Resurrection of Jesus - the feast of all holidays for Christians.
This is the day on which the Resurrection of the Son of God Jesus is celebrated on the third day after he was crucified and buried. With his death, Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of mankind, and with his resurrection he gave hope for life after death.
Gospel texts often mention that during his lifetime Jesus Christ repeatedly foretold his crucifixion and resurrection three days later. And when, on the third day after his burial, Mary Magdalene went with other women to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body with fragrant oils, as was the ancient Jewish tradition, she found the tomb empty. The Resurrection of Jesus reflects in its fullest form the Christian dogma, namely, the belief in the resurrection of the righteous in a better world.
Interestingly, the events of Easter take place around the Jewish holiday of Passover. Easter is also associated with the lunar calendar and, like Easter, changes its date every year, but there is a rule that it cannot be celebrated with the Jewish holiday, but on the Sundays around it. The principle of determination dates back to the First Ecumenical Council in 325 and is considered to be celebrated by all Christians on the Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox. The discrepancy in the dates on which Catholics and Orthodox celebrate the holiday comes from the fact that the former follow the Gregorian calendar, and the latter - the Julian calendar.
For past generations, Easter has been associated with many familiar and unfamiliar customs of modern times. In the morning they went to church, and the candle they held at Christ's Resurrection carried the silent one to the house. They brought her home where there were bedbugs, pushed her into the four corners of the room and took her out to lose the bedbugs. During the day, the women sent red eggs, cakes and wine to the godfather, brother-in-law and grandmother. In the afternoon, all the girls went under a branching tree, swung on swings for health, sang Easter songs and played round dance. The children, on the other hand, knocked red eggs early in the morning, looking for the healthiest egg, called a "kaltsok".
The shells of the eggs that were first knocked were glued to the upper threshold of the door, against any evil that might enter the house.
The modern times we live in today are very different, but still the traditional elements of the past have been largely preserved - the eggs to be painted on Thursday or Saturday, the table to have Easter cake and lamb, to go to church, people to change into new clothes, not to work on the Easter holidays.
Sources:
M. Arnaudov - Bulgarian national holidays
V. Cholakov - Bulgarian National Collection
Z. Pantaleeva - Easter - history, traditions and rituals
Photos: from the digital archive of Plamen Kochev