How to revive the celebration of Eastertide

Michie · Mar 31, 2024

National Catholic Register, Mar 31, 2024 / 06:00 am

Easter Sunday begins the Easter season. The 50-day Eastertide, running to Pentecost, is the longest season on the Church calendar (not counting Ordinary Time). Everything starts with the joyous celebrations of Easter Sunday and the Easter Octave to Divine Mercy Sunday. This week is the perfect time to get acquainted with some Easter traditions and customs still carried on, along with those downplayed or forgotten and perhaps in need of revival.

Fine clothes and festive walks

While wearing new clothes for Easter Sunday is occasionally observed today, it was the model and rule until recent decades. Over the centuries people forgot why it was customary. Father X. Weiser enlightens the faithful about this tradition in his “Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs.”

In the early centuries, newly baptized Christians wore new white garments. This led to the tradition of all the faithful coming to Mass in new clothes, which symbolized the “new life” that the Lord gives to all believers through his resurrection. By Medieval times, the custom was being carried on far and wide. But over the years the meaning has been largely lost.

Another forgotten tradition is the “Easter Walk.” This custom saw families dressed in their finery taking walks after Mass through the fields or through town. Weiser’s latest edition of the book was in 1958, when the tradition was still widespread, especially in Europe. That custom turned into the secular Easter parade.

Easter Week

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