Easter, Crossroad of Traditions

Easter is one of the major festivals of the Christian church. This master thesis deals with Easter and their colourful tradition. The first part of work is about Jewish festival Passover, Pesach. Christian Easter is connected to the Passover. The Passover festival arises from connection of two holidays Pesach and Matsot. Matsot was originally agricultural holiday and Pesach was nomadic feast connected with offering of the lamb. Later the festivals were coalesced and historicized. The festival has became a reminder of God's liberation of the Israelite from Egyptian slavery. The important component of Pesach is seder. Seder is a passover ritual feast. Jesus' last supper, where he instituted the Lord's Supper, has relationship with seder. The second part of this work deals with folk Easter custome in Czech republic. Origin of many customs is associated with pagan religion. Work outlines the bases of pre-Christian religion of Bohemia and Moravia. Spring was important term in bygone times. The country waken up in this time and it was necessary help this process to establish prosperity for following year. Lots of the Easter customs contains elements of agrarian and sympathetic magic. Some of pagan religious elements become a components of Christian Easter, for example egg. The painted Easter egg, sacred to many..