This year, the Catholic Easter is celebrated on March 27th. The Catholics calculate the Easter date based on the ecclesiastic full moon, which is calculated based on some schedules set by the church and it is based on a fixed date for the spring equinox.
The Orthodox Easter is celebrated every year in the Sunday following the full moon after the spring equinox. If this Sunday overlaps the Passover (14 Nisan ? the seventh month of the ecclesiastic year and the first month of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar), the holiday shall be moved to the next Sunday.
Easter celebrated by Hungarians
?Not only Catholics celebrate Easter on March 27th, but also those who embrace the Reformed, Unitarians or Evangelic religions. Hungarians celebrate Easter as Jesus organized his Last Supper, going around the table on which there is bread and wine inside the church. The faithful attend the religious service and Bible verses are read. The tradition is still practiced nowadays and the most important moment is the ?splashing? in the second day of Easter, when boys go to the girls? houses, splash them so they never fade or age, getting in return palinka, Easter eggs and cookies. Everybody cooks and eats lamb for Easter, the specialty being the traditional stuffed ribs?, declared Balint Lenke, adept of the reformed religion, Unitarian confession upon marriage.
Easter celebrated by German people
The German community in Brasov pays special attention to the Resurrection ? Easter holiday, a holiday that they link to the spring season. The revitalization of nature symbolizes the new life that the Christians gained by means of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The German people are very keen on having a large meal, red and coloured eggs, are waiting for the ?Easter Bunny? and the children expect to receive many presents.
?Splashing? is practiced by Germans of all ages. This custom originates in Germany, and most Romanians from Ardeal region were very happy to adopt it. In the second day of Easter, boys splash the girls with perfume or with scented water and wish each other good luck, and the girls reward them with decorated eggs.
Decorated eggs
Barko Etelka, from Sacele town, County of Brasov, uses the traditional writing technique with hot wax for the Easter eggs. She managed to make 150 decorated eggs models. She is highly appreciated for her entire creation and for keeping and passing the Hungarian traditions to future generations. For 45 years she has been decorating eggs and shared this creative secret with other people before the Easter holidays. Each egg has a different model, and also a related story. Love is the ingredient she uses for achieving a perfect model.
