Виховна година на тему "Easter gatherings"

Easter gatherings

Teacher: Onischuk S.D.

     Venue: Festively decorated hall of the Lyceum

Participants: students, teachers, employees of the Lyceum.

Objective: To acquaint students with the history of the holiday, bring a sense of respect for the traditions and customs of Ukrainian people. Develop memory, orator skills, cultivate children's love for their native land, careful attitude to the native language.

Equipment: Easter tree, Easter eggs, pictures, embroidered towels.

Presenter 1: If one fine spring day before Easter you meet a lot of people who bring to the temples and churches delicate bunches of willow, it  means that the Holy feast - Palm Sunday has come...

Presenter 2: But why is Palm Sunday called so?

Once upon a time the Jews had an interesting tradition: when kings or winners came to Jerusalem, people, holding palm branches, met them with applause and shouts of joy.

Presenter 1: The same way laying the road with palm branches and beautiful decorations, residents met Jesus, but not as earthly king or military commander in chief, but as a saint who conquered death and sin. With coming of the Savior locals hopes for a quick liberation from the Roman yoke.

Christ came to the city on a donkey, that meant peace in the East (entering the city on a donkey symbolizes arrival in peace rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse). This significant event called the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem or Palm Sunday.

 Presenter 2: So long as palms do not grow in Ukraine, our ancestors, honoring Jesus brought willow branches to the church. They were analogues of palm branches by which Jews glorified Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. Therefore, the feast has become known as Willow Sunday.

There is a tradition to sanctify everyone in the family by holy willow saying the words: "It is not me hitting you, it is the willow hitting you. In a week it will be Easter. Soon you will have a red egg. It is not me hitting you, it is the rod hitting you. In a week it will be Easter! Be all healthy as water, and rich as the earth. "

 Presenter 1: Special attention was paid to omens on Palm Sunday:

• If it is sunny weather on Palm Sunday the harvest will be poor.
• If it rains – the harvest will be rich.
• The wind that blows in this day will prevail all the year long.

They say if  in the storm you throw a sanctified willow against the wind - the storm settles. And if you stick a sanctified sprig into ground – the willow saves crops. Since ancient times people honestly believe – lightning never strikes the house with the willow.

Easter

Presenter 2: Spring comes early, for the Orthodox it is always associated with Easter.

Presenter 1: Easter is a feast dating back to the gray-haired antiquity. Researchers define that it is known in our lands for at least 7,000 years. Even at that time the cosmogonic nature of the feast was determined, its unique and rich ritual was developed, including the celebration of Verbytsia, painted eggs, baking loaf (Easter baked pudding) and others. It was celebrated as a spring sun and nature holiday that was revived after winter sleep like Victory of Light over Darkness, Day over Night, Spring sunlight over the darkness of winter. Immediately Easter was mentioned under the astronomical position of the sun - during the spring equinox, when the day becomes longer than the night. Period of celebration covered a series events connected with each other but different to the rites of content, value and so on.

Presenter 2: The feast of Easter is based on Biblical legend about exodus of Jews from Egyptian slavery, so this holiday can not be Ukrainian as a matter of fact nor according to its ritualism.

Easter Traditions

Presenter 1: Easter Celebrating by Orthodox Church has its own traditions. Before the feast comes 7-days Lent when believers refuse certain types of food. Last week before the feast is called the Holy Week, every day of it is dedicated to the events of Christ's life.

Presenter 2: On Great Monday you should prepare your house - paint, wash, clean it. On Great Tuesday during worship Jesus Christ taught conversations with students and his last parable. On this day, we must prepare a clothing iron clothes.

Presenter 1: On Holy Wednesday should clean the house, take out the trash. We must also cook eggs for painting and dying, prepare instrument necessary for their production.

      Presenter 2: Passion Thursday or so-called Clean Thursday when Jesus with his disciples shared the last meal at the Last Supper. The most ceremonies, performances and omens falls on this day has. Traditionally people bake cakes this day. For Clean Thursday you should prepare your body, wash thoroughly, especially children and the sick, because water on Clean Thursday washes away all diseases and protects from misfortunes. A Passion Candle made on Passion Thursday protects dwelling against fires and its inhabitants against diseases.

Presenter 1: It is this candle brings alive fire that lit this day in churches. It's very important, and in any case not to let it be blown out, bring the candle to their home. There is a belief that God on Passion Thursday releases righteous souls to the land for celebration of "Mortuary Easter". So entering a church late at night you can see on people's imagination the way the dead praise the Resurrection of Christ, and the church service is serviced by dead priests.

Presenter 2: On Holy Friday, at dinner, burial of Christ is mentioned and with great solemnity the Shroud is taken out from the altar in the middle of the church for veneration of believers. The most sorrowful day is Friday, because on that day Christ died. You shouldn’t eat anything at all, sing nor listen to music. In the evening, people go to church, where the Shroud is shown, the cloth, with which the body of Jesus was wrapped after the removal him from the cross, on which he is depicted in his grave. On this day, you shouldn’t sew, wash, cut anything. Breaking this ban is a great sin.

Presenter 1: Holy Saturday is the last day of the Lent. In the morning the keep worshipping the Shroud. On the eve of Easter - the Holy Saturday - all the believers gather in the church for prayer.

Presenter 2: It is the custom to sanctify Easter food in the Church. Traditional dishes are

1. curd cake,

2. painted eggs,

3. Easter cake.  

Video № 1 Easter procession

Presenter 2: On midnight before the Easter Sunday cross procession goes near the church. The festivities begin on Sunday, after fasting believers can eat different dishes.

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Presenter 1: On this day people greet each other

saying, "Christ is Risen" and answer: "He is risen indeed."

Where does the custom of painting Easter eggs originate from? There are several versions. According to one of them, the first who painted eggs was Mary the Virgin, to console the baby Jesus. On the other - Easter egg was presented to the emperor Tiberius Rome by Mary Magdalene. The emperor did not believe the news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, saying that it is not possible, as hen’s egg can not be red. And at this moment an egg in his hand became red. The color of Easter egg is the color of the blood of the Savior, shed on the cross.

Presenter 2: So we paint or dye eggs as a sign of our faith that Christ is risen! For, as the Apostle Paul said: "If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless." Although people painted eggs during the pagan time, pre-Christian days, with the advent of Christianity they acquired a new meaning, a new symbolism. Easter eggs have become a symbol of the Resurrection.

Presenter 1: We divide the painted Easter eggs into Dyed, Dotted, Drawn, Scratched and Painted eggs.

Each ornament and color - it's like a separate letter of the alphabet. Combining on the egg, these "letters" create messages, protective prayer for the owner. Different regions of Ukraine have their own special designs and colors, as well as dialects. But in general the language of Ukrainian Easter eggs is common.

Symbolism of colors

Red is the color associated with the departure to the world beyond. Over time it means the heavenly fire, symbolizes strength, male, health, love and power. On Easter holiday red Easter eggs are the most often prepared.

Yellow color means ripe grain, abundance, harvest, moon and stars.

Blue color represents sky, air, water and health.

Green is the color of spring, resurrection of nature, rich flora and fauna.

Brown means earth-mother.

Black color is found on the egg, but Easter eggs were not painted black. Black is associated with the afterlife, and is a symbol of the earth.

Presenter 2: Let’s watch a masterclass of egg painting.