Deep Dive: The Easter Book

 My Thoughts on The Easter Book

I finally finished this book by Fr. Francis X. Weiser about three weeks after Easter, and I wanted to give it a similar treatment to his book on Christmas. I probably won't go as deeply as I did in The Christmas Book's post, but I still want to take a look at the book chapter by chapter.

Pre-Introduction

One wonderful change in this book was a listing of the illustrations, including page numbers and the scene illustrated. I liked knowing that certain illustrations were of Medieval events, and others of more recent or distant centuries. I like the quality of the illustrations and believe that they add pleasure.

Introduction

Another way this book differs from its predecessor is that it does not go through all the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection. I liked that this book assumed the reader has familiarity with the Resurrection story, and that left more time to attend to the history of Easter celebrations.

Chapter 1: Man and Nature

This chapter was interesting because it took a good look at the pre-Christian traditions that have connected with some of the ways we celebrate Easter. For instance, there were many activities people did to celebrate winter ending, and some have been altered or connected to activities people do in the course of liturgically observing Lent and Easter. Many of these activities would be considered a little off-color today, or perhaps were superstitious in nature. It was kind of weird to read "A striking Christian variation of these nature rites was the medieval custom of planting 'Mary gardens,' which were made up of all the flowers and herbs that are ascribed by love and legend as a special tribute to the Blessed Virgin" (19). So, the connection of a Mary garden with pagan fertility stuff is a little unsettling, but it is also neat to see that even if there are pagan connections somewhere in its history, we don't necessarily need to fear certain things. As Weiser states, "Most of the natural [pre-Christian] customs were ennobled through the spiritual power of Christianity" (26).

Chapter 2: Farewell to Alleluia

Did you know that people would sometimes entomb the written word "Alleluia" in a coffin and bury it in preparation for Lent? I probably did know this at some point, but it was like hearing it for the first time when I read this book. Learning about quirky little traditions like this was interesting - Weiser isn't afraid to indicate such events were "aberrations" or, in other cases, "abuses," and were suppressed in time, but he doesn't shy away from recording these things - they were, after all, traditions that people did have at some point in history. I liked the history of the word "Alleluia" that the author provides, especially pointing out that " nowhere and at no time was any effort made to translate it into the vernacular" (28).

Chapter 3: Pre-Lent and Carnival

I learned that there are some terms that we don't use anymore, and it seems that the liturgical season of Lent is set up a little bit differently post Vatican II. This book is still good to read for that reason, I'd say - it gives me a sense that things have changed even within the last 100 years, and I didn't even know that until now. I liked learning that the carnival season, while rife with abuses in different places and times, had a practical purpose - using up all the forbidden foods that one wouldn't be able to eat during Lent.

Chapter 4: Sackcloth and Ashes

Sweet vindication! The first lines of this chapter states that "Lent is a fast of forty days, not including Sundays, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending with the Saturday before Easter Sunday" (emphasis added)(43). I've heard people say that they keep their Lenten fasts even on Sundays, and that's never sat well with me. This chapter was the big start of dropping song names - I tried to record the many that sounded interesting to me, but they'll be dealt with in a different section.

Chapter 5: The Great Fast

I'm glad I don't do old-time fasts. Those were intense. It's also encouraging to read that the Church didn't just create extremely hard rules and have no exceptions - there was a great deal of pastoral flexibility regarding exemptions, even in the early Church.

Chapter 6: Customs of Lent

In another instance of relearning things I think I previously knew, I learned about the history of pretzels. Since they don't require dairy or eggs, they were a kind of bread that could be eaten during Lent when the abstinence rules were stricter. Also fun in this book were the recipes included for different dishes. I probably won't make any of them, but I definitely looked up beer soup and flagged a recipe online when I read about it in the book. There were other customs discussed, but of course, I found the food-related ones most intriguing.

Chapter 7: Passiontide

This chapter was heavy on the music I want to look into - there is such a rich tradition of music associated with Lent and Easter. I was also interested to learn that there is a prestigious Passion Play put on every year in Oberammergau, Germany - it's neat to know people still put on high-quality religious plays around the world.

Chapter 8: Palm Sunday

Lots of old traditions mentioned in this chapter.

Chapter 9: Maundy Thursday

One of these days, I'll attend a Tenebrae service. I've been hearing about it for years, but never made it. It's cool to know that the Chrism Mass has ancient roots - of course, so many of our liturgical celebrations do...but it's neat to have services I've heard of for years reach all the way back to ancient times.

Chapter 10: Good Friday

The term "Pasch" comes from the Hebrew "pesach," which means "passover" (113). The history of hot cross buns is explained - it's interesting how many seemingly random rhymes or cultural tidbits have drifted from their original religious moorings.

Chapter 11: Holy Saturday and Chapter 12: The Feast of Feasts

Nothing I want to note right now.

Chapter 13: Easter Sunday

I learned that the morality plays of the Middle Ages grew out of the sequence "Victimae Paschali Laudes," which has something like dialogue in it. How interesting to be able to trace back the roots of a whole genre of dramatic performance to a single non-play composition! People would wear new clothes on Easter to symbolize the new life given through Jesus' Resurrection (pg. 159) - another tradition I took for granted and had no idea stems from something with religious significance.

Chapter 14: Easter Hymns and Music

See below.

Chapter 15: Easter Symbols and Foods

This history of Easter eggs is not nearly as exciting as seeing how people in different countries decorate them - especially people in Poland and Ukraine, who create pysanki - eggs are dipped into various dye baths, with wax covering different parts each time to create a colorful, intricate design. All the rich Easter cakes from around the world sound delicious - several recipes included.

Chapter 16: The Easter Season

I like the idea of making pilgrimages during the Easter season, or of just going for walks - like the "Emmaus Walk" some people might do on Easter Monday. I think it would be neat to incorporate more of these traditions into our celebration of Easter. We have so many things to do associated with Christmas, but Lent and Eastertide just don't seem to get as much attention on the liturgical living side. I think this book provides some great raw material for people to work with.

Hymns and Music

Lent Music

"Pange lingua gloriosi" - Venantius Fortunatus

"Vexilla Regis prodeunt" - Venatnius Fortunatus

"Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine" - Peter Abelard

Bach's "Saint Matthew Passion" and "St. John Passion" 

"Gloria, laus et honor"

"Hosanna Filio David"

"Les Rameaux" (The Palms) - Jean B. Faure

Tenebrae

"Miserere" - Gregorio Allegri

"Lamentations" - Palestrina

"Emendemus in Melius" - Cristobal Morales

"Audi benige conditor" - St. Gregory the Great

"Clarum decus jejunii" - St. Gregory the Great

"O sol salutis"

"Lord, who throughout these forty days" - Claudia F. Hernaman

"Gorzkie Zale" (Bitter Sorrows, in Polish)

"Stabat Mater" - versions by Palestrina, Gioacchino Rossini, and Antonin Dvorak

"Cuius Animam"

"Improperia" - Palestrina ( also, Victoria's "Reproaches")

"Crux Fidelis" - Antonio Scandello, or Handel

Heinrich Schuetz's Gospel settings (4)

"Seven Last Words" - Franz Josef Haydn

"Christus am Oelberg" - Beethoven

"Redemption" - Cesar Franck or Eduard Blau

"Seven Last Words" - Charles Gounod or Theodore Dubois

"Olivet to Calvary" - Maunder

"Holy City" - Gaul

"Crucifixion" - Stainer

"Parsifal" - Richard Wagner

Easter Music

Victimae Paschali Laudes - Wipo

The Exultet

Claro paschali gaudio - St. Ambrose - also, see "That Easter Day with Joy was Bright"

Salve fest dies (Hail, Festive Day!) - Venantius Fortunatus

Ad regia Agni dapes (The Royal Banquet of the Lamb)

"Thou Hallowed chosen Morn of Praise" (Aute he klete kai hagia hemera) by St. John Damascene - also, see John M. Neale's translation with melody by Johann H Schein

"Sing All Nations" (Aidomen pantes laoi) by St. John Damascene  - see also "Come Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain of Triumphant Gladness" by Neale, Johan Horn

"The Day of Resurrection" (Anastaseos Hemera) by St. John Damascene - see also Neale's translation, sung to "Ave Maria, Klarer und lichter Morgenstern"

"Christus ist erstanden" (Christ is Risen) - English translation by Isaac Watts

Alleluia! O filii and filiae (Alleluia, O Sons and Daughters) - Jean Tisserand - See also "Young Men and Maids, Rejoice and Sing)

Wir wollen alle frohlich sein (Let Us All Be Glad) - text by Geoffry Shaw (Now Glad of Heart Be Every One)

Finita sunt jam proelia - English by Francis Pott, tune adapted by William H. Mock from Palestrina's Magnificat Tertii Toni

Christ the Lord is Risen Today - Charles Wesley

The World Itself - John M. Neale

The Sabbath Day was By, or Easter Carol for Children - Dean Howard Chandler Robbins

O Who Shall Roll Away the Stone? - Marion F. Ham

Haec Dies quam fecit Dominus (This is the Day Which the Lord Has Made)

Regina Coeli Laetare (Queen of Heaven, Rejoice)

Regina Coeli Jubila (Queen of Heaven, Rejoice)

Oratorios - Antonio Scandello's Auferstehungsgeschichte (Story of the Resurrection); Handel's Messiah; Charles Gounod's Redemption, especially "Unfold Ye Portals"; Cesar Franck's Redemption; and A. R. Gaul's The Holy City

"Bright Holiday" or "Russian Easter" by Nicholas A. Rimsky-Korsakoff (instrumental only; drawing from Obichod)

"Resurrection Symphony" by Gustav Mahler

Johann Sebasitan Bach had several cantatas based on text associated with Easter; also, short organ pieces inspired by the Resurrection

Surrexit Christus Hodie (Christ is Risen Today)

The Joyful Day Has Dawned for Us

A terra treme (The Earth Trembled)