Everything about Easter cake: traditions, history of origin, what it symbolizes. Easter cake The history of the origin of Easter cakes and eggs

The history of Easter cake has its roots in the distant past. Kulich is often mentioned in pagan customs, and with the advent of Christianity, it became the main and most important attribute of the new religion. In the past, it was customary for various peoples to bake bread in the spring and sacrifice it to the gods of fertility. In the Christian Church, this ancient holiday was established and began to be celebrated already in apostolic times. The history of the origin of the Easter cake is connected with the apostolic times, when the tradition of celebrating one of the main Christian holidays was born.

How did the tradition of baking Easter cakes form?

In the stage of early Christianity, Easter in different churches was celebrated at different times. The first attempt to come to an agreement on the date of the celebration of Easter was made in the middle of the second century under Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. As part of the first Ecumenical Council in 325, it was decided to celebrate the Bright Resurrection of Christ everywhere at the same time.

In the East, the celebration fell on the fourteenth day of Nisan (in April), regardless of what day of the week that date fell. In the West, it was customary to celebrate the holiday on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. In the Orthodox Christian tradition, Easter is celebrated at the end of Lent. In 2017, the Bright Resurrection of Christ fell on April 16.

Before Jesus Christ came to Earth, the Jews had a tradition of baking unleavened bread, which served as a reminder of their hasty departure from Egypt. From here came another name for Easter - the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Each family should bring a lamb to the temple, and according to a special Mosaic law they slaughtered a lamb, this lamb served as a prototype and a reminder of the coming Savior. The lamb, which was called Passover, had to be baked and eaten with bitter herbs. The bitter taste served as a reminder of the many sorrows suffered by the people in Egypt.

What does the cake symbolize

With the advent of Jesus Christ, the celebration of Easter acquired a new meaning, transforming the Old Testament. “On the very first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him: Where do you order us to prepare the Passover for You? He said: go to the city to such and such and say to him: The teacher says: My time is near; I will keep the passover with my disciples at your place” (Matthew 26:17-18).

Easter cake recalls how Jesus Christ, together with his disciples, ate bread so that they would believe in his resurrection and fully realize his life mission. When the Savior was crucified, his disciples during the meal left the place of Christ free and put bread there, which was a symbol of his invisible presence. Thus, the story is explained why Easter cakes are baked on Easter.

In order to correctly interpret the symbol of the Easter cake in history, it is important to remember that the celebration of the Light Christ's Resurrection in the ancient Christian church was associated with two main aspects - the suffering that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross for the sins of all mankind, and his subsequent resurrection. This is how the concepts of Pascha of Suffering or Pascha of the Cross, as well as Pascha of the Resurrection, arose. The word "Easter" is translated from Greek as "deliverance", "overcoming". Thus, the Bright Resurrection of Christ and the history of the Easter cake are connected with two successive stages of the passage of Christ from death to life and from earth to heaven.

At the Last Supper, Christ sat among the disciples, broke bread and distributed to the disciples saying: “Take, eat: this is My Body. And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, and said, Drink all of you out of it, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father” (Matthew 26:26-29).

Types of Easter cakes

It is customary to bake a classic Easter cake from yeast dough and be sure to have a cylindrical shape. In the history of the emergence of Easter cake, an important role was played by the fact that it became an analogue church bread, arthosa (bread that is brought to the temple and consecrated at the service on the Easter holiday itself, and distributed to believers on Easter week), but it was customary to cook it at home. The shape of the traditional Easter cake resembles a church with a dome. No wonder it is customary to depict a cross on the crust. Perhaps these symbols provide it with the ability to be stored for a long time and retain its taste.

Later, a tradition was formed, which usually looks like a pyramid. This type of Easter cake is prepared on the Thursday before the holiday, and on the night of Sunday on the Bright Resurrection of Christ, it is consecrated.

The recipe for making cottage cheese cake has its own characteristics and the longer the curd mass is in the mold under pressure in a cold place, the better the taste becomes. Different countries have their own special recipes for Easter cakes. They add raisins, candied fruits, various spices.

In addition to the Easter cake, chicken eggs painted in various colors are an integral symbol of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. Although the main color, of course, is red, a symbol of the blood of Christ. Together with the Easter cake, they are carried to the temple for consecration. This is the first food that believers break their fast at the end of Lent.

P.S. To fully understand the symbolic meaning of the Easter cake, remember the words of the Savior that he told his disciples: “I am the bread of life ... The bread that comes down from heaven is such that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; but the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I gave for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).

Easter is big religious holiday which each of us has known since childhood. For the celebration, eggs are dyed and delicious Easter cakes are baked, which are customary to consecrate in the church. But not everyone knows what Easter cake and eggs mean for Easter. Let's try to deal with everything in order.

What does the word "Easter" mean?

In the Christian understanding, the word "Easter" means the transition from death to life, from earthly to heaven. Forty days before the holiday, believers observe a strict fast, and then celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the victory of life over death.

The Jews pronounce the word "Passover" as "Pescha" - this Hebrew word means "passed by, or passed by." In their understanding, Passover is the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery.

Easter: what does the holiday mean

For every believer, Easter is the main church holiday, bringing hope and faith in the best. It appeared long before the birth of Jesus Christ. Initially, the holiday had meaning only for the Jewish people, who for many years were in Egyptian captivity. Despite this, faith in liberation lived on in the hearts of the captives.

The Jewish prophet Moses and his brother were sent to save the people. Moses went to Pharaoh and tried to persuade him to let the people go. But no matter how hard he tried to do it, it was all in vain. The Egyptians did not believe in God and worshiped their own deities. To prove the existence of the Lord and his power, nine terrible plagues fell upon the people of Egypt.

During the last execution, at night, all the first-born males among animals and people were to be killed. To prevent this terrible punishment from touching the Jews, they had to slaughter a one-year-old male lamb. Draw a mark on the door with his blood, and bake the meat and eat it with the family. After this, Passover in the Jewish sense denotes a past or past misfortune.

The terrible events that took place greatly frightened the pharaoh, and he released the captives. After that, the Jews began to celebrate the liberation from slavery, and the holiday was called Easter.

The New Testament Christian Easter was established by the apostles shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then the holiday was filled with a new meaning, and began to denote the victory of life over death. Initially, the holiday was dedicated to the memory of the death of the Savior. In the 5th century, the church revised the terms and rules for the celebration. Then Easter began to be celebrated as the triumph of the Resurrection of Christ.

What do eggs and Easter cake mean?

The main attributes of pagan Easter are krashenki and Easter cake with icing. There is an opinion that the symbols were borrowed from pagans who worship the god of fertility. It was for him that cakes were baked, according to appearance resembling a phallus. The top was painted white, symbolizing sperm, and sprinkled with grain, signifying fertility. Two chicken eggs were placed next to the Easter cake to complete the picture.

Even before the advent of Christ, the egg was considered a prototype of the universe. It symbolized the rebirth of nature after hibernation, life and fertility. The ancient Egyptians gave each other eggs to celebrate the arrival of Spring.

The tradition of dyeing eggs red began during the life of Marcus Aurelius. There is a legend that when the philosopher was born, one of his mother's hens laid an egg, the shell of which had red patches. This was interpreted as a sign that the future emperor had been born. Later, the Romans developed the custom of sending colored eggs to each other as congratulations.

It is customary to dye eggs red for Easter. There are several reasons for this tradition:

It is believed that the red Easter egg is dyed with the blood of Christ.
According to another legend, after the death of the Savior, seven Jews gathered together to celebrate this event. On the table, in addition to various dishes, were boiled eggs and fried chicken. One of those present said that according to rumors, Jesus should be resurrected, to which the owner of the house replied: it is possible only if the eggs turn red and the chicken comes to life. What actually happened, becoming proof of the existence and power of the Lord.
According to the third version, after the death of Christ, his followers scattered around the world to inform people that the Savior would soon rise again, and life would conquer death. With the same news, Mary Magdalene came to the Roman emperor Tiberius. As a gift, she presented him with an egg - a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus. But that the emperor answered her that just as an egg cannot turn red from white, so the dead cannot be resurrected. At the same moment, the eggshell turned red.

At Easter, it is customary to paint eggs in different colors, but the traditional one is red, which represents life and victory.

The consecration of Easter cake at Easter is considered a historical mistake and religious illiteracy. This dish is recognized as pagan. However, the tradition of baking Easter cakes and painting eggs has entered our lives so tightly that people sometimes do not even think about what these festive attributes mean.

Video: Easter egg - a symbol of Easter

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

According to ancient tradition, the Lord Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, came to the apostles during their meals. The middle place remained unoccupied, in the middle of the table lay the bread intended for Him. Gradually, a tradition appeared on Sunday to leave bread in the temple (in Greek it was called "artos"). It was left on a special table, as the apostles did. During the entire Bright Week, artos is carried around the temple during processions, and on Saturday, after the blessing, it is distributed to believers. Since the family is small church, then gradually the custom appeared to have your own artos. This was the Easter cake (from the Greek kollikion - round bread) - tall, cylindrical, bread made from rich dough. This word entered the European languages: kulich (Spanish), koulitch (French). Having an Easter cake on the table during the Easter meal, we have the hope that the resurrected Lord is invisibly present in our house.

Cottage cheese Easter (in Trebnik - “milky thickened”, that is, cottage cheese) has the shape of a truncated pyramid, which symbolizes the coffin in which the greatest miracle of the Resurrection took place. Therefore, on the upper side there should be the letters "ХВ", meaning the greeting "Christ is Risen!". Traditionally, images of a cross, a spear, a cane, as well as sprouts and flowers, symbolizing the sufferings and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, are made on the sides of the beekeeper (form).

On Easter days, Christians greet each other with a joyful triumphant exclamation "Christ is Risen!". At the same time, kissing has been accepted since apostolic times. According to tradition, believers give each other red eggs. Tradition says that this custom originates from the Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, who offered the emperor Tiberius a red egg with the greeting "Christ is Risen!" The egg serves as a symbol of the coffin and the emergence of life in its very depths; painted with red paint, it marks our rebirth by the blood of Jesus Christ.

“Read the eggs in honor of the Koshcheev egg that our Dazhdbog broke, thus causing the Flood”
The commandment of the god Svarog

Where did the tradition of breaking Easter eggs come from? Since childhood, every Russian person is well aware of such a custom, when on Easter children collect colored eggs (crayons) on the graves and then play such a game with them - they beat two eggs against each other. Whose egg beat, he lost.

All children play these games with eggs, and this has been the case for tens of thousands of years. No one remembers where this custom came from and what it means. And the funny thing is that there is nothing like this in Catholic countries. There is an Easter Bunny there, but eggs are not dyed or beaten there at Easter.

But the truth is - this custom is already more than 100,000 years old!

And it was then around our Earth, whose name is Midgard-Earth, as many as three moons: Luna Lelya, Luna Fatta and Moon Month. The name Month has taken root in the Ukrainian language, in Russian the Moon and not just like that, but because these names are ancient.

Dazhdbog with his power destroyed the base of the Dark Forces, which are described in fairy tales as Koshchei, along with the moon Lelei, and its fragments fell to the ground and sank the great Daaria - the mainland in the Arctic Ocean, on which our ancestors originally lived.

As we know from fairy tales, Koshcheev's death is kept in an egg. This is a symbolic representation of how it really was - Koshcheev's base on the Moon or Koshcheev's death in an egg!

The holiday of victory over the dark forces was celebrated by breaking eggs. People hit hard-boiled eggs against each other, and the one who broke the shell upon impact was considered the loser. The winner took the broken egg of the loser for himself. The egg shell broken in such a game symbolized the Moon Lelya destroyed by Dazhdbog (Tarkh), along with the Koshcheev (Dark Forces) base on it.

This custom has reached our days, but the understanding has been lost.

Surprisingly, according to public opinion polls, it is this rich creation that is called "Easter", it is this creation that is talked about during Easter and it is Easter cakes that are bought in a hurry. But does Easter cake belong to Orthodoxy, to Christianity, to the Easter holiday?
The answer is clear: no, it doesn't apply.

The kulich oven is the oldest pagan tradition of the Slavs. People baked Easter cakes and baked it in the form of a male genital organ, a special form, with a brown hat sprinkled with white sugar (poured seed) and sprinkled with grain - a symbol of fertility and the beginning of spring, the beginning of the awakening of nature. And they painted eggs - also as a symbol of new life, suitable for Easter cake in various ways.

Therefore, the consecration of Easter cake at the feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ is a historical mistake, it is one of the signs of religious illiteracy.
Easter (Passover - Heb. - deliverance, transition) is both the withdrawal of the Jews from Egypt, and the Great Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Kulich "Easter" began to be called only due to a misunderstanding, this is an absurd fusion of Orthodoxy and ancient pagan rites.
In the Old Testament, the slaughtered lamb was called Easter, which represented the sacrifice of Christ. In this sense, Jesus Christ, as the Firstborn resurrected from the dead in the new eternal quality of his flesh, was the New Adam and the Ancestor of the New Testament Christian race.

Easter cake was never known in the Old Testament Easter, and indeed in Christianity. The Passover lamb was eaten with unleavened bread (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs. The origin of the Easter cake is pagan. Kulich, like tall bread with eggs, is a well-known pagan symbol of the god of fruit-bearing, Phalos. The Russian people, as a native of paganism, still interferes with concepts in folk etymology.

You may take it seriously, or you may not. You can invest in Easter cake a certain ideology, you can not invest. But do not confuse concepts. You need to know that Easter cake has nothing to do with Orthodoxy, and it is simply ridiculous for them to celebrate Easter. Thus, we unconsciously join the cult of a pagan god, symbolizing the genitals. We participate not in thanksgiving to the living God, the Creator of the Universe, but in the worship of the male genitals.
Moreover, calling Easter cakes Easter, we blaspheme the name of Christ, because He is our Easter! You must be shocked. And how could it be otherwise, if after years of 70 years of atheism and serfdom in Rus', superstitions that have not been outlived still flourish among the people? This does not mean that the cake cannot be eaten)))

Easter is much more than just tasting the products that are customary to eat on this holiday and tasting the pagan symbol of the masculine principle from the dough. It is more than a pleasant pastime with family and friends.
First of all, this is the Salvation of an entire civilization, this is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, your salvation and the salvation of people close to you. This is salvation from slavery to passions and death, this is the beginning of Christianity, which changed the moral principles throughout the world and created the world in which we live.

For the first time I am grateful to a religious person for sound reasoning. The only thing the author of the post about Easter cakes was wrong about was that there were no pagan deities with the name Phaloss. The search engine does not provide information on this issue. I propose to follow the link to the last source, there are many interesting comments that encourage reflection.

And here is an extensive article with reasoning and explanations. The history of the "Easter cake"

Indeed, it is now becoming obvious why so many rituals and conspiracies performed during the Easter period and mainly with Easter cakes and krashenka have come to us.

The origins of the tradition of beating Easter eggs

Confectionery from sweet dough; prepared in a sponge and non-dough way (see Dough). Kulich on the dough. Dilute the yeast in 1.5 cups of warm milk, add 500 g of flour, mix thoroughly so that there are no lumps, put the bowl with the dough in ... ... The Concise Encyclopedia of the Household

Literally Easter bread. Baked from rich yeast dough, with the addition of raisins and almonds. Dictionary of culinary terms. 2012 ... Culinary Dictionary

KULICH, Easter cake, husband. (from Greek kollikion round bread). Sweet rich bread, tall, cylindrical shape. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

KULICH, a, husband. Sweet, very rich tall white bread prepared for Easter (in 2 digits). | reduce Easter cake, ah, husband. | adj. kulichny, oh, oh. Cookie dough. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

Husband. Kulitsa female, Psk. Easter bread; in the south, Easter, baked with yeast and rich, with almonds, raisins, etc. Kulichik detracts. Easter cakes · stole away. Kulichny, related to him. Kulichnik husband. Nitsya wives. master baker or hunter eat Easter cakes. Kulichka wives ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Kulich, m. [from Greek. kollikion - round bread]. Sweet rich bread, tall, cylindrical shape. Big Dictionary foreign words. Publishing house "IDDK", 2007 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Exist., number of synonyms: 3 Easter cake (1) rebake (3) bread (75) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. T … Synonym dictionary

KULICH- easter, paska, sweet bread with spices, prepared for Easter by the Eastern Slavs ... Ethnographic dictionary

Easter cake- kulich, easter, paska, sweet bread with spices, prepared for Easter by the Eastern Slavs ... Encyclopedia "Peoples and Religions of the World"

Cookie dough can be prepared in two ways. First way. Dissolve the yeast in 1 1/2 cups of warm milk, add half of the flour taken, stir so that there are no lumps, cover and put the dough in a warm place. When the volume of the dough ... ... A book about tasty and healthy food

Books

Easter cake and Easter Recipes, Gorbunova E. (comp.). Here are the Easter cake recipes...
Kulich and Easter. Recipes , . A new collection of recipes for Easter dishes from the meal of the Sisterhood in the name of St. Ignatius of Stavropolsky invites the Orthodox reader to choose and cook their favorite Easter cakes and Easter, which ...

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