As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

和其它基督教節(jié)日一樣，復(fù)活節(jié)正慢慢“被世俗”和“被商業(yè)”。即便如此，復(fù)活節(jié)的這兩個(gè)性質(zhì)和它的標(biāo)志并不是必然的“現(xiàn)代產(chǎn)物”。

The history of Easter 復(fù)活節(jié)的歷史

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.

“復(fù)活節(jié)是神圣的慶典”的概念在公元200年已經(jīng)形成，自那時(shí)起，復(fù)活節(jié)就站在了非宗教的一方。而事實(shí)上，最初的復(fù)活節(jié)是異教徒的節(jié)日。

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

古撒克遜人慶祝春至?xí)r非常熱鬧，因?yàn)檫@也紀(jì)念他們祖先和春天的“復(fù)活”。在公元200年，基督教的傳教士并偶然來(lái)到這個(gè)擁有異教慶典的北方部落。這些傳教士嘗試讓撒克遜人改信基督教，而他們使用的方法非常隱秘。

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

早期的基督教人為了慶祝他們神圣的節(jié)日而在儀式中自殺，然而這些儀式并沒有與以前的慶祝儀式相類似。為了拯救生命，傳教士略施小計(jì)，在人群中慢慢散布神明的信息，謊稱神明允許人們繼續(xù)慶祝異教節(jié)日，但是要使用基督教的方式進(jìn)行慶祝。

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

就這樣，復(fù)活節(jié)在同年出現(xiàn)了，而且被當(dāng)作耶穌復(fù)活的基督教儀式。因此，這個(gè)節(jié)日就慢慢被改變，漸漸轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榛浇痰囊粋€(gè)節(jié)日。于是，人們漸漸皈依基督教。而復(fù)活節(jié)早期的名字Eastre，最后也被改成流傳至今的拼法Easter。

The date of Easter 復(fù)活節(jié)的日期

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea 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 on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

在公元325年之前，復(fù)活節(jié)的慶祝時(shí)間可以是一周中不同的時(shí)間，而這些時(shí)間包括星期五、星期六和星期天。在那些年里，康斯坦丁大帝組建了尼西亞理事會(huì)。這個(gè)理事會(huì)制定了復(fù)活節(jié)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)：復(fù)活節(jié)應(yīng)該在第一個(gè)滿月后或是春分后的第一個(gè)星期進(jìn)行慶祝。在這里，我們要作一下解釋。在規(guī)定中所指的“滿月”是基督教的滿月，而“滿月”的時(shí)間定在陰歷月份的第十四天，那么，這個(gè)月的1號(hào)就是基督教的“新月”。由于天文滿月，復(fù)活節(jié)的日期不會(huì)是每年的同一天。另外，基督教的“春分”通常是3月21日。因此，復(fù)活節(jié)必須在3月22日-4月24日之間的其中一個(gè)星期天進(jìn)行慶祝。

The Lenten season 四旬齋季節(jié)

Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten Season.

四旬齋是早期復(fù)活節(jié)里面為期46天的時(shí)期。四旬齋開始于圣灰星期三。“狂歡節(jié)”也稱為“嘉年華”。在早期，它橫跨星期三和圣灰星期四，是一個(gè)全世界都進(jìn)行的慶典。在四旬齋獻(xiàn)祭開始前，狂歡節(jié)是一個(gè)使人身心舒暢的節(jié)日。其中，新奧爾良是美國(guó)狂歡節(jié)的焦點(diǎn)。因此，我們要好好理解四旬齋的宗教含義。

The Easter Bunny 復(fù)活兔

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

復(fù)活兔并不是現(xiàn)代產(chǎn)物。復(fù)活兔起源于異教的復(fù)活節(jié)。當(dāng)時(shí)，耶穌的世俗象征是一個(gè)兔子，并被盎格魯撒克遜人供奉著。

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.

而德國(guó)人將復(fù)活兔帶到了美國(guó)。直至美國(guó)南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)后，復(fù)活兔才被大多數(shù)基督教人士所重視。事實(shí)上，在這次內(nèi)戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后，復(fù)活節(jié)也未在美國(guó)被人們廣泛地慶祝。

The Easter Egg 復(fù)活蛋

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates 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.

與復(fù)活兔和復(fù)活節(jié)一樣，復(fù)活蛋預(yù)示著復(fù)活節(jié)即將到來(lái)。當(dāng)基督教徒慶祝第一個(gè)復(fù)活節(jié)后，人們開始春天互相交換復(fù)活蛋，而這已成為了人們好幾百年的習(xí)俗。

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

在早期，復(fù)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(fù)活蛋，或是農(nóng)民的做法：將復(fù)活蛋畫得色彩斑斕，并把它和葉子或是真花瓣一起煮沸。

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.

在今天，孩子們到處搜刮復(fù)活蛋，并將這些蛋放到復(fù)活節(jié)籃子中。為什么呢？因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)代的復(fù)活蛋是用軟糖或巧克力做的。

相關(guān)閱讀

萬(wàn)顆復(fù)活節(jié)彩蛋裝飾德國(guó)果樹

愚人節(jié)：愚人傳統(tǒng)正在消亡？

愚人節(jié)起源大揭秘

奧巴馬主持白宮滾彩蛋活動(dòng) 慶復(fù)活節(jié)

Same Easter, different celebrations

Easter Traditions 復(fù)活節(jié)習(xí)俗

Easter traditions and origins

Easter Day （趣味復(fù)活節(jié)）

（來(lái)源：新浪教育 編輯：Julie）