TheEaster復活節

繆蘭

The Date of Easter復活節的日期

In 325 AD， the Council of Nicaea （尼西亞大公會議） was convened by Emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon or after the vernal equinox （春分）. The ecclesiastical （基督教的） “vernal equinox” is always on March 21. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical （天文學的） full moon. Therefore， Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

公元前325年，康斯坦丁大帝組建了尼西亞大公會議，制定了復活節的標準：復活節應該在第一個滿月后或是春分后的第一個星期天進行慶祝。基督教的“春分”通常是3月21日。由于天文上的滿月，復活節的日期不會是每年的同一天。因而復活節通常是在3月22日到4月24日之間的其中一個星期天進行慶祝。

The Easter Bunny 復活節兔子

The symbol originated with the pagan （異教徒的） festival of Easter. The goddess， Eostre， was worshipped by （被…尊崇的） the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol， the rabbit. The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact， Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

復活節兔子起源于異教的復活節。當時，盎格魯撒克遜人的春之女神的世俗象征是一個兔子，因此被人們所供奉。而德國人將復活兔帶到了美國。直至美國南北戰爭結束后的短期內，復活兔才被其他基督教徒所關注。事實上，直到這次內戰結束后的一段時間內，復活節才在美國被人們廣泛地慶祝。

The Easter Egg 復活節彩蛋

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself， the Easter Egg predates （先于） the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians. From the earliest times， the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped （包裹） in gold leaf or， if you were a peasant， colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals （花瓣） of certain flowers. Today， children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs —— those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

與復活兔和復活節本身一樣，復活蛋預示著基督教節日復活節即將到來。當基督教徒慶祝第一個復活節后，在春天互相交換復活蛋已經是延續了好幾百年的習俗。在早期，復活蛋在許多文明中象征著“再生”。人們常常用金色的葉子包裹復活蛋，或者，假如你是農民的話，可以將復活蛋畫得色彩斑斕，并把它和葉子或是幾種花的花瓣一起煮沸。在今天，孩子們到處搜刮復活蛋，并將這些蛋和現代版本的復活蛋一起放到復活節籃子中。這些現代版本的復活蛋是由塑料或巧克力糖果做成的。