Happy Easter

Happy Easter every one!! Today marks the end of Lent. Today our Lord Jesus Christ has resurrected to give us, His people a new light, a new hope. After the long week of celebrating of the Lenten and being a God-observing country and as one of the largest Christian country in the world who commemorate this season we are now approaching to the end of the Holy Week feast, that is the Easter. Easter Sunday, is one of the most festive events among Christians worldwide. Here in the Philippines after a long weeks of celebrating the Lenten season which start  on Ash Wednesday,which was patterned to the lunar calendar of Romans to be followed by Palm Sunday, then the Semana Santa or the Holy Week which will be highlighted more on the last 3 days before the Easter which the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and black Saturday and on Sunday is the final day of holy week and it mark the end of the forty day period of fasting, prayer, and penance and the start of the fifty day period of the Easter season or the Easterlide. Easter is considered a movable feast and is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. In this feast we celebrate Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday. Easter customs vary across the Christian world and here in the Philippines we celebrate the Easter by attending

what we called the "Salubong".this is Easter Sunday pre-dawn ritual that reenacts the Risen Christ's meeting with His mother. Salubong is done in a procession where the men and women are separated and coming from different directions. But they eventually meet in front of the church and a semblance of an angels will fly in most Catholic churches all over the country at dawn to mark the end of the three-day mourning following the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. These "angels" are the little girls who remove the "lambong" (veil of mourning) of the Blessed Mother shortly after processions at Easter dawn, signifying the resurrection of Jesus.  One of the Philippines festival that coincide to the celebration of the Easter is the Moriones festival in Marinduque. this is the most colorful festivals celebrated in the island of Marinduque which the name came from the word "Morion" meaning mask. The town people of Marinduque are dress up as a Roman legionaries and figures from the bible for a long celebration that start on Holy Monday and culminates on Easter Sunday in the re-enactment of the beheading of Longinus.Longinus is the name given in medieval and some modern Christian traditions to the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus in his side with a lance. Legend has it that Longinus pierced the side of the crucified Christ. The blood that spurted forth touched his blind eye and fully restored his sight. This miracle converted Longinus to Christianity and earned the ire of his fellow centurions. The legend further identifies this soldier as the centurion who testified, "In truth this man was son of God". Longinus' legend grew over the years to the point that he was said to have converted to Christianity after the Crucifixion, and he is traditionally venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and several other Christian communions.

Moriones Festival in Marinduque, Philippines 

Another celebration that was being done during Easter is the so called Easter egg hunt. this a game that can play indoor or outdoor and is organize during springtime at the other countries but was widely recognize and organize during Easter wherein many of the decorated eggs, whether a real hard boil egg or artificial egg that is filled with or made of chocolate candies of various sizes and colors are hidden in various places for children to

find. They said that the egg is a symbol of rebirth of the earth in Pagan celebrations of spring and was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of the rebirth of man at Easter. While the origin of Easter eggs can be explained in the symbolic terms described a symbol of resurrection a sacred tradition among followers of Eastern Christianity says that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and the eggs in her basket miraculously turned brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ.The egg represents the boulder of the tomb of Jesus. A different, but not necessarily conflicting legend concerns Mary Magdalene's efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with "Christ has risen," whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, "Christ has no more risen than that egg is red." After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red. We do have different ways in celebrating this very important feast that mark the faith of every Christian country all over the world and regardless of what kind of celebration we do, we should always remember the essence of Easter celebration and that is we commemorate and celebrate the rising of Jesus from the dead, the anchor of the Christian faith and that he was able to rise and was victorious over sin and Satan and his resurrection of Jesus reconciled us back to God and restored our position in God before the fall of man (Adam). Easter Sunday is more than eating, drinking, game, and it is a day of praise God and thank him for his great wisdom for salvation.