Read the following text and add these titles to the correct paragraphs:
When is it celebrated? The Origin of this celebration Pagan customs The Rabbit In short
The Easter candle The Etymology of the word Easter egg traditions Chocolate
"Easter : the holiest day of the Christmas calendar, a celebration of Jesus Christ resurrection from the
dead. So what does this miracle have to do with a bunny delivering painted eggs? The answer lies in a
hundred generations of rituals and custom.
A.
According to the Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus Christ and his apostles entered Jerusalem to
observe Passover, the Jewish holy season that celebrates the Hebrews' release from slavery. After the
Passover supper, Jesus was arrested and, on what is now called Good Friday, he was crucified.
Two days later, he rose from the dead. Those of Jewish origins were the first to celebrate the
resurrection, likely as a new fast of the Passover festival.
B.
In fact, the Easter celebration was called PASCHA. It's derived from the world PESACH, the Jewish
translation for Passover.
C.
Originally Easter was celebrated two days after Passover, so it fell on any day of the week but Easter
Wednesday just didn't feel right. In 325 AD, the Roman emperor Constantin and the Council of Nicaea
ruled that Easter must fall only on a Sunday, the day when Christ rose. Easter Sunday would be the first
Sunday to follow the full moon after the spring equinox. They would occur anywhere between March
22 and April 25
D.
Around the same time, Christians began one of the first recorded rituals of the modern history
celebrations: the lighting of the Paschal candle. Its flame is a reminder of Jesus Christ resurrection: light
out of darkness.
E.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, different pagan customs blended into the holidays.
In fact, the actual word Easter may have come from Estra, the goddess of spring and fertility, which
brings us to the Easter egg. Eggs have been a mythological symbol of birth for thousands of years.
Christians adopted the egg as an Easter custom sometime around the 13th century. The yoke inside the
shell represented Christ emergence from the tomb. Eggs were painted red to represent the blood
Christ shed on the cross.
F.
The colorful Easter egg soon hatched its own traditions. A popular one was egg rolling. In 1876,
Congress prohibited kids from playing on the Capitol grounds, so President Rutherford B. Haynes
opened the White House lawn to the little rollers. After that, the White House Easter roll became a
tradition. So when did the Easter bunny appear to the scene?
G.
The fur little rabbit had long been a symbol in European pagan celebrations. Beginning around the 16th
century, parents told children that if they behaved on the eve of Easter, the "Oschter Haws" would