Eastertide
There are several Eastertide customs across the Christian world, including flowering the cross,[1] sunrise services, the wearing of Easter bonnets by women,[2] exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church,[3] and decorating Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb.
[7][8] The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Christianity,[9][10] traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.
[15][16] Easter Sunday and Pentecost correspond to pre-existing Jewish feasts: The first day of Pesach (פסח) and the holiday of Shavu'ot (שבועות).
In the Jewish tradition, the 49 days between these holidays are known as Counting of the Omer (ספירת העומר).
The Te Deum and Gloria are recited every day even in the ferial Office.
On Sundays the "Asperges" is replaced by the "Vidi Aquam" which recalls the solemn baptism of Easter eve.
Pope Gregory VII limited this privilege to the week of Easter and of Pentecost.
Instead of the "suffragia sanctorum" in the semidouble and ferial Offices, a commemoration of the Holy Cross is used.
Paschal Tide was the period during which every member of the faithful who has attained the year of discretion was bound by the positive law of the Church to receive Holy Communion (Easter duty).
According to these decrees the faithful of either sex, after coming to the age of discretion, must receive at least at Easter the Sacrament of the Eucharist (unless by the advice of the parish priest they abstain for a while).
Otherwise during life they are to be prevented from entering the church and when dead are to be denied Christian burial.
The term Paschal Tide was usually interpreted to mean the two weeks between Palm and Low Sundays (Synod of Avignon, 1337).
By Angelo da Chiavasso it was defined as the period from Maundy Thursday to Low Sunday.
Eugene IV, 8 July 1440, authoritatively interpreted it to mean the two weeks between Palm and Low Sundays.
In Germany, at an early date, the second Sunday after Easter terminated Paschal Tide, for which reason it was called "Predigerkirchweih", because the hard Easter labour was over, or "Buch Sunday", the obstinate sinners putting off the fulfillment of the precept to the last day.
[28] The Orthodox (Greek) Church celebrates on Friday of Easter Week the feast of Our Lady, the Living Fountain (shrine at Constantinople).
The Asian Churches on Wednesday after the third Sunday celebrate with a very solemn Office and an octave, the Mesopentekoste, the completion of the first half of Paschal Tide; it is the feast of the manifestation of the Messiah; the Slav nations in this day have a solemn procession and benediction of their rivers.
The Friday of this week, in Germany, is called "Witterfreitag"; the fields are blessed against frost and thunderstorms.
In the Oriental Churches, that Saturday is the psychosabbaton (All Soul's Day), upon which the Greeks bless wheat cakes and hold processions to the cemeteries.
