Remembering is a most human activity. We are the only species on earth that knowingly transmits memories between generations who have never met each other. Through our powers of memory and speech we pass names, traditions, customs, melodies, and beliefs through tens or hundreds or thousands of years.
The bunnies and decorated eggs with which we celebrate Easter and the coming of spring are symbols of Freya, Germanic goddess of beauty, joy, and spring. The Easter Vigil ceremony celebrated last night with its signs of fire and water and its induction of initiates into the Christian faith is almost certainly derived from the ancient Mithraic Mysteries. The parts of the world in which this ceremony evolved were those parts in which the Mysteries were strongest and the time in which it arose was the time in which the Mysteries held the greatest sway.
We’ll prepare a dish for our Easter dinner that Grandma used to make—perhaps one she brought from “the old country”. The music of our Easter liturgies also carries memories.
Regina coeli laetare, alleluia.
Quia quem meruisti portare, allelulia.
Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.Queen of heaven rejoice, alleluia.
For he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia.
Has risen as he said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
The language is dead but we’ve remembered this prayer since at least the 13th century. Did an angel appear to Gregory the Great back in the 7th century and proclaim the first three lines to him? We remember that, too.
Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss, Alleluia!Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save, Alleluia!
Could anyone write a devotional lyric like Charles Wesley? The energy. The conviction. The faith. We remember that, too. I sometimes wonder whether we aren’t entering an era like the Methodist Revival in England in the 18th century. Would we recognize it if we were?
Like the sundered halves of a broken coin or the torn pieces of a map the two pieces of Christianity, orthodox and protestant, each carry a different part of the Christian message which they emphasize. Protestantism reveres the revealed word of God. Orthodox Christianity does, too, but we also emphasize memory—tradition.
There are personal memories, too. Every year since she was a small child my father-in-law gave my wife a solid chocolate bunny at Easter. After he died her mother maintained the tradition and every year at Easter a chocolate bunny would arrive for her from California.
Now my mother-in-law is slowly failing in mind and body. And only I am left to remember.
You might like to look at my Easter post from last year, “Easter bells”.
Happy Easter, David. The real new year.
Indeed. Christos aneste.