Borrowed and Lent: Where do Easter terms come from?

The hare, the eggs, the origins of Palm Sunday... Adam Jacot de Boinod takes a tour through Easter traditions and their roots, in this week’s Capital Letters.

There is a lot of leeway built into how Christians may celebrate Lent. Many still opt for the traditional sacrifices of meat and poultry, and eat only fish. Others, these days, opt to give up greater pleasures, such as Instagram, chocolate or fries.

The week before Easter, tradition generally kicks in. The previous Sunday, around the world, is Palm Sunday, which marks the start of Holy Week and commemorates the day on which the faithful gathered with cut palm branches

Britain’s simnel cake is topped with 11 marzipan balls representing the apostles, minus Judas. (Adobe Stock)

Different cultures have since developed their own traditions when it comes to the Easter egg. They are traditionally crimson in Greece, to honour the blood of Christ. In Slavic cultures, eggs are decorated in the regal and celebratory hues of gold and silver. And on Holy Thursday it is a custom in Austria to eat “green eggs”, hard-boiled and served with a green herb mayonnaise (or cold poached eggs a parsley aspic), in commemoration of the Last Supper.

Now for a truly delightful bit of linguistic history. The word “carnival” is said to derive from the Latin “carne vale” (literally, “goodbye to meat”). It was originally a single massive celebration that marked the start of Lent, or the Holy Week. There was singing and music and large quantities of fermented beverages, in a tradition generally believed to be linked to 16th-century Portuguese missionaries and islands in the Caribbean. Argentina is among the countries that still conduct carnivals at Lent.

Celebrations are rather quieter in Bulgaria. Here, Easter is marked by the pre-lunch ritual of cracking the eggs. Each person at the table selects an egg and taps it against the eggs of others in turn. Whoever ends up with the last unbroken egg, it is said, will have a year of good luck.

However you choose to celebrate, Happy Easter. May luck and new beginnings be yours.

(Adam Jacot de Boinod is the author of The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World)