1 Monday April 9th 2018
Good morning Pace or Peace in Romanian.
Yesterday was Easter Day in Romania as they follow the Romanian Orthodox Church calendar. We follow the Gregorian or Catholic calendar here.
In Romania Easter is treated as the most important religious festival. The days immediately after Easter are often holidays too.
When we in Mustard Seed Jersey were planning the sending of our aid consignment last month Alex the Romanian social worker who deals with the aid consignment paperwork was very emphatic we should avoid Holy Week as well as the week after Easter. Holy Week is the week before Easter, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Most of the Romanian churches are orthodox, and Easter is viewed as an extremely significant Christian festival. Many Orthodox Christians will have spent Lent abstaining from various foods so the special meals they have at Easter have a deep significance.
Across the country in Romania churches hold special services, friends and families meet together for a special traditional Easter lunch that often includes lamb, a special walnut cake and painted eggs. The eggs are usually painted red, often with beautiful patterns. It is traditional to knock each other’s eggs during the Easter celebrations, greeting each other with the words Christ is risen as you knock your hard boiled eggs together. As I said before Easter is very important in Romanian churches, given much greater significance I believe than we do here.
In Jersey we have a growing number of Romanians working and
living on the island, some of whom meet together as a Romanian Orthodox
congregation. To any Romanians listening today, especially if you celebrated
Easter yesterday, and indeed to all my listeners of all nationalities may I
wish you Pace, God’s peace be with you.