The last week of Lent before Easter, also called the Passions Week, is meant to prepare the Christians for the Resurrection. The first three days are a kind of prologue for the Passions of Jesus.
The Holly Friday ends the office of the Holly Service; the parishioners fast to commemorate the sacrifice of Lamb of God.
The Resurrection Light
In the Resurrection Night, the crowds turn towards the church. Every parishioner hold in hand a candle he will light from the candle the priest bring from the altar. The light symbolize the victory of life over the death and the light of Christ over the sins? darkness. At the end of the religious service, the priest dispenses to the crowd the Easter sacraments: the sacred bread, win and water.
The Palm Sunday
The Palm Sunday is celebrated the last Sunday before Easter. It marks the end of the Lent, but also the resurrection of the nature. In this occasion, people us to go to church to consecrate the willow branches thy put at the windows and at the doors. Some villagers use the branches as belts, to protect themselves against illness. In the cemeteries, women hang the willow branches on the graves? crosses. In some parts of the country, the young girls put basil under their pillows in Palm Sunday night, to become more beautiful and more desired by the boys.
The Red Eggs
The eggs symbolize the life tomb of Jesus Christ, which opened on His Resurrection from the death empire. The red color is a reference to the Christ?s blood, immolated dor the redemption of the world. In Romania, the tradition to paint the eggs is very ancient; the villages? inhabitants made of this costume a real art.
There are several legends regarding the red eggs. The story goes that the Virgin used to throw under his back red eggs to puzzle his tracker or turned into red eggs the stones they were throwing. Another legend says that, after the Crucifixion, Holly Marry put under the cross a basket with eggs, quickly coloured in red by the blood weeping from Jesus wounds.
The Holly Lamb
The tradition requires the Christians to eat lamb at Easter. The lamb is the image of Jesus Christ, who let himself crucified for our sins, like an innocent lamb. Romanians know a lot of traditional recipes to cook the lamb.
