It’s hard to believe that Easter is only a few days a way. It probably feels like Christmas just ended..but Easter is a wonderful day to look forward to. In preparation for this Easter, see how it is celebrated in some parts of Africa.
Africans for the most part are a very religious group of people, so Easter is an important holiday for the almost 70 million Christians that live in Africa. The celebrations start on the proceeding Thursday with people attending church services daily until Easter Sunday. An Easter vigil usually starts at 3 PM and proceeds until 6 PM on these days.
The church is decorated in hand-made fabrics made up in the forms of butterflies, flowers, banana trees, etc,..and Christian hymns are sung along with the beating of the native African drums.
In Africa, Easter is a social celebration as well as a spiritual one. At Easter families come together. They share special food with Christians and non-Christians, indulging in boiled or roasted rice with meat or chicken. Meat and chicken are very expensive for many countries in Africa, so this is quite a luxurious meal.
In Ethiopia Easter is one of the most revered festivals, celebrated after 55 days of fasting. Followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church offer daily prayers at the church and do not eat until 3 PM, except Saturday and Sunday when prayers are conducted early in the morning.
Gifts are made for the children and most people are resplendent in their best clothes, usually the dazzling white traditional dress. Everyone spends Easter Eve at the Church praying until 3 am when it is announced that Christ has risen!
The above photo shows Ethiopians in white cotton robes for the Holy Saturday ceremony. Credit to photographer Jose M. Ruiberriz for the photo.
You can find many more articles about African holidays and celebrations on the Africa Imports web site. Just Click Here. You can also find many white African garments that are often worn during Easter ceremonies. Just Click Here to go to the clothing section of the web site.
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The truth is that those so-called wise and prudent theologians know absolutely nothing about the so-called resurrection simply because it never happened. Easter, or the celebration of the resurrection, is merely a tradition, a tradition that you have been taught from childhood, and coming into maturity you have accepted it because that is what you were taught. That is what you read bout. That is what your parents made you observed every Easter Sunday. Thus, you continued to go along with it and before you knew it, you had carelessly assumed what you now believe without question or proof. Easter is the feast of feasts celebrated in honor of the risen Christ. You have even reached the point where you will defend vigorously and emotionally your belief, a belief that can lead you straight to hell. It has become human nature to flow with the stream, and to go along with the crowd, to believe and perform like those around you. And, even when you stumble on the truth, you will not believe because like the majority of the people, you stubbornly refuse to believe what you are unwilling to believe. There is an old saying that says: He who is convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
For a big part off my life, I was convinced that the Bible was full of Myths and was untrue. When I came to know God in a personal way though, it was like learning that honey is sweet. It can probably be proven (or dis-proven) that honey is sweet. Once you’ve tasted it though, you really know.