Read more: Delicious Irish Easter recipes for the special day
Read more: Gilligan's Gourmet: Traditional Easter treat Hot Crossed Buns
Easter is a major holiday in Ireland, second only to Christmas, for a host of reasons, some of which are religious and some historical.
Socially, it's a high water mark of the year, arriving just as the spring is really being felt throughout the Irish countryside and summer fashions start make a first tentative appearance.
Religiously, of course, it's a time of solemn reflection and renewal, and even the least religious Irish person will acknowledge that the story of Christ's death and resurrection still holds an enduring power that speaks strongly to the Irish experience, whether you're a believer or not.
It's because the theme of renewal after deprivation or great suffering is a story the Irish understand in their bones. It was by no accident that the rebel leader Patrick Pearse chose Easter as the ideal time to declare the Irish Republic. After centuries of British oppression, Pearse wanted the nation to experience the promised renewal of Easter in a way that paralleled the resurrection.
At first the Irish scoffed at Pearse's presumption, then they took up his flag and fought for his vision.
So Easter in Ireland is both a secular and religious holiday, celebrating the foundational promise of Christianity and the birth of Irish independence, and inextricably binding the two together, in ways that most often illuminate each other.
Nowadays Irish many people still follow the centuries old practice of ambitious spring cleaning attempts around the Easter holidays, a gesture that's as powerfully symbolic as it is practical.
In the countryside, wall's get whitewashed and halls get swept clean, and the first flowers of spring are placed in vases. After the deprivations of Lent, when Catholics fast and forgo, the dreamed of Easter Sunday feast often has a festival atmosphere, with relatives visiting and elaborate meals being prepared in the kitchen.
Irish children especially love Easter for the selection of chocolate Easter Eggs - a reward for giving up candy for Lent - that go on sale nationwide.
It's the first major indulgence since Christmas and a nice prelude to your First Holy Communion, if you're making it in the same year.
Ireland is not a Mediterranean country but there's a kind of spiritual quickening that arrives around Easter Sunday that would be familiar to anyone who has grown up in warmer climates.
Windows are opened, table cloths set, wine flows freely and bread is baked. All that renewal after the scarcity of winter is a signal to the world (and oneself) that winter has ended.
There are few countries in the world who understand the occasional need for a new beginning like Ireland. If you've never experienced Easter there, we strongly recommend you visit in 2011.
Few places shrug off the winter doldrums as completely as Ireland does, or hang out the Easter flags with as much pride and optimism. After a quick visit we promise you'll feel as dramatically renewed yourself.
Read more: Delicious Irish Easter recipes for the special day
Read more: Gilligan's Gourmet: Traditional Easter treat Hot Crossed Buns
15 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Kyleykeaton | Apr 21, 2011, 12:46 PM EDT
Jesus loves ALL people. You win people to Jesus with love. Cool points just for having been born in and seen Ireland.
Conor86 | Apr 20, 2011, 09:58 PM EDT
@Christisall: I'm not a loser at all. I just happen to think for myself. :)
Kyleykeaton | Apr 20, 2011, 08:30 PM EDT
Easter is a holy day that celebrates resurection of the Savior of man but it is not mans place to judge man. Telling Someone they are a loser surely would be off putting and would never win him or anyone to Christ.
Christisall | Apr 20, 2011, 05:55 PM EDT
Conor86, you are a loser; Easter is the holiest of days, the rising of our Creator. To be Irish and not religious makes you a real loser. . .your day is coming. . .
FatherVol | Apr 20, 2011, 08:08 AM EDT
Spring cleaning has its roots in the Jewish celebration of Passover when the house is cleaned annually in preparation for the 8-day celebration of the deliverance from Egypt.
Conor86 | Apr 19, 2011, 07:37 PM EDT
Easter is a load of rubbish to me and doesn't mean everything to every Irish person and i'm not religious at all and born in Ireland.
ellenfromcork | Apr 19, 2011, 06:55 PM EDT
"visit in 2010"!!! When was this article written??
ancavker | Apr 19, 2011, 04:28 PM EDT
Irish people do not honor the men and women of 1916 any more. It was only in the last few years that the government started to commenmorate the rising again.
peterson | Apr 19, 2011, 03:44 PM EDT
PRAISE THE LORD----AMEN !!!
GeorgeDillon | Apr 19, 2011, 03:15 PM EDT
"If you've never experienced Easter there, we strongly recommend you visit in 2010." I'd love to. Any idea of how I can travel back a year?
bunkerhill | Apr 19, 2011, 02:27 PM EDT
American writer David McCullough wrote in his book about US President John Adams that Ireland was the first country with the concept "All men are created equal." In other words the greatest country in the world, the USA, was founded on an Irish concept. No wonder the Irish all over the world love their country.
badolan | Apr 19, 2011, 10:51 AM EDT
Nice job writing this article. I'll be back to Ireland ASAP.
Trealach | Apr 19, 2011, 10:47 AM EDT
@Cillowen - The commemoration of Christ's death and the celebration of His Resurrection, can hardly be called a "pagan holiday". As His death and resurrection ensured the path to heaven, Pearse and his comrades ensured the path to Freedom, a freedom which permits even you the right to express yourself without being arrested by the British. A Freedom which allowed us as a nation, to determine our own destiny. Appreciate it and enjoy it, while you can.
eiriamach | Apr 19, 2011, 10:25 AM EDT
. . . whose efforts yielded Ireland's persistent commitment to the principles of freedom, equality, self-government, and control over one's own destiny.
cillowen | Apr 19, 2011, 09:49 AM EDT
deep in psyce - pagan holidays and in memory of pearse and comrades whose efforts yielded ?????????????????????