of more austere religious denominations, such as Quaker, Presbyterian, and Puritan. They virtually ignored such a seemingly frivolous symbol as a white rabbit. More than a hundred years passed before this Teutonic Easter tradition began to gain acceptance in America. In fact, it was not until after the Civil War, with its Legacy of death and destruction, that the nation as a whole began a widespread observance of Easter it self, led primarily by Presbyterians. They viewed the story of resurrection as a source of inspiration and renewed hope for the millions of bereaved Americans.

5. Thoughts from Ireland

By tradition, Good Friday has always been a day of mourning and fasting, for decorating churches with branches of yew (palm) and other evergreens, and the ceremonial distribution of gifts to the poor.

Many Christians fast and attend services between noon and 3 p. m., the hours Jesus is believed to have spent on the cross, since the day commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus.

On Easter Sunday the churches are beautifully decorated with white lilies. Joyful religious music is heard and sermons ring with hope. Children and their parents traditionally attend church, usually wearing new spring clothes. The mothers and their daughters wear colorful flowered hats. Many other traditions and popular customs, which probably go back to pagan times, are also associated with Easter throughout Europe, for example, the sending of Easter cards and the giving of Easter eggs. Eggs are a symbol of life and fertility or recreation of spring. It was not however until the 19th century, that the practice of giving and exchanging eggs at Easter was introduced in England.

Easter custom, the barrels are gratefully emptied by the participants. In London there is Easter Parade in Battersea Park. What used to be merely an occasion for sporting the latest fashions in the park on Easter Sunday has now developed into one of the most spectacular carnival processions of the year, with military bands, decorated floats, Easter Princess, and all.

Another thing English people traditionally eat at Easter is hot cross-buns. One would hardly use them to cure whooping cough, but in bygone days buns, which had been baked on Good Friday, were thought to have magical healing powers. Because of the spices they contain, hot cross-buns seldom go moldy, and even today country housewives hang a few from the kitchen beams to dry. When needed, the buns can be powdered, mixed with milk or water and given as a medicine. Of course, for the magic cure to work, they have to be buns that were actually baked on Good Friday. For Easter dinners at family reunions Englishmen traditionally eat baked ham or chicken with a famous English apple-pie to follow/

For a good apple pie you will need :

• 1 lb apples (500 gm)
• 4 oz flour (100 gm)
• 2 oz butter or margarine (50 gm)
• 3 oz sugar (75 gm)
• 2 oz sultans (50 gm)
• 1 oz chopped nuts (25 gm)
• 1-teaspoon cinnamon.

Now you can make a real English apple – pie. Here are the instructions. Put them in the correct order, and number the instructions 1 to 6:

Mix the nuts, sultanas, cinnamon and half the sugar with the apples. Bake in a medium oven (300F) for 30 minutes. Peel and core the apples. Cut them into small pieces and put them into a baking dish. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples.

Rub the soft butter into the flour with your finger – tips. When the butter melts, the mixture will look like bread – crumbs. Add the rest of the sugar. And now serve the pie hot with cream. Enjoy it! And as Russians say, Christ is risen! Expecting the answer, Christ is risen indeed!

6. Easter in England

Easter it is a time for the giving and receiving of presents which traditionally take the form of an Easter egg and hot cross buns. The Easter egg is by far the most popular emblem of Easter, but fluffy little chicks, baby rabbits and spring time flowers like daffodils, dangling catkins and the arum lily are also used to signify the Nature"s awakening.

Nowadays Easter eggs are usually made of chocolate or marzipan or sugar. True Easter eggs are hard-boiled, dyed in bright colours, and sometimes elaborately decorated. Colouring and decorating the festival eggs seems to have been customary since time immemorial They can be dipped into a prepared dye or, more usually, boiled in it, or they may be boiled inside a covering of onion peel Natural dyes are often used for coloring today. They are obtained from flowers, leaves, mosses, bark, and wood-chips.

Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter pastime which still flourishes in Britain. It takes place on Easter Sunday or Monday, and consists of rolling coloured, hard-boiled eggs down a slope until they are cracked and broken after which they are eaten by their owners. In some districts this is a competitive game. But originally egg-rolling provided an opportunity for divination. Each player marked his or her egg with an identifying sign and then watched to see how it sped down the slope. If it reached the bottom unscathed, the owner could expect good luck in the future, but if it was broken, unfortune would follow before the year was out, Eating hot cross buns at breakfast on Good Friday morning is a custom which is also flourishing in most English households. Formerly, these round, cakes marked with a cross, eaten hot, were made by housewives who rose at dawn; for the purpose, or by local bakers who worked through the night to have them ready for delivery to their customers in time for breakfast. There is an old belief that the true Good Friday bun - that is, one made on the anniversary itself - never goes moldy, if kept in a dry place. It was once also supposed to have curative powers, especially for ailments like dysentery, diarrhea, whooping cough, and the complaint known as "summer sickness". Within living memory, it was still quite usual in country districts for a few buns to be hung from the kitchen ceiling until, they are needed. When illness came the bun was finely grated and mixed with milk or water, to make a medicine, which the patient drank.

7. Easter in Ukraine and Russia

In Ukrainian, Easter is called Velikden (The Great Day). It has been celebrated over a long period of history and has many rich folk traditions that are no longer fully preserved. The last Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) is called Willow Sunday (Verbna nedilia). On this day pussy-willow branches are blessed in the church. The people tap one another with these branches, repeating the wish: ‘Be as tall as the willow, as healthy as the water, and as rich as the earth’.

The week before Easter, the Great Week (Holy Week), is called the White or Pure Week. During this time an effort is made to finish all fieldwork before Thursday, since from Thursday on work is forbidden. On the evening of ‘Pure’ (also called ‘Great’ or ‘Passion’ ) Thursday, the passion (strasti) service is performed, after which the people return home with lighted candles. Maundy Thursday, called ‘the Eater of the dead’ in eastern Ukraine and Russia, is connected with the cult of the dead, who are believed to meet in the church on that night for the Divine Mass.

On Passion (Strasna) Friday – Good Friday – no work is done. In some localities, the Holy Shroud (plashchanytsia) is carried solemnly three times around the church and, after appropriate services, laid out for public veneration. For three days the community celebrates to the sound of bells and to the singing of spring songs – vesnianky. Easter begins with the Easter matins and high mass, during which the pasky (traditional Easter breads) and pysanky and krashanky (decorated or colored Easter eggs) are blessed in the church. Butter, lard, cheese, roast-suckling pigs, sausage, smoked meat, and little napkins containing poppy seeds, millet, salt, pepper, and horseradish are also blessed. After the matins all the people in the congregation exchange Easter greetings, give each other krashanky, and then hurry home with their baskets of blessed food.

The pysanky and krashanky are an old pre-Christian element and have an important role in the Eater rites. They are given as gifts or exchanged as a sign of affection, and their shells are put in water for the rakhmany (peaceful souls); finally, they are placed on the graves of the dead or buried in graves and the next day are taken out and given to the poor. Related to the exchange of krashanky is the rite of sprinkling with water, which is still carried on in Western Ukraine. During the Easter season in Ukraine and Russia the cult of the dead is observed. The dead are remembered on Maundy Thursday and also during the whole week after Easter. For the commemoration of the dead (provody) the people gather in the cemetery by the church, bringing with them a dish containing some food and liquor or wine, which they consume, leaving the rest at the graves.

Список литературы

1. Газета “The English”, April №14/1996.
2. Газета “The English”, March №12/1997.
3. Газета “The English”, March №12/1995.
4. Газета “English Learner’s digest”, April, 1995.
5. Газета “English Learner’s digest”, April, 1997.

​Топик по английскому языку с переводом Пасха расскажет вам об особенном празднике, ознаменовывающем воскресение Христа. В разных странах существуют различные обычаи празднования этого события. Прочитав английский топик Пасха вы узнаете о том, как кто-то обзаводится пасхальными кроликами, а кто-то красит яйца и печет куличи. Изучив топик Пасха на английском вы сможете узнать больше о праздновании Пасхи и рассказать о том, как вы сами любите проводить этот день.

​​-----текст​-----

Easter is the day of Jesus Christ`s resurrection, that is why it one of the most important holidays of the year. There is no certain date of this holiday; it is celebrated on one of Sundays in spring.

The traditional symbols of the religious holiday are Easter cakes, Easter bunnies, chickens, flowers, candles and Easter eggs. Paskha is a traditional dessert served in Russia and some other European countries.

On that day religious people go to church and listen to the ceremony. Usually they bring Easter eggs, Easter cakes, salt, cheese, ham and butter. Some people bake Easter cakes themselves and others prefer to buy them at bakeries. The priest in the church consecrates the food: some people believe that Easter eggs protect from evil and have healing powers.

When the ceremony is over, everyone greets each other with the words “Christ is risen!” and answer, «Truly He is Risen!» . Then every family goes home for breakfast.

Easter Sunday is a day when people enjoy the blessed food, sing, visit their relatives and friends to exchange Easter eggs.

Easter is also celebrated as the beginning of spring. The tradition is connected with an old pre-Christian rite. People celebrated the return of springtime and the sun on that day.

​​-----перевод​-----

Пасха

Пасха это день Воскресения Иисуса Христа, поэтому она является одним из самых важных праздников в году. Определенной даты этого праздника не существует, он приходится на одно из воскресений весны.

Традиционные символы этого религиозного праздника куличи, пасхальные кролики, цыплята, цветы, свечи и пасхальные яйца. Традиционный десерт, подаваемый в России и некоторых других странах - Пасха.

В этот религиозный праздник люди ходят в церковь и слушают службу. Обычно они приносят пасхальные яйца, куличи, соль, сыр, ветчину и масло. Некоторые пекут куличи сами, а некоторые предпочитают покупать их в пекарнях. Священник освящает еду: некоторые люди верят, что пасхальные яйца защищают от злых сил и имеют лечебные свойства.

Когда церемония завершается, все приветствуют друг друга словами "Христос Воскрес!" и отвечают "Воистину Воскрес!" Затем вся семья идет домой на завтрак.

Днем в пасхальное воскресение люди наслаждаются благословленной едой, поют, посещают родственников и друзей, чтобы обменяться пасхальными яйцами.

Так же в Пасху отмечается и начало весны. Эта традиция связана с древним дохристианским обрядом. В этот день отмечали возвращение весны и солнца.

Светлый праздник Пасхи, в честь воскресения Иисуса Христа, празднуется во всех христианских странах. Кроме своего религиозного содержания, этот день символизирует начало весны, пробуждения природы после зимнего сна. Появляются первые весенние цветы: крокусы, тюльпаны, нарциссы, примулы… этими цветами украшают дома и храмы. На ура продаются шоколадные кролики и яйца. Пекутся традиционные кексы, пироги, куличи… Во многих европейских странах в этот день начинаются весенние школьные каникулы.

Эти английские пасхальные поздравления с переводом на русский язык, я надеюсь, помогут вам поздравить ваших англоязычных друзей с Праздников Святой Пасхи.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, has risen again.	Наш спаситель, Иисус Христос, снова воскрес!
Happy Easter!	С Днем Святой Пасхи! (дословно - Счастливой Пасхи!)
Happy Easter to You, with all best wishes!	Радостной Пасхи и всего самого наилучшего!
Have a great Easter weekend!	Великолепных пасхальных выходных!
Wish you an Easter filled with joy and love!	Желаю тебе(Вам) пасхальных дней наполненных радостью и любовью!
Happy Easter to you and your family!	Поздравляю(ем) тебя(Вас) и твою(Вашу) семью с праздником святой Пасхи!
Celebrate this Easter with a heart filled with love and peace. Have a blessed and wonderful Easter!	Празднуйте эту Пасху с любовью и миром в сердце. Замечательной и благословенной Пасхи!
Christ is risen. Hallelujah! May the miracle of Easter bring you renewed hope, faith, love and joy.	Христос воскрес! Аллилуйя! Чудо Пасхи приносить нам возрожденную надежду, веру, любовь и радость.
The risen Christ is celebrated in every opened flower, in every beam of nourishing sunlight, in every humble patch of green beneath our feet. Easter blessings.	Каждый распустившийся цветок, каждый ласковый луч солнечного света, каждый клочёк зеленой травы у наших ног празднуют воскрешение Христа! Благословенной Пасхи!
I hope this holiday fills your heart and your home with love and joy. Happy Easter!	Я надеюсь, что этот праздник наполнит Ваше сердце и Ваш дом любовью и радостью. С праздником Святой Пасхи!
Without Easter, there would be no point in any other holiday. Have a wonderful Easter!	Без Пасхи ни один другой праздник не имел бы смысла.
Easter brings fun, Easter bring Happiness, Easter brings God’s endless blessings, Easter brings love and the freshness of spring. Happy Easter to you and your family!	Пасха приносит радость, Пасха приносит Счастье, Пасха приносит бесконечное благословение Господа, Пасха приносит любовь и свежесть весны. С праздником Святой Пасхи! (дословно: Счастливой Пасхи Вам и Вашей семье!)
Warm and sincere wishes to you and your family on the glorious day of Easter.	Теплые и искренние пожелания Вам и Вашей семье в великолепный день Пасхи.
Those celebrating this day with a pure heart are filled with mutual forgiveness and alien to despondency because their entire being is captured by the love of the Risen Christ.	Празднующие этот день с чистым сердцем, исполнены взаимного прощения, чужды уныния, потому что все естество их охвачено любовью Воскресшего Христа.
He died so that we can live again. Celebrate his love this Easter Day!	Он принял смерть, чтобы мы могли жить вечно. С праздником святой Пасхи! (дословно: Празднуйте любовь в день Пасхи)
Easter is a time of reflection and joy. When we emerge from our cocoon of doubt to fly freely on the wings of faith. I wish you a very happy Easter!	Пасха — время раздумий и радости. Когда мы вырываемся из нашего кокона сомнений, чтобы взлететь свободно на крыльях веры. Я желаю Вам радостной Пасхи!
I hope you have colorful eggs, candy, grass, and chocolate bunnies in your Easter basket this year. Happy Easter.	Я надеюсь, что в Вашей Пасхальной корзине в этом году есть крашенные яйца, сладости, травка и шоколадные кролики… С Праздником Светлой Пасхи!
Just like after every night comes a new day and after darkness comes light, after a painful death comes new life. Happy Easter to you.	Как после ночи наступает новый день, как за мраком приходит свет, так после мучительной смерти следует новая жизнь. С праздником Святой Пасхи!
May your Easter be filled with lots of Easter eggs, presents from the Easter bunny, blessings from Jesus Christ and most of all happiness that lasts for a life time. I’m sending lots of love on your way. Happy Easter to you.	Пусть эта Пасха будет с большим количеством пасхальных яиц, подарков от пасхального кролика, с благословением Иисуса Христа и безмерным счастьем, длинною в жизнь. С большой любовью к вам. С праздником Святой Пасхи!
All we got to do is follow Christ, for in Christ will all our queries be solved. Have a Blessed and Meaningful Easter.	Все, что нам нужно делать, это следовать за Христом, ибо с Христом все наши проблемы будут решены. Благословенной и счастливой Пасхи.
We tolerate a little Spring rain in order to enjoy the sunshine that follows. It’s just like we tolerate a little heartburn in order to enjoy copious amounts of Easter candy! Enjoy!	Мы терпим небольшой весенний дождь, чтобы затем наслаждаться светом. Точно так же, как мы терпим небольшую изжогу, поглощая немыслимое количество пасхальных сладостей! Наслаждайтесь!
I love Easter. It’s a time for eating all the chocolate you can find with complete impunity! Have a delicious Easter.	Я люблю Пасху. Это — время, когда можно съесть весь найденный шоколад с полной безнаказанностью! Вкусной Пасхи!
Happy Easter! Easter fills us with hope, joy and warmth. Wish you to spend this holiday with your family, friends and loved ones.	Поздравляем со светлым праздником Пасхи! Пасха наполняет нас надеждой, радостью и теплотой. Желаем вам встретить этот праздник в кругу семьи, друзей и близких.
May the angels protect you… May the sadness forget you… May goodness surround you… And may Jesus always bless you… Happy Easter to you and your family!!!	Пусть защищают ангелы тебя… Пусть грусть забудет тебя … Пусть добро окружает тебя … И пусть Иисус всегда благословляет тебя… С Пасхой тебя и твою семью!
WE WISH YOU A HAPPY EASTER AND MAY DAY HOLIDAYS!	ПОЗДРАВЛЯЕМ ВАС С ПРАЗДНИКОМ СВЕТЛОЙ ПАСХИ И С МАЙСКИМИ ПРАЗДНИКАМИ!

For Christians Easter Sunday is the high point of the year. They celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As in many other European and New World countries, eggs and rabbits (signs of fertility and new life) are traditional symbols of Easter in the British Isles. Chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs, often adorned in colorful foil wrappers, are given to children as presents or are hidden for the Easter morning "egg hunt."

The tradition of decorating real eggs for Easter dates back to the Middle Ages. In 1290 the English king, Edward I, ordered 450 eggs to be covered in gold leaf to be given as Easter presents. It is thought that the bright hues used to decorate Easter eggs were meant to mirror the colors of the reawakening spring growth.

Another British Easter custom is egg rolling or the egg race, when competitors try to be the first to roll their egg across a course or down a hill… without breaking it!

Aside from eggs, the best-known English Easter food is probably the hot cross bun. Dating back to medieval times, the buns were traditionally eaten on Good Friday, but they are now popular all around the Easter season. These sweet treats, fragrant with fruit and spices, are marked with a cross, either slashed into the dough before baking, or drizzled on in icing afterwards. The history of hot cross buns dates far back to the pre-Christian era. It is thought that they are descendants of the small cakes offered to Eostre, the goddess of spring. They may have been marked with a cross even in ancient times, to represent the four quarters of the moon. In later centuries the church, unable to stamp out ancient pagan traditions, decided instead to "Christianize" the buns by associating the cross with that of Jesus.

Easter Sunday in the British Isles is traditionally marked by church services, often held at dawn so that worshippers can view the sunrise, a symbol of Christ"s resurrection. Afterwards Easter eggs are exchanged and eaten.

Easter parades were also once an important tradition, during which people would wear their new clothes - the ladies in particular would show off their new "Easter bonnets" - as another sign of spring"s renewal. Later the family would gather for Easter lunch or dinner, which in England traditionally consisted of roast spring lamb with mint sauce, potatoes and green peas. There was time to rest from the celebrations the next day, since Easter Monday is traditionally a holiday in Britain.

Перевод :

Для христиан Пасха-это высшая точка года. Они празднуют Воскресение Иисуса Христа.

Как и во многих других европейских странах Нового света, яйца и зайцы (знаки плодородия и " новая жизнь") являются традиционными символами Пасхи на Британских островах. Шоколадные зайчики и пасхальные яйца, часто украшенные красочной фольге обертки, преподносятся детям в качестве подарков или оставляются для "яйца охоты" пасхальным утром.

Традиция украшать настоящие яица на Пасху восходит к средневековью. В 1290 году английский король Эдуард I приказал покрыть 450 яиц сусальным золотом, чтобы предоставить в качестве пасхальных подарков. Считается, что яркие тона, украшавшие пасхальные яйца, были предназначены для того, чтобы отражать цвета пробуждение весны.

Другой британский Пасхальный обычай заключается в яичных гонках, когда конкуренты пытаются быть первым, крутить их яйца поперек или спустить вниз по склону холма... не разбив их!

Помимо яиц самой известной английской пасхальной снедью являются,наверное, горячие булочки в форме креста. Еще в средневековые времена булочки были традиционно ели в страстную пятницу, но они в настоящее время пользуются популярностью весь Пасхальный сезон. Эти сладкие угощения с ароматами фруктов и специй помеченные крестиком либо опушены в тесто перед выпечкой или взбрызгнуты каплями после. История горячих булочек-крестов датируется еще дохристианской эпохой. Считается, что они являются потомками маленьких пирожных, предлагаемых для Эостр - богини весны. Они, возможно, были отмечены крестом даже в древние времена, чтобы представить четыре четверти Луны. В более поздние века церковь была не в состоянии искоренить древние языческие традиции и решившила вместо этого "христианизировать" плюшки, связав крест с Иисусом.

В пасхальное воскресенье на Британских островах традиционно отмечается церковными службами, которые часто проводятся на рассвете, так что верующие могут видеть восход солнца - символ воскресения Христа. После обмениваются пасхальными яицами и съедают их.

Пасха-парады тоже когда-то важная традиция, во время которой люди будут одеты в новую одежду - дамы, в частности, демонстрируют свои новые "Пасха шляпки" - как еще один знак весеннего обновления. Потом семья будет собираться на Пасхальный обед или ужин, который в Англии традиционно состоял из жареного весна ягненка с мятным соусом, картофеля и зеленого горошка. Было время отдохнуть от праздников на следующий день, в понедельник после Пасхи традиционно праздник в Великобритании.

Пасха - Easter - один из ключевых праздников для католических и православных христиан. Они придают огромное значение этому ежегодному торжеству. Пасхальное воскресенье празднует воскрешение Христа - сына Божьего. Важно поздравить с этим праздником всех верующих. Если у вас есть знакомые за рубежом, то мы поможем вам это сделать без особого труда.

Как поздравить с Пасхой на английском языке

May this Easter bring you all together for a great celebration filled with lots of joy and happiness!

1. Wishing you a Happy Easter! May it be a wonderful time spent with your friends and family.

Happy Easter! May you have a great day filled with joy and lots of Easter eggs!

I would like to wish you and your loved ones a happy Easter. I hope you have a blessed and joyful day.

I hope you have a cracking Easter with heaps of treats and fun.

Happy Easter! I hope some time out for rest and relaxation with your loved ones puts a spring in your step and gives you a chance to celebrate life and all its blessings.

Wishing you a peaceful Easter that fills you with new life and vitality.

Happy Easter to you and your family. May this special day be blessed with joy and happiness.

I’m wishing you an extraordinary and joyful Easter. May your life be full of blessings!

May God keep you away from misfortunes, devious people and evil tongues. Have a blessed and happy Easter!