tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/easter-5126/articles
Easter – The Conversation
2024-03-28T05:50:27Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226389
2024-03-28T05:50:27Z
2024-03-28T05:50:27Z
A hollow egg or the whole basket? How much chocolate should my kid eat this Easter?
<p>Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging than ever. </p>
<p>Meanwhile kids are receiving chocolate eggs at every turn from friends, relatives and the Easter Bunny (or bilby). </p>
<p>But this can also make it very tricky for parents to manage their kids’ chocolate intake. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/each-easter-we-spend-about-62-a-head-on-chocolates-but-the-cost-of-buying-unsustainable-products-can-be-far-greater-225784">Each Easter we spend about $62 a head on chocolates, but the cost of buying unsustainable products can be far greater</a>
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<h2>What’s in chocolate?</h2>
<p>There are potential health benefits of chocolate. Cocoa beans are rich in fat, vitamins, minerals and phenolic compounds (or phytochemicals) which have been shown to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23462053">reduce blood pressure</a>. </p>
<p>But these phenolic compounds taste so bitter they make raw cocoa almost inedible. And this is where food processing steps in. </p>
<p>Sugar, milk fat and other ingredients are added to make milk chocolate – the amount of cocoa used is small. By the time you get to “white chocolate” there is no cocoa at all.</p>
<p>Overall, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29903472/">studies on the health benefits</a> of chocolate show very weak evidence that chocolate is good for our health.</p>
<p>If there is a benefit, it comes from very dark, bitter chocolate with a high proportion of cocoa (and phytochemicals), which children tend not to like. Dark chocolate sometimes gives adults a “mood boost” as it contains caffeine. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Chopped up dark chocolate on a board." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584317/original/file-20240326-24-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Dark chocolate is higher in bitter phytochemicals, which children do not tend to enjoy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-dried-leaves-on-white-ceramic-plate-4ewSZirtA7U">Sigmund/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>How much chocolate should kids eat?</h2>
<p>All types of chocolate are classed as “discretionary” foods, the same as biscuits, cake and sugary drinks. This means they should be considered as treats. </p>
<p>As a rough guide, kids aged two to three years should not have more than one serve per day of <a href="https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/how-much-do-we-need-each-day/recommended-number-serves-children-adolescents-and-toddlers">discretionary foods </a> and for older kids up to three serves per day. Translating this into “chocolate”, a serve of chocolate would be 25–30g. An average hollow chocolate Easter egg weighs in at around 100g. </p>
<p>But it is OK for children to have some chocolate as a treat. Kids are not going to go sugar crazy if they enjoy eating their bunny or have some extra chocolate over the Easter break. </p>
<p>If children eat only chocolate through the day, this could lead to a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30951762/">sugar crash</a> and leave kids hungry and cranky at bedtime. So make sure you fill them up with real food before letting them at the chocolate eggs. </p>
<p>Babies should not be offered chocolate as it will sensitise them to overly sweet flavours. But those <a href="https://growandgotoolbox.com/digital-resources/lumpy-road-to-solids">more than six months old</a> can join in the fun with a “real egg” hard boiled.</p>
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<img alt="Two young children hold boxes containing small, chocolate eggs in foil wrapping." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584314/original/file-20240326-28-46r6h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It is OK for kids to have chocolate as a treat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/kids-holding-box-with-candies-7281861/">RDNE Stock Project/ Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>How can you manage Easter festivities?</h2>
<p>When planning treats for your kids, there are a few things you can do to manage the chocolate:</p>
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<li><p>if you are buying eggs and bunnies, compare the weight of products to help you choose a suitable serving size for your child’s age</p></li>
<li><p>use small, individually wrapped eggs in your egg hunt. Smaller pre-wrapped portions help parents manage consumption over time without nagging and demonising chocolate as a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-kids-have-a-healthier-halloween-and-what-do-you-do-with-the-leftover-lollies-216634">bad food</a>”</p></li>
<li><p>ask family members to buy an alternative gift such as a book or game to reduce the sheer quantity of chocolates entering the house at Easter</p></li>
<li><p>remember bunnies eat carrots too! Offer savoury snacks before the chocolate to help fill them up with essential nutrients before they have their treats. </p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-having-chocolate-can-make-you-feel-great-or-a-bit-sick-plus-4-tips-for-better-eating-202848">Here's why having chocolate can make you feel great or a bit sick – plus 4 tips for better eating</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Dix receives funding from a Department of Health and Aged Care Preventative Health grant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Truby has received funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health: Public Health and Chronic Disease program for the Grow and Go Toolbox, the Medical Research Future Fund, National Health and Medical Research Council, The Victorian Cancer Agency and the AJ Logan Trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stella Boyd-Ford recives funding for employment from a Department of Health and Aged Care Preventative Health grant.</span></em></p>
Easter is the time for chocolate. This can also make it very tricky for parents to manage their kids’ chocolate intake.
Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland
Helen Truby, Professorial Research Fellow, School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland
Stella Boyd-Ford, Research Fellow with the Grow&Go Toolbox, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226745
2024-03-28T05:49:47Z
2024-03-28T05:49:47Z
The rocking story of how religion crept into popular music – where it remains even today
<p>It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or '90s kid, you might be surprised to find many of your favourite tunes are more concerned about Jesus and God than you’d realised. </p>
<p>Many chart-topping songs in Western music delve into themes of faith (especially Christianity), spirituality and divinity. But unlike Christmas music, most of these come from a rock tradition.</p>
<h2>Early gospel makes the charts</h2>
<p>Hits by some of rock’s greatest guitarists, such as George Harrison, Lenny Kravitz and Prince, feature strong guitar riffs that create a sense of aural transcendence. These riffs, which involve a repeated note sequence or chord progression, help to define their songs.</p>
<p>This intertwining of guitar and Christian spirituality dates back to the emergence of rock music in the 1940s. American rock pioneer <a href="https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/sister-rosetta-tharpe-rocknroll-pioneer/">Sister Rosetta Tharpe</a> (1915–73), from the Pentecostal church, used powerful guitar riffs that surged with soulfulness. </p>
<p>Tharpe’s 1944 gospel song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4-22b72muY&ab_channel=HistoryofRockMusic-Mostpowerfulrocksongs">Strange Things Happening Every Day</a> – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IfYroJOiMg&ab_channel=RCARecords">covered by Yola</a> for the 2022 film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_(2022_film)">Elvis</a> – is a great example.</p>
<p>Using electric guitar, and the theological message “Jesus is the holy light”, Tharpe’s was the first song to cross over from gospel into a mainstream “race” chart in the US. “<a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/popular-songs-of-the-day/rhythm-and-blues/">Race music</a>”, which eventually became R&B, was the term used to describe African American music (but generally just referred to secular music).</p>
<h2>The rise of spirituality and counterculture</h2>
<p>Christian rock also has roots in the 1960s US <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/1960s-counterculture">counterculture</a> “hippie” movement. The Jesus People brought a Christian vibe to this movement, leading to works such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1971 rock opera <a href="https://playbill.com/article/look-back-at-the-original-broadway-production-of-jesus-christ-superstar#">Jesus Christ Superstar</a>, which is still being performed more than 50 years later.</p>
<p>Throughout the 1960s and '70s, plenty of songs exploring themes of God, faith and spirituality climbed their way into the Top 20. For example, Norman Greenbaum’s 1970 track <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2msh0jut2Y&ab_channel=CraftRecordings">Spirit in the Sky</a> became popular during the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/24/the-unlikely-endurance-of-christian-rock">Christian rock movement</a>. </p>
<p>It was joined in the same year by Harrison’s hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04v-SdKeEpE&ab_channel=GeorgeHarrisonVEVO">My Sweet Lord</a>, which is particularly interesting because of its mix of spiritual undertones, which reflect the West’s growing interest in Eastern spirituality at the time. </p>
<p>Along with the repetition of “lord” (which is said around 40 times) and the use of the Christian/Hebrew word “Hallelujah”, the song also includes chants of “Hare Krishna” and “Hare Rama”, praising the Hindu gods.</p>
<p>My Sweet Lord became the <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/george-harrison-my-sweet-lord-music-video/">highest-selling single</a> in the United Kingdom in 1971, as well as the first solo number-one hit by a member of the Beatles. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. The song sparked controversy, and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/08/archives/george-harrison-guilty-of-plagiarizing-subconsciously-a-62-tune-for.html">lawsuit that claimed</a> it was too similar to The Chiffons’s 1963 hit He’s So Fine.</p>
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<p>For some, My Sweet Lord is considered a Christian song – at least the until the Hindu chants begin. But the mixing of religious elements was seen by some conservative Christians as satanic, or pagan (even though Hinduism <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-hinduism-a-pagan-relig_b_1245373">isn’t a pagan</a> religion). </p>
<p>Music throughout the 1960s and '70s, while it still touched on religious themes, grew much more rebellious and edgy with bands like <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20151027-the-satanists-who-changed-music">The Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath</a>. </p>
<p>Topics such as sex, drugs and hedonism became common – as did protesting against traditional values. From this cocktail emerged the view that rock was the <a href="https://www.udiscovermusic.com/in-depth-features/the-devil-has-all-the-best-tunes/">devil’s music</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jesus-people-a-movement-born-from-the-summer-of-love-82421">'Jesus People' – a movement born from the 'Summer of Love'</a>
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<h2>The 80s: when religion met raunchy</h2>
<p>The 1980s and '90s continued the trend of intertwining spirituality and popular music. Many of these tracks stirred deep discussions on faith, cementing music’s power as a medium for expressing complex themes.</p>
<p>Lenny Kravitz’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnqUK7XF54k">Are You Gonna Go My Way</a> (1993) was written to sound like the lyrics came from Jesus himself:</p>
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<p>I was born long ago, I am the chosen. I’m the one. I have come to save the day, and I won’t leave until I’m done […] But what I really want to know is, are you gonna go my way? </p>
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<p>Prince’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJhDltzYVQ&ab_channel=Prince">Lets Go Crazy</a> (1984) was a metaphor for God and Satan, hinted at in the line “are we gonna let the elevator bring us down? Oh no let’s go!” </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Madonna’s 1989 smash Like a Prayer made more than one wave when it topped the charts 35 years ago. The music video stirred up <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/from-the-archives-outrage-over-madonna-video-20190402-p51a0s.html">quite a controversy</a> by mixing the sacred with the profane. Among other things, Madonna is shown dancing among burning crosses, and kissing a black Christ who comes to life from being a statue.</p>
<p>The video conveys messages about prejudice, racism, violence and sexuality. Some networks refused to show it, deeming it inappropriate for children. Others aired it with a warning it might offend viewers. The Catholic Church was outraged and the Vatican condemned it. </p>
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<p>Nonetheless, the video achieved huge commercial success, winning MTV’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0003172/1989/1/">1989 Video Music Award</a> for Viewer’s Choice. Even now, it remains a pinnacle of music video art.</p>
<h2>Religion is still everywhere in music</h2>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2023/02/10/sam-smiths-grammys-performance-criticized-by-conservatives-and-satanists/?sh=3339c55f30b1">most of us</a> won’t bat an eyelid when we see Lil Nas X <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/lil-nas-x-montero-call-me-by-your-name-video-church-of-satan-1147634/">giving Satan a lapdance</a>, and that’s probably because of the work of artists like Madonna. </p>
<p>It’s interesting that, despite a <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/religious-affiliation-australia">rise in secularism</a>, the intersection of the sacred and secular in music has persisted. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, with its intermingling spiritual and sexual themes, is still one of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/17/hallelujah-leonard-cohen-film-rejected-song-became-classic">most popular songs</a> of all time.</p>
<p>Today, many of the world’s most famous contemporary artists continue the tradition of engaging with spiritual and religious themes. Take Drake’s 2018 hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM&ab_channel=DrakeVEVO">God’s Plan</a>, or The Weeknd’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/07/the-weeknd-dawn-fm-review">highly acclaimed</a> 2022 album Dawn FM, replete with spiritual undertones and religious symbolism. </p>
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<p>Perhaps it’s just in the nature of religion to evoke feeling and inspire, even for those who aren’t “religious” themselves. Or perhaps we’ve collectively realised musicians can experiment with themes and take risks, and it won’t bring about the end of the world. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lil-nas-xs-dance-with-the-devil-evokes-tradition-of-resisting-mocking-religious-demonization-158586">Lil Nas X's dance with the devil evokes tradition of resisting, mocking religious demonization</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Panizza Allmark does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
You’d be surprised by how many of your favourite hits are about God or Jesus in one way or another.
Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225902
2024-03-28T05:48:40Z
2024-03-28T05:48:40Z
What is the Stations of the Cross ritual, and why do Christians still perform it at Easter?
<p>A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some enjoy the season of hot cross buns and egg-shaped chocolates; others forgo such luxuries during daylight hours due to their Ramadan fast. Jews have recently celebrated Purim and remembered the bravery of Esther; meanwhile, the Hindu festival of Holi begins.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, hordes in their colours flock to the footy; others get involved in the Good Friday Appeal; and certain Christians enact a medieval tradition of walking the way of the cross around the streets of Melbourne. </p>
<p>So what is it, and why is it still performed?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jesus-wasnt-white-he-was-a-brown-skinned-middle-eastern-jew-heres-why-that-matters-91230">Jesus wasn't white: he was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew. Here's why that matters</a>
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<p>To enter into the Stations or Way of the Cross ritual is to enter into the last hours of Jesus before he was crucified, just outside Jerusalem around the year 33 CE. </p>
<p>Those last hours included a meal with his friends, prayer in a garden, his arrest and a trial that ends in the sentence of death by crucifixion. His body was then stripped and flogged, the cross placed on his shoulders to carry to the execution place. He stumbled under the weight of the cross, then placement on the cross to which he was nailed through his hands and feet, his last words, and his death. The last two stations, usually only visited on Easter morning, celebrate his resurrection from death.</p>
<p>The Stations of the Cross is a devotional and contemplative exercise, as pilgrims stop and pray, hear scripture, and ponder in silence the significance of each station, getting closer to the moment of Jesus’ death each time. </p>
<p>The practice of <em>memento mori</em> (remembering death) is found in a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions. But Jesus’ death is a bit different – at least for Christians. At one level, Jesus died in a typical manner of execution for lower class people in the Roman Empire. As gruesome as it was, it was not unique or special. </p>
<p>But Christians quickly imbued this particular death with much more meaning. Jesus was believed to be the incarnation of God (that is, God in human form) and to have been raised from the dead three days later. And so his death and resurrection was interpreted as an event that brought salvation, forgiveness, and a new way of life into the world. It is this mystery Christians continue to celebrate all these years later. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584654/original/file-20240327-26-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">For Christians, the Stations of the Cross is an opportunity to reflect on every stage leading to Jesus’ crucifixion, and later resurrection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The Stations of the Cross has its roots in early Christian pilgrims visiting Jerusalem to walk in the final footsteps of Jesus. While the origins are unclear, it became popular in the late medieval period and was common across Europe by the 16th century. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mccia.org.au/way-of-the-cross/">Melbourne city version of these stations</a> include 14 bronze reliefs located at a wide variety of churches in and around the CBD. Individuals can walk these themselves or join the city churches at 10am on Good Friday, starting at St Francis’ Church. Pre-COVID, this walking in the way of Jesus attracted up to 3,000 people each Good Friday. </p>
<p>This public expression of faith can seem unusual in a contemporary Australian city like Melbourne. Australian culture sometimes encourages people to keep their faith private. Our religious tolerance strains at its limits when religion spills out of homes, synagogues, temples, churches, or mosques and into the public sphere. People walking around the city stopping to reflect on a violent death that took place more than 2,000 years ago can seem awkward, even embarrassing to those looking on. Others watch with interest.</p>
<p>This raises the question of the kind of secular society we want to live in. One version of secularism says that religion should be kept well out of the public sphere, practised in private, and should not inform a person’s participation in public life. France often tends in this direction (see, for example, repeated attempts to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-30/france-bans-muslim-abayas-in-school-sparking-secularism-debate/102792014">ban the hijab</a> in public). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victim-or-victor-how-the-easter-story-still-resonates-today-203152">Victim or victor? How the Easter story still resonates today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But another version of secularism says that while the state should not favour any particular religious or non-religious tradition, we are a stronger and richer society if we encourage all faiths and cultures to express themselves in public. Rather than hiding our deepest beliefs away, we should share them with each other.</p>
<p>On Good Friday afternoon, another tradition comes to life, as thousands gather to scream, yell and sing tribal songs as their teams fight it out on a football oval. To a non-AFL fan like myself, that gathering is equally strange. Yet, I can recognise the emotion and fervour as something familiar, something joyful, something that taps into our deepest desires and brings us together across cultural and social divides. </p>
<p>When footy games were first scheduled on this holy day for Christians, it was not without controversy. Headlines cried “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/religion-versus-sport-explaining-afl-games-on-good-friday-20140621-3al1d.html">religion versus sport</a>” and genuine questions about consumerism and work were raised. </p>
<p>For me, there is a certain delight in living in a society where not everyone is religious and even if they are, they are not religious in the same way. I’m glad to live in a society where such activities occur side by side, be they footy, Purim, Ramadan, Holi, or Easter. I am glad to live in a society where some yell at the footy and some pray in a city street – and some do both.</p>
<p>The Stations of the Cross is one more visible sign of our multicultural, multifaith society at work. We can be proud to live in a society where rituals that seem strange to some are nonetheless tolerated and even welcomed. This is something everyone can celebrate, whether religious or not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn J. Whitaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Like a lot of things that happen at this time of year, the Stations of the Cross is a ritual – and an important one to many.
Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226759
2024-03-27T21:30:45Z
2024-03-27T21:30:45Z
Eating some chocolate really might be good for you – here’s what the research says
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584848/original/file-20240327-30-mjl9ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C32%2C5431%2C3604&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-attractive-woman-eating-bitter-chocolate-231874846">Mikolaj Niemczewski/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although it always makes me scoff slightly to see Easter eggs making their first appearance in supermarkets at the end of December, there are few people who aren’t delighted to receive a bit of chocolate every year. </p>
<p>It makes sense that too much chocolate would be bad for you because of the high fat and sugar content in most products. But what should we make of common claims that eating some chocolate is actually good for you?</p>
<p>Happily, there is a fair amount of evidence that shows, in the right circumstances, chocolate may be both beneficial for your heart and good for your mental state.</p>
<p>In fact, chocolate – or more specifically cacao, the raw, unrefined bean – is a medicinal wonder. It contains many different active compounds which can evoke pharmacological effects within the body, like medicines or drugs. </p>
<p>Compounds that lead to neurological effects in the brain have to be able to cross the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-13443-2_7">blood-brain barrier</a>, the protective shield which prevents harmful substances – like toxins and bacteria – entering the delicate nervous tissue. </p>
<p>One of these is the compound <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3672386/">theobromine</a>, which is also found in tea and contributes towards its bitter taste. Tea and chocolate also contain caffeine, which theobromine is related to as part of the purine family of chemicals. </p>
<p>These chemicals, among others, contribute to chocolate’s addictive nature. They have the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, where they can influence the nervous system. They are therefore known as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15549276/">psychoactive</a> chemicals. </p>
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<p>What effects can chocolate have on mood? Well, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/71/10/665/1931144?login=false">a systematic review</a> looked at a group of studies which examined the feelings and emotions associated with consuming chocolate. Most demonstrated improvements in mood, anxiety, energy and states of arousal. </p>
<p>Some noted the feeling of guilt, which is perhaps something we’ve all felt after one too many Dairy Milks. </p>
<h2>Health benefits of cocoa</h2>
<p>There are other organs, aside from the brain, that might benefit from the medicinal effects of cocoa. For centuries, chocolate has been used as a medicine to treat a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10917925/">long list of diseases</a> including anaemia, tuberculosis, gout and even low libido.</p>
<p>These might be spurious claims but there is evidence to suggest that eating cacao has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system. First, it can prevent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8068178/">endothelial dysfunction</a>. This is the process through which arteries harden and get laden down with fatty plaques, which can in turn lead to heart attacks and strokes. </p>
<p>Eating dark chocolate may also reduce <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1537189115001135?via%3Dihub">blood pressure</a>, which is another risk factor for developing arterial disease, and prevent formation of clots which block up blood vessels.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8VUcPCbSSCY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Some studies have suggested that dark chocolate might be useful in adjusting ratios of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20968113/">high-density lipoprotein cholesterol</a>, which can help protect the heart. </p>
<p>Others have examined insulin resistance, the phenomenon associated with Type 2 diabetes and weight gain. They suggest that the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996900000697#:%7E:text=Cocoa%20is%20rich%20in%20polyphenols%20particularly%20in%20catechins,and%20cocoa%20powder%20have%20been%20published%20only%20recently.">polyphenols</a> – chemical compounds present in plants – found in foodstuffs like chocolate may also lead to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29993262/">improved control of blood sugars</a>.</p>
<h2>Chocolate toxicity</h2>
<p>As much as chocolate might be considered a medicine for some, it can be a poison for others. </p>
<p>It’s well documented that the ingestion of caffeine and theobromine is highly toxic for domestic animals. Dogs are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4801869/">particularly affected</a> because of their often voracious appetites and generally unfussy natures. </p>
<p>The culprit is often dark chocolate, which can provoke symptoms of agitation, rigid muscles and even seizures. In certain cases, if ingested in high enough quantities, it can lead to comas and abnormal, even fatal heart rhythms. </p>
<p>Some of the compounds found in chocolate have also been found to have potentially negative effects in humans. Chocolate is a source of oxalate which, along with calcium, is one of the main components of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20301742/">kidney stones</a>. </p>
<p>Some clinical groups have advised against consuming oxalate rich foods, such as spinach and rhubarb – and chocolate, for those who suffer from recurrent kidney stones. </p>
<p>So, what should all this mean for our chocolate consumption habits? Science points in the direction of chocolate that has as high a cocoa solid content as possible, and the minimum of extras. The potentially harmful effects of chocolate are more related to fat and sugar, and may counteract any possible benefits. </p>
<p>A daily dose of 20g-30g of plain or dark chocolate with cocoa solids above 70% – rather than milk chocolate, which contains fewer solids and white chocolate, which contains none – could lead to a greater health benefit, as well as a greater high. </p>
<p>But whatever chocolate you go for, please don’t share it with the dog.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Baumgardt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Who doesn’t love a chocolate egg or two at Easter? Here’s why a little indulgence may not do much harm.
Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226229
2024-03-27T19:07:26Z
2024-03-27T19:07:26Z
Art depicts Jesus in a loincloth on the cross – the brutal truth is he would have been naked
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583785/original/file-20240323-20-9hf3zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=269%2C202%2C1964%2C1470&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around his waist. We now know, however, this has more to do with artistic convention than historical accuracy.</p>
<p>Featuring a loincloth goes back to the first Christian images of the crucifixion. Early examples include the <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1856-0623-5">Maskell ivory panel</a> from early 5th-century Rome, and the depiction carved into the doors of the Santa Sabina basilica in Rome, built between 422 and 432 CE. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Panel from church door showing Jesus crucified" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584335/original/file-20240326-28-t89j1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Door panel from the Santa Sabina basilica in Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Santa Sabina depiction shows Jesus crucified alongside the two thieves. But even though their wooden crosses are not shown, the artists have taken care to give each figure a loincloth.</p>
<p>The loincloth adornment has become so firmly fixed since the 5th century that most people take it for granted. However, the historical evidence shows it is not something victims of crucifixion <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429289750">would have been permitted</a>. </p>
<h2>The naked truth</h2>
<p>There are five sources of evidence indicating Jesus was crucified naked. </p>
<p>First, all four New Testament gospels record he was stripped of his clothing at the cross. John <a href="https://biblehub.com/john/19-23.htm">includes the detail</a> that Jesus was stripped not only of his outer garment but also his undergarment – his <em>chiton</em>, or tunic. </p>
<p>There is no mention of a loincloth in any of these accounts. Early readers would not have needed to be told Jesus was fully naked. They would have understood what crucifixion involved. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/himtoo-why-jesus-should-be-recognised-as-a-victim-of-sexual-violence-93677">#HimToo – why Jesus should be recognised as a victim of sexual violence</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In support of this, early Christian writers make reference to Jesus’ nakedness. For example, Melito of Sardis, a 2nd-century bishop in what is now Turkey, <a href="https://sachurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/On-Pascha-Melito-of-Sardis.pdf">writes</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Sovereign has been made unrecognisable by his naked body, and is not even allowed a garment to keep him from view. That is why the luminaries turned away, and the day was darkened, so that he might hide the one stripped bare upon the tree.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the 4th century, the theologian and philosopher Augustine <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120116.htm">compared Jesus</a> with Noah, after Noah became drunk and fell asleep naked.</p>
<h2>Non-Christian depictions of the cross</h2>
<p>The second piece of evidence is a bloodstone amulet from the late 2nd or early 3rd century, often referred to as the Pereire gem (named after a former owner). It <a href="https://grbs.library.duke.edu/index.php/grbs/article/view/15935">shows</a> a bearded and fully naked male figure on the cross, surrounded by inscriptions that include “Son, Father, Jesus Christ”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="ancient gemstone depicting Jesus crucified" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584336/original/file-20240326-24-tgwp5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pereire gem depicts a naked Jesus on the cross.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is believed this gemstone was a magical amulet from the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria or Turkey). Its origins are likely non-Christian, since Christians were warned against magical images.</p>
<p>The image is probably the earliest representation of Jesus on the cross, and predates by about 200 years the Christian 5th-century depictions of the crucifixion featuring a loincloth.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sexualised-jesus-causes-outrage-in-spain-but-christians-have-long-been-fascinated-by-christs-body-222343">'Sexualised' Jesus causes outrage in Spain – but Christians have long been fascinated by Christ's body</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Third, the <a href="https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2017/01/13/the-crucifixion-graffito-of-alkimilla-from-puteoli/">Puteoli graffito</a>, dated to the Trajan-Hadrian period of the Roman Empire (98–138 CE), is the earliest image so far discovered for any Roman crucifixion. It was unearthed in 1959 on the wall of an inn in Puteoli near Naples. </p>
<p>It shows a crucified figure pictured from behind. The horizontal stripes across the body suggest the figure has been whipped while naked, and then crucified fully naked.</p>
<p>Fourth, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (writing in the 1st century BCE) <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/7C*.html">records the execution of a slave</a> who was marched to the place of execution naked. Dionysius does not specify that the execution was a crucifixion, but “slaves’ punishment” was a common euphemism for crucifixion. The passage is often cited as historical evidence for the Roman practice of naked crucifixions.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Oo6-zvpfIdY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Puteoli graffito is visible on the wall 15 seconds into the video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shame and humiliation</h2>
<p>Finally, both Christian and Roman writings describe crucifixion in terms of supreme shame, not just extreme pain. The forced naked exposure of the victim would have been a powerful way to promote such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341588">shame and humiliation</a>. Permitting a loincloth would undermine this. </p>
<p>The intense shame associated with crucifixion is also a likely reason why Christian artists did not show Jesus on the cross until the 5th century. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/was-jesus-really-nailed-to-the-cross-56321">Was Jesus really nailed to the cross?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When they finally began to show the scene, about a century after the emperor Constantine abolished crucifixions, they always gave Jesus a loincloth to reduce the shame and violence of the act. </p>
<p>So, there is no clear historical evidence in favour of loincloths at crucifixions. But there is firm evidence from Christian and non-Christian sources indicating victims were naked. </p>
<p>The practice of including a loincloth was an understandable response to a form of execution intended to deny the victim any dignity. For those interested in the history of crucifixion and how it was seen at the time, the loincloth needs to be seen as an artistic convention to soften the public shame of the cross.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Tombs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Each Easter we see many images of Jesus on the cross – inevitably wearing a loincloth. But the historical evidence shows victims of crucifixion were fully naked to maximise shame as well as pain.
David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/224909
2024-03-27T17:05:53Z
2024-03-27T17:05:53Z
Why is Jesus often depicted with a six-pack? The muscular messiah reflects Christian values of masculinity
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581073/original/file-20240311-24-gmrsj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C2360%2C1350&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">(L-R) The Rockox Triptych by Rubens (1613–1615), Christ as the Man of Sorrows by Maerten Jacobsz van Heemskerck and The Last Judgement by Michelangelo (1541).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp/Sistine Chapel</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever wondered why so many images depicting the crucifixion show Jesus with a very defined, slender and toned body? Either slim, but with a six-pack, or displaying muscles and brawn. While these images are hardly a reflection of what little can be surmised about <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35120965">the historical Jesus</a>, they certainly reflect social and cultural ideas about masculinity and <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/96438/1/Edwards%2C%20Sporting-BR1%20copy.pdf">idealised notions of manhood</a>. </p>
<p>In many images of the crucifixion, Jesus is depicted as both strong and vulnerable. Crucifixion paintings showing a muscular messiah suggest that Jesus could perhaps physically have overcome his fate, had he wanted to. This interpretation of the crucifixion story amplifies the emotional and spiritual strength of his sacrifice.</p>
<p>The Bible is full of strong men and pumped prophets. Working the land is <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/genesis/3-17.html#:%7E:text=Genesis%203%3A17%20In%2DContext&text=rule%20over%20you.%22-,17%20To%20Adam%20he%20said%2C%20%22Because%20you%20listened%20to%20your,the%20days%20of%20your%20life.">Adam’s punishment</a> for eating from the Tree of Knowledge. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206%3A14-16&version=NIV">Noah builds a massive ark</a>, filling it with every bird, animal and food. Samson has <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+14%3A6&version=NIV">superhuman</a> <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+14%3A19&version=NIV">strength</a> in the book of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+15%3A14&version=NIV">Judges</a> – his only weakness is women.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%201&version=NIV">opening of Matthew’s Gospel</a> details Jesus’ genealogy in detail, and it is clear that he has other hardmen in his DNA. It speaks of Abraham and David, particularly. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2014&version=NKJV">Genesis 14</a>, we learn how Abraham gathered an army of over 300 men and launched an attack to save his family. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+21%3A+1-5&version=ESV">Genesis 21</a>, he also fathers a child at the age of 100 – his son, Isaac. </p>
<p>David is also mentioned as an ancestor of Jesus. He was famous for <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2017&version=NKJV">killing Goliath</a>, whose immense stature <a href="http://www.davidacook.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/reconsidering_the_height_of_goliath.pdf">has been estimated as 9ft 9in</a>. In <a href="https://biblehub.com/1_samuel/18-27.htm">the Book of Samuel</a>, David kills 200 Philistine men and <a href="https://biblehub.com/1_samuel/18-27.htm">brings their foreskins</a> to King Saul, so that he will allow him to marry his daughter, Michal.</p>
<p>While some portrayals of Jesus have caused outrage, like those, for example, that represent him as <a href="https://theconversation.com/sexualised-jesus-causes-outrage-in-spain-but-christians-have-long-been-fascinated-by-christs-body-222343">feminine or sexualised</a>, a similar outcry does not seem to follow the muscular Jesus. </p>
<p>There is a story in the gospels of Jesus’s physical strength, when he <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A12-16%2CLuke%2019%3A45-47%2CJohn%202%3A13-16&version=NASB#:%7E:text=13%20The%20Passover%20of%20the%20Jews%20was%20near%2C,My%20Father%E2%80%99s%20house%20a%20%5B%20b%5Dplace%20of%20business%21%E2%80%9D">drives out</a> those who were buying and selling in the temple, overturning tables in his anger. In the New Testament, the gospels even narrate a <a href="https://www.bible.com/bible/406/LUK.11.21-28.ERV#:%7E:text=21%2D28%20ERV-,%22When%20a%20strong%20man%20with%20many%20weapons%20guards%20his%20own,with%20the%20other%20man%27s%20things.">Parable of the Strong Man</a>. </p>
<p>The endurance of physical torture before the crucifixion has been well documented in religious iconography, such as the <a href="https://www.catholic.org/prayers/station.php">Stations of the Cross</a>, as well as in films such as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004). Jesus also has to be mentally strong to overcome Satan, so depictions of his physical strength are perhaps supposed to echo his superhuman, spiritual strength.</p>
<h2>‘Behold the man!’</h2>
<p>Paintings that depict Jesus with a six-pack have influenced factions of Christianity. In the 19th century, the idea of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/6637/chapter-abstract/150662543?redirectedFrom=fulltext#:%7E:text=%27Muscular%20Christianity%27%20was%20a%20term,could%20and%20should%20promote%20this.">“muscular Christianity”</a> took hold. The term, invented in 1857, describes those Christians who see moral and religious value in sports. </p>
<p>In his book <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Gods-Gym-Divine-Male-Bodies-of-the-Bible/Moore/p/book/9780415917575">God’s Gym</a> (1997), professor of religion Stephen Moore explores the quest for Jesus in a perfect human masculine form, and how this is connected to physical culture and male narcissism. Masculine Christian spirituality is often aligned with the values of <a href="https://cmn.men/collections/workbooks">courage, strength and power</a>.</p>
<p>While his ministry isn’t known for its exercise focus, Jesus’s fitness can be seen in some interpretations of the gospels. He <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204-6">walked for 40 days in the vast wilderness</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2019:17-42&version=NIV">carried a heavy cross</a> on his back. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Jesus feeding his disciples" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581658/original/file-20240313-24-a6n6ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration from the Armenian Daniel of Uranc gospel (1433) showing the feeding of the 5,000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feeding_the_multitude,_Daniel_of_Uranc,_1433.jpg">Matenadaran</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through the Eucharist (“take and eat, this is my body”), Jesus’s body became sacrament. This has palpable implications for many modern Christians. If Jesus’s physical fitness is a sign of his holiness, then it is something to aspire to.</p>
<p>Theologian Lisa Isherwood’s book <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Fat_Jesus/a7K1Bil8HcAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">The Fat Jesus</a> (2008) explores Christian women’s weight-loss cultures through programmes such as “Slim for Him”. Feminist theologian Hannah Bacon’s book <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/feminist-theology-and-contemporary-dieting-culture-9780567659958/">Feminist Theology and Contemporary Dieting Culture</a> (2019), meanwhile, analyses the problematic use of “sin/syn” to refer to “bad” foods in weight-loss programmes.</p>
<p>For some Christians, depictions of Jesus as strong and muscular represent the ideal of a man’s body. They interpret Biblical stories in ways that mirror these paintings. Many of these groups believe that Biblical ideas of <a href="https://www.mensalliancetribe.com/about/what-we-believe">masculinity are under attack</a>. In response, they put on events designed to attract men to church and promote the ideals of biblical manhood. Praising a muscular body ideal for men – and for Jesus – is part of that.</p>
<p>So next time you’re looking at a painting of Jesus in a church or gallery, do remember that such images reflect contemporary social and cultural attitudes to men’s bodies, rather than authenticity, in their artistry. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Greenough does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Bible is full of strong men and pumped prophets.
Chris Greenough, Reader in Social Sciences, Edge Hill University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221071
2024-03-27T12:38:11Z
2024-03-27T12:38:11Z
The roots of the Easter story: Where did Christian beliefs about Jesus’ resurrection come from?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583768/original/file-20240322-29-86j1i0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2013%2C923&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mosaic of the Resurrection in the Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa, Lebanon.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosa%C3%AFques_de_la_basilique_Saint_Paul_(Harissa)09.jpg">FredSeiller/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Easter approaches, Christians around the world begin to focus on two of the central tenets of their faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. </p>
<p>Other charismatic Jewish teachers or <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/The_Jewish_Spiritual_Heroes%2C_Volume_I%3B_The_Creators_of_the_Mishna%2C_Rabbi_Chanina_ben_Dosa?lang=bi">miracle workers</a> were active in Judea around the same time, approximately 2,000 years ago. What set Jesus apart was his <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15.12-19&version=NRSVUE">followers’ belief in his resurrection</a>. For believers, this was not only a miracle, but a sign that Jesus was the long-awaited Jewish messiah, sent to save the people of Israel from their oppressors.</p>
<p>But was the idea of a resurrection itself a unique belief in first-century Israel? </p>
<p>I am <a href="https://religiousstudies.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty/aaron-gale">a scholar of ancient Judaism</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/redefining-ancient-borders-9780567025210/">its connection to the early Christian movement</a>. The Christian concept of Jesus rising from the dead helped shape many of the faith’s key teachings and, ultimately, the new religion’s split from Judaism. Yet religious teachings about resurrection go back many centuries before Jesus walked the earth.</p>
<p>There are stories that likely predate early Jewish beliefs by many centuries, such as the Egyptian story of the god <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100255831">Osiris being resurrected by his wife, Isis</a>. Most relevant for Christianity, though, are Judaism’s own ideas about resurrection.</p>
<h2>‘Your dead shall live’</h2>
<p>One of the earliest written Jewish references to resurrection in the Bible is found in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+26&version=NRSVUE">Book of Isaiah</a>, which discusses a future era, perhaps a time of final judgment, in which the dead would rise and be subject to God’s ultimate justice. “Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise,” Isaiah prophesies. “Those who dwell in the dust will awake and shout for joy.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three rows of yellowed manuscript on a scroll, with jagged edges." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=190&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=190&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=190&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583783/original/file-20240323-28-o988y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Great Isaiah Scroll: the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran, by the Dead Sea, which was probably written around the second century B.C.E.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Isaiah_Scroll.jpg">Ardon Bar Hama/The Israel Museum, Jerusalem/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Later Jewish biblical texts such as the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+12.2&version=NRSVUE">Book of Daniel</a> also referenced resurrection.</p>
<p>There were several competing Jewish sects at the time of Jesus’ life. The most prominent and influential, the Pharisees, further integrated <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2023%3A8&version=NRSVUE">the concept of resurrection</a> into Jewish thought. According to <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-2.html">the first-century historian Josephus</a>, the Pharisees believed that the soul was immortal and could be reunited with a resurrected body – ideas that would likely have made the idea of Jesus rising from the dead more acceptable to the Jews of his time.</p>
<p>Within a few centuries, the rabbis began to fuse together the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+37.1-12&version=NRSVUE">earlier biblical references to bodily resurrection</a> with the later ideas of the Pharisees. In particular, the rabbis began to discuss the concept of <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubot.111a?lang=bi">bodily resurrection</a> and its connection to the messianic era.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Beige stone boxes sit on the ground in rows, with a building with a golden roof in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584246/original/file-20240325-28-1nyx4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Jewish Cemetery on Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Graves face the Temple Mount, where some believe that the resurrection of the dead will culminate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:121224-Jerusalem-Mount-of-Olives_(27497923512).jpg">xiquinhosilva/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jews believed that the legitimate Messiah would be <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2011&version=NRSVUE">a descendant of the biblical King David</a> who would vanquish their enemies and <a href="https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/31-pssal-nets.pdf">restore Israel to its previous glory</a>. In the centuries following Jesus’ death, the rabbis taught that the souls of the dead <a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1127503/jewish/The-Resurrection-Process.htm">would be resurrected</a> after the Messiah appeared on earth.</p>
<p>By the 500s C.E. or so, the rabbis further elaborated upon the concept. The Talmud, the most important collection of authoritative writings on Jewish law apart from the Bible itself, notes that <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sanhedrin.10.1?lang=bi">one who does not believe in resurrection has no share in the “Olam Haba</a>,” the “World to Come.” The Olam Haba is the realm where these sages believed <a href="https://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/25/Q2/">one’s soul eventually dwells</a> after death. Interestingly, the concept of hell itself never became ingrained within mainstream Jewish thought.</p>
<p>Even now, the concept of God giving life to the dead is affirmed every day <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/146958?lang=bi">in the Amidah</a>, <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mechayeh-hameitim-rethinking-the-resurrection-blessing/">a Jewish prayer recited</a> as part of the daily morning, afternoon and evening services.</p>
<h2>Old ideas, new beliefs</h2>
<p>The fact that the first followers of Jesus were Jews likely contributed to the concept of resurrection becoming ingrained into Christian thought. Yet the Christian understanding of resurrection was taken to an unprecedented degree in the decades following Jesus’ death.</p>
<p>According to Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus, a Jew from Galilee, entered Jerusalem in the days before Passover. He was accused of sedition against the Roman authorities – and likely other charges, such as blasphemy – largely because he was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+21%3A12-13&version=NRSVUE">causing a disturbance</a> among the Jews getting ready to celebrate the holiday. At the time, <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/passover-pesach-history/">Passover was a pilgrimage festival</a> in which tens of thousands of Jews would travel to Jerusalem.</p>
<p>After being betrayed by one of his followers, Judas, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26.47-68&version=NRSVUE">Jesus was arrested, hastily put on trial</a> and sentenced to be crucified. The Roman authorities wished to uphold the pax Romana, or Roman peace. They feared that unrest amid a major festival could lead to a rebellion, especially given the accusation that at least some of Jesus’ followers believed him to be the “<a href="https://ehrmanblog.org/why-was-jesus-crucified/">King of the Jews</a>, as was recorded later in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A2&version=NRSVUE">Matthew’s</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+15.2&version=NRSVUE">Mark’s Gospels</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A close-up photo of a pale sculpture of a bearded man's face, looking in pain or tired, with gold letters above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583782/original/file-20240323-24-cymdt5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crucifixes often display the Latin abbreviation ‘INRI,’ short for ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’ This statue in Germany’s Ellwangen Abbey shows the abbreviation in three languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellwangen_St_Vitus_Vorhalle_Kreuzaltar_detail2.jpg">Andreas Praefcke/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the Gospels, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27.32-28.10&version=NRSVUE">Jesus was put to death</a> on what is now Good Friday, and rose again on the third day – which today is celebrated as Easter Sunday.</p>
<p>Jesus’ early followers believed not only that he had been resurrected, but that he was <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/themovement.html">the long-awaited Jewish messiah</a>, who had fulfilled earlier <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea+6.1-2&version=NRSVUE">Jewish prophecies</a>. Eventually, they also embraced the idea that he was <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/300246095">the divine Son of God</a>, although scholars still debate exactly how and when this occurred.</p>
<p>In addition, the nature of Jesus’ resurrection remains <a href="https://marcusjborg.org/posts-by-marcus/the-resurrection-of-jesus/">a source of debate</a> among theologians and scholars – such as whether followers believed his <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24.36-43&version=NRSVUE">resurrected body was made of flesh and blood</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor+3.17-18&version=NRSVUE">or pure spirit</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the grander meaning of the resurrection, which is recorded in all <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+28%3A1-10%2CMark+16%3A1-11%2CLuke+24%3A1-12%2CJohn+20&version=NRSVUE">four canonical Gospels</a>, remains clear for many of the approximately 2 billion Christians around the world: They believe that Jesus <a href="https://www.religion-online.org/article/resurrection-faith-n-t-wright-talks-about-history-and-belief/">triumphed over death</a>, which serves as a cornerstone foundation of the Christian faith.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Gale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ideas about resurrection had been developing for centuries before Jesus’ life, but his followers took them in new directions.
Aaron Gale, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, West Virginia University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225965
2024-03-27T12:37:57Z
2024-03-27T12:37:57Z
Easter 2024 in the Holy Land: a holiday marked by Palestinian Christian sorrow
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584385/original/file-20240326-22-4jhbih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C51%2C5604%2C3699&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed by many Christians to be the site of the crucifixion and burial place of Jesus Christ.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IsraelPalestiniansEaster/d33a91bd48b94dd7b7cae10a29bdeef0/photo?Query=%20Church%20of%20the%20Holy%20Sepulchre%20easter&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=901&digitizationType=Digitized&currentItemNo=29&vs=true&vs=true">AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, Christians from across the world visit Jerusalem for Easter week, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/following-jesuss-steps-millions-christians-via-dolorosa-walking-wrong-way">walking the Via Dolorosa</a>, the path Jesus is said to have walked on the way to his crucifixion over 2,000 years ago. Easter is the holiest of days, and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Holy-Sepulchre">Church of the Holy Sepulchre</a>, the site where Jesus is believed to have died, is one of the most sacred sites for Christians.</p>
<p>But not all Christians have equal access to these sites. If you are a Christian Palestinian living in the city of Bethlehem or Ramallah hoping to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, you have to <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240325-israel-bans-palestinian-christians-from-jerusalem-on-palm-sunday/">request permission from Israeli authorities</a> well before Christmas – without guarantee that it will be granted. Those were the rules even before Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-latest-02-28-2024-5fb126981031984395a228598fa9e4a9">launched an attack on southern Israel</a>. The Israeli response to the Hamas attack has resulted in even more <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/11/middleeast/west-bank-restrictions-violence-intl-cmd/index.html">severe restrictions on freedom of movement</a> for Palestinians in the West Bank.</p>
<p>The site where the Bible says Jesus was born, in Bethlehem, and the place he died, in Jerusalem, are only about six miles apart. Google Maps indicates the drive takes about 20 minutes but carries a warning: “<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Church+of+the+Nativity,+P635%2BP2C,+Bethlehem+Territory/Church+of+the+Holy+Sepulchre,+Jerusalem/@31.7444436,35.1267403,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x1502d87be687c8f9:0xd060c37bd524261c!2m2!1d35.2075288!2d31.7043034!1m5!1m1!1s0x150329cf1c246db5:0x2d04a75cfc390360!2m2!1d35.2296002!2d31.7784813!3e0?entry=ttu">This route may cross country borders</a>.” That is because Bethlehem is located in the West Bank, which is under Israeli military occupation, whereas <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/22/how-does-israels-occupation-of-palestine-work#:%7E:text=Israel%20occupied%20the%20West%20Bank,were%20the%20capital%20of%20Israel">Jerusalem is under direct Israeli control</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.sjsu.edu/justicestudies/about-us/directory/abusaad-roni.php">human rights scholar</a> and Christian Palestinian who grew up in Bethlehem, I have many fond memories of Easter, which is a special time of gathering and celebration for Christian Palestinians. But I also saw firsthand how the military occupation has denied Palestinians basic human rights, including religious rights.</p>
<h2>A season of celebration</h2>
<p>Traditionally, Palestinian families and friends exchange visits, offering coffee, tea and a cookie stuffed with dates called “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/11/522771745/maamoul-an-ancient-cookie-that-ushers-in-easter-and-eid-in-the-middle-east">maamoul</a>,” which is made only at Easter. A favorite tradition, especially for children, is taking a colorfully dyed hard-boiled egg in one hand and cracking it against an egg held by a friend. The breaking of the egg symbolizes the rise of Jesus from the tomb, the end of sorrow and the ultimate defeat of death itself and purification of human sins.</p>
<p>For Orthodox Christians, one of the most sacred rites of the year is the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-Fire">Holy Fire</a>. On the day before Orthodox Easter, thousands of pilgrims and local Christian Palestinians of all denominations gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Greek and Armenian patriarchs enter the enclosure of the tomb in which Jesus was said to have been buried and pray inside. Those inside have <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IpyPCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT285&lpg=PT285&dq=%22From+the+core+of+the+very+stone+on+which+Jesus+lay+an+indefinable+light+pours+forth.+It+usually+has+a+blue+tint,+but+the+color+may+change+and+take+many+different+hues.+It+cannot+be+described+in+human+terms.+The+light+rises+out+of+the+stone+as+mist+may+rise+out+of+a+lake+%E2%80%94+it+almost+looks+as+if+the+stone+is+covered+by+a+moist+cloud,+but+it+is+light.&source=bl&ots=l47MXGss14&sig=ACfU3U3c3GuHU35fJ_j6Uxpnf8zITGO9gA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW4d74n5KFAxVGCTQIHUNrAgsQ6AF6BAhKEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false">reported</a> that a blue light rises from the stone where Jesus lay, and forms into a flame. The patriarch lights candles from the flame, passing the fire from candle to candle among the thousands assembled in the church. </p>
<p>That same day, delegations representing Eastern Orthodox countries carry the flame in lanterns to their home countries via <a href="https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/aircraft-fleet-brings-easter-holy-fire-to-orthodox-communities">chartered planes</a> to be presented in cathedrals in time for the Easter service. Palestinians also carry the flame using lanterns to homes and churches in the West Bank.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cMlvI5-Ah00?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Christians celebrate the Holy Fire under Israeli restrictions in 2023.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Deep roots in the Holy Land</h2>
<p>Palestinian Christians <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/Sociology-of-early-Palestinian-Christianity/oclc/3609025">trace their ancestry</a> to the time of Jesus and Christianity’s founding in the region. Many <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/9781">churches and monasteries</a> flourished in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and other Palestinian towns under Byzantine and Roman rule. Throughout this period and into the modern day, Christians, Muslims and Jews <a href="https://www.iis.ac.uk/learning-centre/scholarly-contributions/academic-articles/muslim-jews-and-christians-relations-and-interactions/">lived side by side in the region</a>. </p>
<p>With the Islamic conquest in the seventh century, the <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/decline-of-eastern-christianity-under-islam-from-jihad-to-dhimmitude-seventh-twentieth-century/oclc/33276531">majority of Christians gradually converted to Islam</a>. However, the remaining Christian minority persisted in practicing their religion and traditions, including through the rule of the Ottoman empire, from 1516 to 1922, and to the present day.</p>
<p>The establishment of Israel in 1948 led to the expulsion of <a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=17079">750,000 Palestinians, over 80% of the population</a>, which is referred to by Palestinians as the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">nakba,” or the catastrophe</a>. Hundreds of thousands became refugees throughout the world, including many Christians.</p>
<p>Christians accounted for about <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-204267/">10% of the population in 1920</a> but <a href="https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/#people-and-society">constitute just 1% to 2.5%</a> of Palestinians in the West Bank as of 2024, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25112">because of emigration</a>. Christians in the West Bank belong to multiple denominations, including Greek Orthodox, Catholic and various Protestant denominations.</p>
<p>Thousands of Palestinians rely on the pilgrims and tourists who come to Bethlehem every year for their livelihoods. Two million people visit Bethlehem annually, and more than <a href="https://www.bethlehem-city.org/en/the-city-economy">20% of local workers are employed in tourism</a>. Another important local industry is carved olive wood handicrafts. In 2004, the mayor of Beit Jala, which borders the city of Bethlehem, estimated <a href="https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/Beth_Rep_Dec04.pdf">200 families in the area</a> made their living from carving olive wood. Christians around the world have <a href="https://sg.news.yahoo.com/christmas-journey-olive-orchard-nativity-180326957.html">olive wood nativity sets</a> or crosses carved by Palestinian artisans, a tradition that has been passed down through generations.</p>
<h2>Impact of the occupation</h2>
<p>The neighborhoods of the occupied West Bank have been fragmented by the building of over 145 illegal Israeli settlements. Both Christian and Muslim Palestinians face huge barriers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jsa.2019.0003">accessing holy sites in Jerusalem</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men wearing long green garbs walk in a procession and one in the center holds a tall crucifix." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584391/original/file-20240326-22-le7r64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Israeli policeman stands guard during a March 1997 procession of Franciscan monks led by traditionally dressed guards coming out of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MIDEASTJERUSALEMEASTER/95dacad9cce0da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo?Query=%20bethlehem%20holy%20week%20guards&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=733&digitizationType=Digitized&currentItemNo=0&vs=true&vs=true">AP Photo/Peter Dejong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bethlehem is encircled by several Jewish-only settlements, as well as the <a href="https://pij.org/articles/1042/the-impact-of-the-separation-wall-on-jerusalem">separation wall</a> built in the 2000s, which snakes around and across the city. Across the West Bank, over 500 checkpoints and bypass roads designed to connect settlements have been built on Palestinian lands for the exclusive use of settlers. As of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-02-02/israeli-settler-population-west-bank-surpasses-500000">Jan. 1, 2023</a>, there were over half a million settlers in the West Bank and another 200,000 in East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>The highways and bypass roads cut through the middle of towns and separate families. It is a system that former <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2007.tb01647.x">President Jimmy Carter</a> and numerous human rights groups have described as “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-jerusalem-israel-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-83b44a2f6b2b3581d857f57fb6960115">apartheid</a>.” This system severely restricts freedom of movement and separates students from schools, patients from hospitals, farmers from their lands and worshipers from their churches or mosques. </p>
<p>Additionally, Palestinians have a different license plate color on their cars. They can’t use their vehicles to access <a href="https://apnews.com/article/a0c47ad493fb4b31a444bfe432194f2e">private roads</a>, which restricts their access to Jerusalem or Israel.</p>
<p>Going far beyond separate roads, Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to a separate legal system – a military judicial system – whereas Israeli settlers living in the West Bank have a civilian court system. This <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/chapter-3-israeli-settlements-and-international-law/">system</a> allows indefinite detention of Palestinians without charge or trial based on secret evidence. All of these restrictions on freedom of movement disrupt the ability of Palestinians of all faiths to visit holy sites and gather for religious observances.</p>
<h2>Prayers for peace</h2>
<p>The barriers to celebrating Easter, especially this year, are not just physical but emotional and spiritual. </p>
<p>As of March 25, 2024, the number of <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/health-ministry-in-hamas-run-gaza-says-war-death-toll-at-32-333-fd31aa61">Gazans killed in the war had surpassed 32,000</a> – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234159514/gaza-death-toll-30000-palestinians-israel-hamas-war">70% of them women and children</a>, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/3/22/israel-arrested-over-7350-west-bank-palestinians-since-war-on-gaza-began">arrested 7,350 people in the West Bank</a>, with over 9,000 currently in detention, up from 5,200 who were in Israeli prisons before Oct. 7, 2023. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/palestinian-christians-and-muslims-have-lived-together-in-the-region-for-centuries-and-several-were-killed-recently-while-sheltering-in-the-historic-church-of-saint-porphyrius-216335">Israel bombed the world’s third oldest church</a>, St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church, in Gaza in October 2023, killing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/20/gaza-church-strike-saint-porphyrius/">18 of the more than 400 people</a> sheltering there.</p>
<p>Christian Palestinians in the West Bank <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/15/bethlehem-cancels-christmas-display-martyrs-israel-hamas/">suspended celebrations</a> for Christmas in 2023 in hopes of bringing more attention to the death and suffering in Gaza. But the situation has only worsened. An estimated <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unrwa-situation-report-82-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem-all-information-22-24-february-2024-valid-24-february-2024-2230-enar">1.7 million Gazans</a> – over 75% of the population – had been displaced as of March 2024, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/middleeast/famine-northern-gaza-starvation-ipc-report-intl-hnk/index.html">half of them on the verge of famine</a>.</p>
<p>Many Palestinians have long turned to their faith to endure the occupation and have found <a href="https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.70464">solace in prayer</a>. That faith has allowed many to hold on to the hope that the occupation will end and the Holy Land will be the place of peace and coexistence that it once was. Perhaps that is when, for many, Easter celebrations will be truly joyful again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225965/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roni Abusaad, PhD does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A Christian Palestinian human rights scholar who grew up in Bethlehem writes about the special time of Easter, but also about the restrictions on Palestinian Christians.
Roni Abusaad, PhD, Lecturer, San José State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226572
2024-03-26T17:02:09Z
2024-03-26T17:02:09Z
Extinguishing lights and a great big bang: the ancient sights and sounds of the pre-Easter tenebrae service
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584208/original/file-20240325-18-saxwku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The crucifixion of Christ inside Chester Cathedral.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chester-cheshire-england-uk-26-march-2433472355">PhotoFires|Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Easter is a time of mixed emotions. According to <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/church-attendance-rises-second-year-running">Church of England figures</a>, up to a million people will go to church on Easter Sunday to celebrate the joy and hope of the resurrection of Christ. But in the three days before that, churchgoers in many traditions come face to face with the darkest moments of the Christian story: <a href="https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/context/subjects/judas">the betrayal</a> Jesus faced at the hands of Judas Iscariot, his death on the cross and his burial.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A priest extinguishes a candle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A symbolic darkening.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/25389408003/in/photolist-EFzmrR-qYG4Vv-rsNXi9-rD326R-qYJtLH-rCVpZw-rCVwuq-rBaqre-rD2YZB-rCU4QJ-rVq5Li-rBaCTZ-rVnevu-rVnbds-rVn54J-rCVt5u-rCU9Bh-qYutdC-qYGikB-rVpYFH-rVpZK6-9XFueb-rVuA3a-6dSFu4-rCUe3m-qYuwAu-rVuvSM-EFzmxT-SxBjRf-rCuHh7-7qWKHW-e6w8nR-7QK7Y4-e6FJya-rVsi1e-TNcwt5-5rUMHg-9AJeZS-TNcwqu-7Q8vmN-7QNq9G-4zM5yA-buGoW5-ngK9DK-ngK8v2-2gC1u1M-rUWund-rUZgjH-qYgu1p-nivvzB">Lawrence OP|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among the lesser known rituals of this pre-Easter period is an ancient exploration of darkness itself, known as <em>tenebrae</em>. Originally, this service took place late at night or early in the morning on the last three days of Holy Week, leading up to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday).</p>
<p>For at least 1,200 years, the defining feature of tenebrae services has been the gradual <a href="https://alcuinclub.org.uk/product/175/">extinguishing of lights</a>. Enclosed in an increasingly darkened church, worshippers are reminded of the three days Jesus spent in the tomb following his death. </p>
<p>My research <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/music/research/research-projects/music-in-the-shadows.aspx">shows</a> that in the past it was actually quite common for worshippers to attend church in the middle of the night. Before electric light, sunset forced most daily activities to cease. Long winter nights afforded plenty of time both to sleep and to pray. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white nitrate negative image of a church service in 1941." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tenebrae service on Spy Wednesday at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/matpc.21011/">Matson photograph collection|LOC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Darker than dark</h2>
<p>Since medieval times, the tenebrae ritual has had the feel of a funeral. It features <a href="https://archive.org/details/liberusualismiss00cath/page/302/mode/2up?view=theater">dirge-like chanting</a>, <a href="https://www.liturgies.net/Lent/Tenebrae.htm">doleful texts</a> and a pointed avoidance of ornament. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A large standing candelabra." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antoni Gaudi’s tenebrae hearse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:(Barcelona)_Tenebrae_Candelabra_-_Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD_-_Museums_of_the_Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia.jpg">Didier Descouens|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Latin verb <em>tenebrare</em> means “to darken” and this is probably the origin of the ritual’s name. A symbolic number of candles or lamps – historically this varied between five and 72, but is now most often 15 – is lit at the beginning of the service, and then, for each successive chant, reading or verse, one light is extinguished. </p>
<p>These are often placed on what is known as a “hearse” – a triangular or pyramidal frame that would also be placed above a coffin or tomb. (Only in the 17th century would this word be borrowed to describe a funeral vehicle.) By the end of the service, a single light remains, barely enough to see by. </p>
<p>The effect is hugely dramatic. There have been different interpretations of the ritual through the ages.</p>
<p>In his ninth-century commentary <a href="https://documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0776-0852__Symphosius_Amalarius__Liber_De_Ordine_Antiphonarii__MLT.pdf.html">On the Ordering of the Antiphoner</a>, the Frankish bishop Amalar of Metz understood the extinguishing of candles to represent the “the extinction of joy” brought about by Jesus’s crucifixion. Others saw a representation of the biblical figures and saints who had died bearing witness to this story, or a depiction of the waning light of Jesus the metaphorical sun.</p>
<p>Art objects have also provided layers of meaning. Standing some 25 feet tall, the giant <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75710752@N04/8758144549">16th-century tenebrae candelabra</a> of Seville Cathedral is comprised of a metal hearse topped with 15 candles and as many carved figures.</p>
<p>As each candle is extinguished, a person seems to disappear, as if the faith of Christians is draining away. Similar objects are found in many Catholic churches, including the one designed by Antoni Gaudi for the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. </p>
<p>Some medieval churches used a hand-shaped snuffer made of wax to put out the candles. Signifying the hand of Judas, this underlined the theme of betrayal.</p>
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<p>At the end of tenebrae, the final light is customarily hidden. In the eery, disorienting darkness that ensues, there is a long tradition of a loud sudden noise being made. This bang or clatter is known as the <em>strepitus</em>. People <a href="https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/282/tenebrae-best-ways-to-make-the-strepitus/">might</a> slam a door, bang a book, stamp their feet or use percussive instruments. </p>
<p>The strepitus is thought to represent the confusion or shock the disciples experienced after Jesus died, or the earthquake that followed the crucifixion. Like many aspects of ancient ritual, though, the strepitus was probably functional in origin.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/when-easter">By definition</a>, the days around Easter always enjoy the light of the moon. But finding your way out of an unlit church can be a struggle. It seems the original purpose of the sound, then, was to signal to the sacristan (the warden in charge of the church building and its contents) to reveal the hidden candle again, so that everyone could safely return home.</p>
<p>Inevitably, sometimes things got out of hand. In his Latin <a href="https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503044033-1">commentary on the liturgy</a>, the 13th-century French bishop <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/thib14180">Guillaume Durand of Mende</a> described a form of tenebrae service that ended with shouting, wailing and a “commotion of the people” as congregants enacted both the disciples’ grief and the ironic cheers of Jesus’s enemies. One 19th-century author <a href="https://archive.org/details/ancientenglishho00feas/page/90/mode/2up">reported</a> a volley of musket-fire being used for the strepitus in Seville.</p>
<p>Today, the sounds of tenebrae are much more respectable. Performances by the eponymous, Grammy-nominated choir, Tenebrae, make a feature of candlelight and ancient church spaces. </p>
<figure>
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<p>The ritual has also inspired countless famous classical works. The 16th-century English royal composer Thomas Tallis crafted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de_OPTtfZdw">sensuous vocal setting</a> of tenebrae readings from the Old Testament’s Book of Lamentations. </p>
<p>In 1585, his younger Spanish contemporary Tomás Luis de Victoria published almost three hours’ worth of <a href="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/4up2bNlUkQvQhPFAwsWhM1?utm_source=generator">tenebrae polyphony</a>. A more operatic style appears in François Couperin’s exquisitely anguished <a href="https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W7081_120622">Leçons de ténèbres</a>, composed around 1710.</p>
<p>More recent examples include Stravinsky’s angular and unrelenting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RpOOgOeab0">Threni</a>, a concert work from 1958, and Poulenc’s lesser-known <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZCnnK7bvfc">Seven Tenebrae Responsories</a>, commissioned by Leonard Bernstein in 1961. </p>
<p>Among the many cherished settings of one medieval Tenebrae text, O vos omnes (a Latin adaptation of Lamentations 1:12-18), is a version by Spanish and Puerto Rican composer Pablo Casals. Written in 1932, it is still widely performed today. </p>
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<p>Casals was a <a href="https://www.paucasals.org/en/pablo-casals-and-the-united-nations/">peace activist</a> as well as a cellist. His simple, heartfelt strains transform <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations+1.18&version=NIV">the words of the prophet Jeremiah</a> into an impassioned plea for our troubled times: “Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering.” </p>
<p>On Easter Sunday, many Christians will return from church having received a vital injection of hope for the world. But the tenebrae tradition, which some will also experience this week, has a useful role too. It helps us to come to terms with darkness in human history, and to find beauty even when it seems that hope itself is being extinguished.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Parkes receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>
The ancient tenebrae tradition brings churchgoers face to face with the darkest moments of the Christian story.
Henry Parkes, Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226293
2024-03-26T12:41:28Z
2024-03-26T12:41:28Z
An annual pilgrimage during Holy Week brings thousands of believers to Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico, where they pray for healing and protection
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583549/original/file-20240321-30-z27kej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C4%2C2968%2C2182&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thousands of Catholics travel by foot to Santuario de Chimayo, in northern New Mexico, during an annual Good Friday pilgrimage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CatholicPilgrimageNewMexico/27b7d518d220496e8911f7b0c20bf07d/photo?Query=Chimay%C3%B3%20New%20Mexico%20pilgrimage&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=14&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Morgan Lee</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, the people of northern New Mexico have marked the Christian observance of Good Friday with a walking pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayó in the village of Chimayó, New Mexico.</p>
<p>Referring to themselves as <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/hispano-music-and-culture-from-the-northern-rio-grande/articles-and-essays/nuevo-mexicanos-of-the-upper-rio-grande-culture-history-and-society/english/">Hispanos</a>, or Nuevomexicanos, they have lived in the region for generations, tracing their descent from Spanish colonists who arrived to New Mexico in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nuevomexicanos’ Catholicism developed at the far northern frontier of the Spanish Empire; a scarcity of priests led to the flourishing of many popular devotions in New Mexico, including the pilgrimage to Chimayó. </p>
<p>Built in the early 1800s, the santuario is a small church, built of adobe bricks, with a unique feature: In a little room adjacent to the church’s central worship space, there is a hole in the floor, the “pocito,” filled with the sandy earth of the area. </p>
<p>For at least 200 years, Nuevomexicano Catholics have used dirt from the pocito for its purported miraculous healing qualities. They rub it on their aches and pains, they hold it to focus their prayers, and, historically, ingested it. </p>
<p>In 2015, I participated in the annual pilgrimage as part of the research for <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479884278/the-healing-power-of-the-santuario-de-chimayo/">my book</a>, “The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America’s Miraculous Church.” The santuario’s story is not merely a curiosity but also a significant part of the shifting identity of the U.S. Catholic Church, which is on the verge of becoming <a href="https://vencuentro.org/consultation-report/">majority-Latino</a>.</p>
<h2>Legendary origins of santuario’s holy dirt</h2>
<p>The source of the pocito dirt’s power for Hispano pilgrims is linked to two images of Christ.</p>
<p>The first is a large crucifix called the Señor de Esquipulas, or Lord of Esquipulas. Named for a famous and much older <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803268432/">Guatemalan Christ</a> figure also known as the Señor de Esquipulas, the crucifix lies at the heart of the most common origin story for the santuario’s holy dirt. </p>
<p>The legend goes that in 1810, a Chimayó community leader and landowner named Bernardo Abeyta witnessed light coming out of the ground in one of his fields. Upon examination, he is said to have discovered the crucifix partially buried in the soil. He dug it up and brought it to the nearest church at the time, some 8 miles away. </p>
<p>The crucifix, however, is believed to have returned on its own to the hole in Abeyta’s field. Given this sign, Abeyta sought and received permission to build a chapel around the hole, a chapel today known as the Santuario de Chimayó.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A brightly painted church altar with Jesus on the cross." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interior view of Santuario de Chimayo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.66247/">Carol M Highsmith/Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Señor de Esquipulas crucifix hangs on the main altar screen in the santuario, and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has promoted the story of its miraculous provenance. </p>
<p>A second Christ image, however, is by far the more popular among Hispano pilgrims. The <a href="https://www.unmpress.com/9780826347107/crossing-borders-with-the-santo-ninyo-de-atocha/">Santo Niño de Atocha</a> is a depiction of the Christ child dressed as a medieval pilgrim and is popular throughout northern Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border region. A statue of the Holy Child is ensconced in the santuario in a room adjacent to the pocito.</p>
<p>For pilgrims, a visit to the santuario typically includes time in prayer in front of the Holy Child, where they ask for healing and protection for themselves, their children and other loved ones. They take home dirt from the pocito as a reminder and vehicle of Christ’s power to answer their prayers.</p>
<h2>The annual pilgrimage</h2>
<p>Hispano residents in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado made pilgrimages to the santuario for healing throughout the 19th century, but the massive walking pilgrimage during Holy Week, culminating on Good Friday, did not begin until after World War II. </p>
<p>Hundreds of members of New Mexico’s 200th Coast Artillery had endured the 1942 <a href="https://historyinsantafe.com/200th-coast-artillery-bataan-death-march/#:%7E:text=New%20Mexico's%20Veteran's%20Administration%20is,joined%2075%2C000%20prisoners%20of%20war">Bataan Death March</a>, in which thousands of U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war were forced by the Japanese Imperial Army to walk for miles through the Philippines. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161130144025/http://www.bataanmuseum.com/bataanhistory/">Many died</a> from either torture or exhaustion.</p>
<p>Upon returning home, Nuevomexicano survivors organized a walking pilgrimage to the santuario in 1946 to commemorate their suffering and to mourn their lost comrades. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/el_santuario_de_chimayo.html">This pilgrimage</a> soon evolved into an annual observance not only for veterans but also for Hispano Catholics in general.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The pilgrimage of Santuario de Chimayo.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the santuario throughout the year, but the pilgrimage during Holy Week – the week before the celebration of Easter – is the high point. Good Friday, the day on which Christians believe that Jesus was crucified and died, attracts approximately <a href="https://stateecu.com/a-guide-to-holy-week-pilgrimages-to-el-santuario-de-chimayo/">30,000 walking pilgrims</a>, some coming from as far away as Albuquerque, 90 miles away. Others choose shorter routes, including a popular 9-mile walk from the nearby town of Española. </p>
<h2>Latino Catholics</h2>
<p>The santuario’s popularity continues to rise along with the numbers of Latino Catholics in the U.S.</p>
<p>The demographic shift in the U.S. Catholic Church toward a <a href="https://vencuentro.org/consultation-report/">Latino majority</a> is well underway. <a href="https://theology.nd.edu/people/timothy-matovina/">Timothy Matovina</a>, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, writes in <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691163574/latino-catholicism">his book</a>, “Latino Catholicism: Tranformation in America’s Largest Church,” that Latinos represent one-third of all U.S. Catholics and make up more than half of the U.S. Catholic population under the age of 25.</p>
<p>He also notes that, because of Latino population growth, the proportion of Catholics in California and Texas has increased since 1990, while the proportion in Massachusetts and New York has dropped. This demographic shift means devotional sites, like the santuario, that have Latino Catholic origins and immense popularity can expect to grow in importance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Hendrickson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the Santuario de Chimayó throughout the year, but the pilgrimage during the week before the celebration of Easter is the high point.
Brett Hendrickson, Professor of Religious Studies, Lafayette College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223699
2024-03-06T13:34:26Z
2024-03-06T13:34:26Z
Tattooing has held a long tradition in Christianity − dating back to Jesus’ crucifixion
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579668/original/file-20240304-24-ukodpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C32%2C5316%2C3579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christian Palestinian tattoo artist Walid Ayash draws a tattoo on the arm of a Coptic Egyptian pilgrim on April 28, 2016, at his studio in Bethlehem.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/christian-palestinian-tattoo-artist-walid-ayash-draws-a-news-photo/525904928?adppopup=true">Thomas Coex /AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Holy Week and Easter are perhaps the most important days in the Christian calendar. Many associate those celebrations with church services, processions, candles, incense, fasting and penances. </p>
<p>However, there is another tradition that many Christians follow – that of tattooing. Historically, Easter was an <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.5">important time for tattoos</a> among some Christian groups. Today, Christian tattooing happens in many parts of the world and all year around. Some Christians visiting Jerusalem around Easter will get a tattoo of a cross, or a lamb, usually on their forearms.</p>
<p>As a sociologist of religion and a Jesuit Catholic priest, I have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768620962367">long studied tattoos</a> as <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070517">religious practices</a>. I have interviewed tattoo artists in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Loreto in Italy who have been continuing and recreating the tradition of Christian tattooing. Evidence is clear the practice started shortly after Jesus’ crucifixion and spread across Europe in later centuries. </p>
<h2>The first Christian tattoos</h2>
<p>The Romans, like the Greeks, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/25011055">tattooed slaves</a> and prisoners, usually with letters or words on their foreheads that indicated their crime. Soon after Jesus’ death, around the year 30 C.E., they started enslaving and tattooing Christians with the marks “AM” – meaning “ad metalla,” or condemned to work in the mines, a punishment that often resulted in death. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/25011055">Almost at the same time, Christians</a> who were not enslaved <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.5">got tattoos</a> of the early Christian signs such as fish or lambs in solidarity and to show that they identified with Jesus.</p>
<p>There were <a href="https://bc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1410461075">no specific words in Latin or Greek for tattooing</a>, so the words “stizo,” “signum” and “stigma” were used. The word <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.5">stigma</a> also referred to the marks of nails on Jesus’ hands and foot, as a result of his crucifixion. Christians often got their own “stigmas”: a sign – usually a cross – in Jerusalem to honor Christ’s martyrdom. </p>
<h2>The beginning of a tradition</h2>
<p>There are several documented accounts of the tradition.</p>
<p>One from the third century mentions <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/25011055">Christians in present-day Egypt and Syria</a> getting tattoos of fish and crosses.</p>
<p>Another tells about the commentary that Procopius of Gaza, a theologian who lived between 475 and 538 C.E., wrote on the <a href="https://catenabible.com/com/5e88f313b1c7280cb341d0d2">Book of Isaiah</a> after he found that many Christians living in the Holy Land had a cross tattooed on their wrists. “Still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and will take the name Israel,” he noted. </p>
<p>When a plague hit the Scythians, nomadic people living around the Black Sea, in 600 C.E., tattoos were believed to provide protection from the deadly disease. <a href="https://archive.org/details/theophylact-simocatta-whitby-1986/Theophylact_Simocatta_Whitby_1986/page/n9/mode/2up">Theophylact Simocatta</a>, one of the last historians of late antiquity, mentioned that missionaries among them recommended that “the foreheads of the young be tattooed with this very sign” – meaning that of a cross.</p>
<p>Many testimonies mentioned <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A64495.0001.001/1:11.1.48?rgn=div3;view=fulltext">Crusaders and pilgrims</a> returning from the Holy Land with a tattoo during the Middle Ages – a tradition that continued <a href="https://archive.org/details/fynesmorysons04moryuoft">in early modern times</a>, between the 16th and 18th centuries.</p>
<h2>Christian tattoos in Great Britain</h2>
<p>Other cultures used tattoos in different ways. When Romans came in contact with the Celts tribes that inhabited the British Isles in 400 C.E., they <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.5973126.8">called them Picts</a> because they were covered in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.7">body art</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white illustration showing a man and woman covered in body art, holding spears in their hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579672/original/file-20240304-30-netvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The word Picts is derived from the name given to them by the Romans because of their painted bodies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/circa-300-bc-male-and-female-picts-covered-in-body-paint-news-photo/51240502?adppopup=true">Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pope Gregory the Great sent envoys to convert the Celts to Christianity, followed by a visit from another Vatican delegation. While missionaries were against “pagan tattooing,” both delegations agreed that tattoos done for the Christian god were fine. The members of the second delegation in the late 700s even said, “If anyone were to undergo this injury of staining for the sake of God, he would receive a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.7">great reward for it</a>.”</p>
<p>Similar was the conclusion of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.5">Northumbria Council</a>, a church gathering in Northern England in 787: Tattoos done for the right god were acceptable. At that time, the Anglo-Saxon elite also had tattoos; the bishop of York, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.7">Saint Wilfrid</a>, for example, got a tattoo of a cross. </p>
<h2>Tattoos in Italy</h2>
<p>Around the 1300s, as the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land were losing control with the coming of the Ottomans, there appeared in Italy shrines called “Sacri Monti.” These shrines were placed on “holy mountains” where devotees could pilgrimage safely, instead of risking their lives going to Jerusalem, which by then was under the control of the Ottomans.</p>
<p>These shrines were established in cities such as Naples, Varallo and Loreto. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5944/etfvii.6.2018.22922">Pilgrims could get tattoos</a> in some of these shrines. One place was Loreto’s sanctuary, established in the early 1300s. A relic from the “Holy House,” which, according to the Christian tradition, is the house where the Virgin Mary is believed to have received the news that she will bear God’s son, was brought to Loreto’s sanctuary. </p>
<p>Tattooing in Loreto’s sanctuary was a communal activity, done by carpenters, shoemakers and artisans, who <a href="https://archive.org/details/ilbelpaeseconver00stopuoft/page/486/mode/2up">brought their stalls and tools to the main square</a>
during the days of celebrations and tattooed whoever wanted to get a mark of their devotion. These tattoos typically used wood planks for transferring the design on the body, like a stamp. However, the city of Loreto banned tattooing for hygienic reasons in 1871, according to <a href="https://archive.org/details/costumiesupersti00pigo">Caterina Pigorini Beri</a>, an anthropologist, who was one of the first to document the practice. </p>
<p>But people kept getting them. A shoemaker, <a href="https://youtu.be/P_fNN880GGw?feature=shared">Leonardo Conditti</a>, was among those who kept doing tattoos in hiding during the 1940s. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P_fNN880GGw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The history of tattooing.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Present but unseen</h2>
<p>From the 1200s to the 1700s, the custom of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.4">Christian tattooing</a> was prevalent in Europe among peasants, seafarers, soldiers and artisans as much as among nuns and monks. They were getting crosses, images of the Virgin Mary, the name of Jesus, and some sentences from the Bible.</p>
<p>Following the Renaissance, however, European culture came to associate tattoos <a href="https://theconversation.com/tattoos-have-a-long-history-going-back-to-the-ancient-world-and-also-to-colonialism-165584">with those considered “uncivilized</a>,” such as peoples in the colonies, criminals and poorer Catholics. Many European intellectuals <a href="https://archive.org/details/historyoftattooi0000hamb">viewed Catholicism as a superstition</a> more than a real religion.</p>
<p>The word “tattoo” came to the Western languages after the French admiral and explorer Louis de Bougainville and British explorer James Cook returned from their trips to the South Pacific at the end of the 1700s. There, they saw local people getting marks on their bodies and using the word “tatau” to name those drawings. However, it does not mean that tattoos came back at that time. They had never left.</p>
<h2>The practice today</h2>
<p>These days, some churches in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wmz40c.11">Middle East</a>, such as some <a href="https://archive.org/details/twothousandyears0000mein/page/n5/mode/2up">Coptic Christian</a> churches in Egypt, incorporate the practice of getting a tattoo into the baptismal rituals. </p>
<p>Indeed, Holy Land tattooing has never stopped. <a href="https://razzouktattoo.com">Wassim Razzouk</a>, whom I interviewed in 2022, is a 27th-generation tattooist – his family has been <a href="https://archive.org/details/coptictattoodesi0000cars/page/n7/mode/2up">marking pilgrims in Jerusalem since 1300</a>. Razzouk claims to have some of the 500-year-old wood planks his family used for tattooing. </p>
<p>Another tattoo artist whom I interviewed, Walid Ayash, does pilgrimage tattoos for those who visit the Nativity church in Bethlehem – a beloved custom among Arab Christians. He said that tattooing happens all year around, as long as there are pilgrims visiting the Nativity church. Although this year, as a result of the war in Gaza, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/3/27/easter-in-jerusalem-no-access-for-gazas-christians">Israeli authorities have restricted access</a> to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.</p>
<p>In Italy, <a href="https://youtu.be/mtkc-TJSBdA?feature=shared">artist Jonatal Carducci</a> is working on recovering the tradition of religious tattooing in Loreto. In a 2023 interview with me, he explained how he has painstakingly replicated the designs of the wood planks, which are both in the Museum of the Holy House and the Folkloric Museum of Rome. In 2019, he opened a parlor where Leonardo Conditti used to work. Visitors to the parlor can choose among more than 60 designs for their tattoos, including the Virgin Mary of Loreto, crosses and representations of Jesus’ heart.</p>
<p>This Easter, as some Christians get tattoos, this history might serve as a reminder of tattooing as a legitimate Christian practice, one that has been in use since the beginnings of the Common Era.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gustavo Morello does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Historically, many Christians got tattoos around Holy Week − usually a cross − to honor Christ’s martyrdom.
Gustavo Morello, Professor of Sociology, Boston College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202348
2023-04-06T06:10:59Z
2023-04-06T06:10:59Z
The crucifixion gap: why it took hundreds of years for art to depict Jesus dying on the cross
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518695/original/file-20230331-28-lfvc1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C758%2C1099&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pavias Andreas, The Crucifixion, second half of the 15th century</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The cross, or crucifix, is arguably the central image of Christianity. </p>
<p>What’s the difference between the two? A cross is just that - an empty cross. It stands as a statement that Jesus is no longer on the cross and thus symbolises his resurrection. </p>
<p>A crucifix, on the other hand, includes the body of Jesus, to more vividly remind viewers of his death. </p>
<p>Many contemporary Christians, from bishops to ordinary folk, wear some kind of cross or crucifix around their neck and it would be rare to find a church that did not have at least one prominently displayed in the building.</p>
<p>While a symbol of faith, it is not just the pious who wear crosses. Madonna famously wore crucifix earrings and necklaces constantly throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. She is quoted as doing so because she provocatively “<a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/why-does-madonna-wear-a-cross-necklace.html/">thought Jesus was sexy</a>”. </p>
<p>The recent ubiquity of the cross as a fashion item means it is sold at everything from cheap tween fashion stores to that jeweller renowned for its little turquoise boxes, where a diamond cross necklace can run <a href="https://www.tiffany.com.au/jewelry/necklaces-pendants/tiffany-co-schlumberger-ten-stone-cross-pendant-23926261/">in excess</a> of $10,000. </p>
<p>The 2018 Met Gala’s theme, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and Catholic Imagination, further bestowed religious imagery with fashion icon status by making it central to one of the fashion industry’s key events. </p>
<p>Yet the cross was not always the dominant symbol of Christianity that it is now, and would certainly not have been worn as a fashion accessory by early Christians. </p>
<p>In fact, it took centuries for Christians to begin to depict the cross in their art.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jesus-wasnt-white-he-was-a-brown-skinned-middle-eastern-jew-heres-why-that-matters-91230">Jesus wasn't white: he was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew. Here's why that matters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An undignified death</h2>
<p>While some want to credit <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/constantine">Emperor Constantine</a> for the use of the cross as becoming more widespread after the 4th century, it is not that simple. Part of the answer lies in the nature of crucifixion itself. </p>
<p>While crucifixion included some variety in antiquity, it was typically a form of execution reserved for non-elite, non-citizens in the 1st-century Roman Empire. </p>
<p>Slaves, the poor, criminals and political protesters were crucified in their thousands for “crimes” we might today consider minor offences. The types of cross structures might differ, but as a form of execution, crucifixion was brutal and violent, designed to publicly shame the victim by displaying him or her naked on a scaffold, thereby asserting Rome’s power over the bodies of the masses. </p>
<p>That Jesus suffered such an undignified death was an embarrassment to some early Christians. The apostle Paul describes Jesus’ crucifixion as a “stumbling block” or “scandal” to other Jews. Others would imbue it with sacrificial meaning to make sense of how the one claimed as God’s Son would suffer in this way. But the shame associated with this kind of death remained. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Crude scratchings: a young man worshipping a crucified, donkey-headed figure." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518657/original/file-20230331-24-3s01tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Alexamenos graffito in Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A now infamous piece of graffito, dating to the early 3rd century in Rome, arguably mocks Jesus’ manner of death. Sketched on a wall in Rome, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito">Alexamenos graffito</a> portrays a donkey-headed male figure on a cross under which is written “Alexamenos, worship god”. The suggestion is that the parody was directed at Christians precisely because they worshipped a man who had died by crucifixion. </p>
<h2>Christian images</h2>
<p>Felicity Harley-McGowan, an expert on crucifixion and early Christian art, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/990202/Death_is_Swallowed_Up_in_Victory_Scenes_of_Death_in_Early_Christian_Art_and_the_Emergence_of_Crucifixion_Iconography%20https://www.academia.edu/1787622/The_Crucifixion">argues</a> Christians began to experiment with making their own specifically Christian images around 200 CE, roughly 100-150 years after they began writing about Jesus. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Carved wooden panel: Jesus appears to be nailed in a door frame." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518694/original/file-20230331-26-res9jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early works depicting Jesus’ death didn’t always show an overt cross, as in this 440 AD image from the Church of Santa Sabina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The slowness to depict Jesus on a cross was not about a general sensibility to the visual arts, although they do seem to have been very selective in what they did portray. Artwork typically depicted biblical stories and used bucolic imagery to show others being rescued from death or to tell the stories of biblical heroes like Daniel or Abraham. </p>
<p>In the 4th century, Christians began to depict other death scenes from the Bible, such as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+8%3A52-58&version=NRSVACE">the raising of Jairus’ daughter</a>, but still not Jesus’ death. Harley-McGowan writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>it is clear that the earliest representations of deaths in early Christian art were pointed in their focus on actions after the event. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such depictions emphasised healing, new life and resurrection from death. This emphasis is one explanation for why Christians were slow to depict Jesus’ actual death. </p>
<p>One of the earliest extant depictions of Jesus can be found in the <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1856-0623-5">Maskell Passion Ivories</a> dating to the early 5th century CE, more than 400 years after his death. These ivories formed a casket panel that includes one death scene amid a range of scenes telling the Jesus story. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Judas hangs from tree; below him the purse from which fall pieces of silver; to the right Christ is nailed by the hands only to the cross" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518658/original/file-20230331-28-vk7dlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maskell Passion Ivories, one of the earliest extant depictions of Jesus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© The Trustees of the British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like much previous Christian art, the emphasis remained on Jesus’ victory over death rather than any desire to depict the reality or violence of his crucifixion. One way to show this was to portray Jesus on a cross but with his eyes open, alive and undefeated by the cross; in the Maskell Ivory, Jesus’ alertness is contrasted with the clearly dead Judas.</p>
<p>While there is a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1787622/The_Crucifixion">3rd-century magical amulet</a> that includes crucifixion imagery (and there may have been other gems and amulets lost to history that associated his resurrection from death in magical terms), depictions of the cross only began to emerge in the 5th century and would remain rare until the 6th. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Green-brown jasper; oval with a crucified figure on a tall cross with a short base." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518690/original/file-20230331-24-vvzykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This magical amulet, carved on jasper, dates to the 3rd century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© The Trustees of the British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As churches began to be built, crucifixes appeared on engraved church doors and would remain the more standard image until the Reformation emphasis on the empty cross.</p>
<p>The cross continues to have a complex history, being used as both a symbol of Christian ecclesial power and of white supremacy by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. </p>
<p>There can be beauty, intrigue, magic and terror in these cross traditions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="gold with loop and expanding arms which terminate in oval medallions; in the centre Christ crucified" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518696/original/file-20230331-20-ai013v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Early Byzantine pendant dates to the 6th or 7th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© The Trustees of the British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On one hand, it stands as a symbol of Christian belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection. On the other, it is a reminder of the violence of the state and capital punishment. </p>
<p>Perhaps, 2,000 years later, it is always both – even when diamond-encrusted. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/baby-jesus-in-art-and-the-long-tradition-of-depicting-christ-as-a-man-child-127812">Baby Jesus in art and the long tradition of depicting Christ as a man-child</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn J. Whitaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The cross was not always the dominant symbol of Christianity, and would certainly not have been worn as a fashion accessory by early Christians.
Robyn J. Whitaker, Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203096
2023-04-05T13:53:51Z
2023-04-05T13:53:51Z
Easter bunnies, cacao beans and pollinating bugs: A basket of 6 essential reads about chocolate
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519391/original/file-20230404-14-reloqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=422%2C0%2C4914%2C3173&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Easter has its bunnies, but chocolate comes out for every holiday.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/chocolate-bunny-family-royalty-free-image/177875356">garytog/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-easter-fun-facts-stats-2019-4#as-many-as-91-million-chocolate-bunnies-are-sold-in-the-us-for-easter-annually-8">Tens of millions of chocolate bunnies</a> get sold in the U.S. every Easter. Here are six articles about chocolate from The Conversation’s archive – great reading while you’re nibbling the ears off your own bunny (if you’re one of the <a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-easter-fun-facts-stats-2019-4#as-many-as-78-of-americans-eat-the-ears-of-their-chocolate-bunny-first-11">three-quarters of Americans who start</a> at the top).</p>
<h2>1. Food scientist on cocoa chemistry</h2>
<p>Chocolate bunnies don’t grow on trees – but cacao pods do. It takes a lot of processing to get from the raw agricultural input to the finished output.</p>
<p>Food scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5iZjEckAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Sheryl Barringer</a> from The Ohio State University wrote about various chemical reactions that are part of the transformation of beans into chocolate. One is the Maillard reaction, the same thing that gives the browned bits on roasted meats or a bread’s golden crust their flavor. <a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolate-chemistry-a-food-scientist-explains-how-the-beloved-treat-gets-its-flavor-texture-and-tricky-reputation-as-an-ingredient-198222">Barringer also explains that weird white stuff</a> – known as bloom – that might appear on your Easter chocolates if they hang around for a while. (Don’t worry, it’s still edible.)</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolate-chemistry-a-food-scientist-explains-how-the-beloved-treat-gets-its-flavor-texture-and-tricky-reputation-as-an-ingredient-198222">Chocolate chemistry – a food scientist explains how the beloved treat gets its flavor, texture and tricky reputation as an ingredient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Chocolate is a fermented food</h2>
<p>Food science Ph.D. candidate <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QjIM6yUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Caitlin Clark</a> from Colorado State University focuses her research on the microbes responsible for much of chocolate’s flavor. As a fermented food, chocolate depends on yeast and bacteria to help turn a raw ingredient into the treat you can recognize.</p>
<p>Clark described how the microorganisms that occur naturally in a given geographical location can give high-end chocolates their “terroir” – “<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolates-secret-ingredient-is-the-fermenting-microbes-that-make-it-taste-so-good-155552">the characteristic flair imparted by a place</a>” you might be more used to thinking about with regard to wine.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolates-secret-ingredient-is-the-fermenting-microbes-that-make-it-taste-so-good-155552">Chocolate's secret ingredient is the fermenting microbes that make it taste so good</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cacao pods and flowers on branch tree close up" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tiny flies spread pollen from one cacao tree to another.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cacao-pods-and-flower-on-branch-royalty-free-image/1165785501">dimarik/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Pollinators are important part of process</h2>
<p>Cacao growers rely on another tiny ally to pollinate their crop. Entomologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=qvmWZYwAAAAJ">DeWayne Shoemaker</a> from the University of Tennessee described the mini flies – particularly biting midges and gall midges – that get the job done. “Pollinators must pick up pollen from the male parts of a flower of one tree and deposit it on the female parts of a flower on another tree,” Shoemaker wrote.</p>
<p>But up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/tiny-cacao-flowers-and-fickle-midges-are-part-of-a-pollination-puzzle-that-limits-chocolate-production-154334">90% of cacao flowers don’t get pollinated</a> at all. People can hand-pollinate the little flowers, but it remains a mystery which other insects might do the job in the wild.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tiny-cacao-flowers-and-fickle-midges-are-part-of-a-pollination-puzzle-that-limits-chocolate-production-154334">Tiny cacao flowers and fickle midges are part of a pollination puzzle that limits chocolate production</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Child labor is chocolate’s bitter secret</h2>
<p>Harvesting and processing cacao is labor-intensive. To meet this need, some farmers turn to child labor. Cultural anthropologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1ErMxzgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Robert Ulin</a> from the Rochester Institute of Technology described how the global chocolate industry is tied to inequality via exploitative labor practices.</p>
<p>“The largest chocolate companies signed a protocol in 2001 that <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-chocolate-has-a-dark-side-to-it-child-labor-179271">condemned child labor and childhood slavery</a>,” Ulin wrote. But he noted that consumers may want more information to make sure their purchase power supports “fair labor practices in the chocolate sector.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-chocolate-has-a-dark-side-to-it-child-labor-179271">Some chocolate has a dark side to it – child labor</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dog and woman, both with Easter bunny ears on" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do not share your chocolates with your pooch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/dog-and-woman-with-costume-and-easter-decorations-royalty-free-image/1359250422">F.J. Jimenez/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Not safe for furry family members</h2>
<p>Eating a ton of chocolate is probably not a healthy choice for anyone. But even a little bit of chocolate can be deadly for dogs and cats. </p>
<p>In an article about all kinds of holiday foods that are unsafe for pets, veterinarian and researcher <a href="https://experts.okstate.edu/le.fanucchi">Leticia Fanucchi</a> from Oklahoma State University explained the chemicals in this human delicacy that can cause fatal “<a href="https://theconversation.com/holiday-foods-can-be-toxic-to-pets-a-veterinarian-explains-which-and-what-to-do-if-rover-or-kitty-eats-them-196453">chocolate intoxication</a>.” Don’t delay getting veterinary help if your pet does raid your Easter basket.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/holiday-foods-can-be-toxic-to-pets-a-veterinarian-explains-which-and-what-to-do-if-rover-or-kitty-eats-them-196453">Holiday foods can be toxic to pets – a veterinarian explains which, and what to do if Rover or Kitty eats them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>6. An enslaved chocolatier in colonial America</h2>
<p>An enslaved cook named Caesar, born in 1732, was one of the first chocolatiers in the American colonies. Historical archaeologist <a href="https://berkeley.academia.edu/KelleyFantoDeetz">Kelley Fanto Deetz</a> from the University of California, Berkeley described how Caesar “would have had to <a href="https://theconversation.com/oppression-in-the-kitchen-delight-in-the-dining-room-the-story-of-caesar-an-enslaved-chef-and-chocolatier-in-colonial-virginia-151356">roast the cocoa beans on the open hearth</a>, shell them by hand, grind the nibs on a heated chocolate stone, and then scrape the raw cocoa, add milk or water, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, and serve it piping hot.”</p>
<p>Cocoa was a hot commodity for Virginia’s white elite during this period, when it was a culinary component – along with pineapples, Madeira wine, port, champagne, coffee and sugar – of the Columbian Exchange.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/oppression-in-the-kitchen-delight-in-the-dining-room-the-story-of-caesar-an-enslaved-chef-and-chocolatier-in-colonial-virginia-151356">Oppression in the kitchen, delight in the dining room: The story of Caesar, an enslaved chef and chocolatier in Colonial Virginia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Two food scientists, an entomologist, an anthropologist, a veterinarian and a historian walk into a bar (of chocolate) and tell bitter and sweet stories of this favorite treat.
Maggie Villiger, Senior Science + Technology Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202885
2023-04-05T13:50:59Z
2023-04-05T13:50:59Z
From goddesses and rabbits to theology and ‘Superstar’: 4 essential reads on Easter’s surprisingly complicated history
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518873/original/file-20230401-28-6yu9j7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C1020%2C806&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How did commemorating the Resurrection get tangled up with rabbits and eggs?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/1960s-1970s-two-ceramic-easter-rabbit-figurines-and-news-photo/1062095384?adppopup=true">H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What’s Easter about? In some ways, the answer is pretty simple: Jesus Christ, and Christians’ belief that he rose from the dead.</p>
<p>In other ways, though, the springtime holiday is far from straightforward. How did rabbits get involved? Where did the name “Easter” come from – and why is the English word different from the way many other cultures refer to the holy day? Even theologically, exactly what the Resurrection means is not universally agreed upon.</p>
<p>Here are four articles that delve into Easter’s history, its significance – and what a rock ‘n’ roll Broadway show has to do with it.</p>
<h2>1. Picking the date</h2>
<p>First things first: Easter is what’s called a “movable feast,” a holiday whose exact date changes year to year. In the Northern Hemisphere it falls soon after the spring equinox, as the world comes back into bloom – a fitting time to celebrate rebirth.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-easter-is-called-easter-and-other-little-known-facts-about-the-holiday-75025">Easter’s dating</a> “goes back to the complicated origins of this holiday and how it has evolved over the centuries,” wrote <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/rs/faculty/bl23254">Brent Landau</a>, a religious studies scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. Similar to Christmas and Halloween celebrations today, Easter blends together elements from Christian and non-Christian traditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older photo of a church full of worshippers, most of the women in fancy hats." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518876/original/file-20230401-2142-d46dfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fantastic hats: One more Easter tradition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/worshipers-look-on-during-easter-services-at-saint-louis-news-photo/80351247?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The name “Easter” itself seems linked to a pre-Christian goddess named Eostre in what is now England; she was celebrated in springtime. And in fact, in most languages, the word for the holiday is related to Passover, since the Gospels say Jesus traveled to Jerusalem <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2014&version=NIV">to celebrate the Jewish festival</a> in the days leading up to his crucifixion.</p>
<p>But “celebrating” Easter, per se, wasn’t always in fashion with Christians. For the Puritans, Landau explained, these holidays were regarded as too tainted by merrymaking and un-Christian influences. As 19th-century American culture embraced the idea of childhood as a special time in life, though – not just preparation for adulthood – both Christmas and Easter became popular occasions to spend time with family.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-easter-is-called-easter-and-other-little-known-facts-about-the-holiday-75025">Why Easter is called Easter, and other little-known facts about the holiday</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Holy hares</h2>
<p>The Easter bunny’s bio starts long before the 1800s, though. Rabbits’ and hares’ famous fertility has made them symbols of rebirth <a href="https://theconversation.com/sacred-hares-banished-winter-witches-and-pagan-worship-the-roots-of-easter-bunny-traditions-are-ancient-180484">for thousands of years</a>. Some were ritually buried alongside people during the Neolithic age, for example.</p>
<p>Of course, that fecundity also makes them symbols of sex, as anyone who’s seen the Playboy logo is aware. “In the Classical Greek tradition, hares were sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love,” explained folklorist <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1012737">Tok Thompson</a>, a professor at USC Dornsife. The goddess’s son Eros was also depicted carrying a hare “as a symbol of unquenchable desire,” and even the Virgin Mary is often painted with a rabbit, to symbolize how she overcame desire.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting depicting a young woman handing baby Jesus to Virgin Mary, who puts one hand around him, while holding a hare with the other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Madonna of the Rabbit,’ a painting from 1530, depicting the Virgin Mary with a rabbit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Tizian_018.jpg">A painting by artist Titian (1490-1576), Louvre Museum, Paris.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern-day Easter bunny traditions stem from folk traditions in Germany and England, and there is evidence that the goddess Eostre’s symbol was the hare as well.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sacred-hares-banished-winter-witches-and-pagan-worship-the-roots-of-easter-bunny-traditions-are-ancient-180484">Sacred hares, banished winter witches and pagan worship – the roots of Easter Bunny traditions are ancient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Victory over death</h2>
<p>Holy Week, the series of events in Christian churches that lead up to Easter, traces Jesus’ final days before death and resurrection, <a href="https://theconversation.com/holy-week-starts-off-with-lots-of-palms-but-palm-sundays-donkey-is-just-as-important-to-the-story-202692">including Palm Sunday</a> and the Last Supper. Easter Sunday itself is the climax of the story: his triumph over death.</p>
<p>“As a Baptist minister and theologian myself, I believe it is important to understand how Christians more generally, and Baptists in particular, <a href="https://theconversation.com/christians-hold-many-views-on-jesus-resurrection-a-theologian-explains-the-differing-views-among-baptists-181386">hold differing views</a> on the meaning of the resurrection,” wrote <a href="https://religionlab.virginia.edu/people/jason-oliver-evans/">Jason Oliver Evans</a>, a doctoral candidate at the University of Virginia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue and gold painting showing Jesus with a large halo around his head and one woman on each side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518874/original/file-20230401-18-etlsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Resurrection’ by Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel, 1887.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-resurrection-1887-found-in-the-collection-of-museum-of-news-photo/600028067?adppopup=true">Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the centuries, Evans wrote, Christians have had “passionate debates over this central doctrine of Christian faith” and what it means for Jesus’ followers – such as whether his body was literally raised from the dead.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christians-hold-many-views-on-jesus-resurrection-a-theologian-explains-the-differing-views-among-baptists-181386">Christians hold many views on Jesus' resurrection – a theologian explains the differing views among Baptists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Superstar</h2>
<p>There are many ways to share the story of Holy Week – and one of the most controversial ones debuted on Broadway in 1971.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/best-easter-pageant-ever-half-a-century-of-jesus-christ-superstar-180628">Jesus Christ Superstar</a>,” the rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, struck some Christians as blasphemous with its modern-day telling of the Passion and “Jesus is cool” ethos. Then there’s the show’s ending, which cuts off after the crucifixion – cutting out the Resurrection, and its theological message, entirely.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man playing Jesus in a play in front of a cross." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518867/original/file-20230401-28-se4i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The musical ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ has always had ardent fans and fierce critics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jesus-christ-superstar-in-z%C3%BCrich-1992-news-photo/1173983488?adppopup=true">Blick/RDB/ullstein bild via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Half a century later, though, “Superstar” raises fewer eyebrows – a reflection of changes in U.S. culture and Christianity, wrote <a href="https://theatredance.ku.edu/people/henry-bial">Henry Bial</a>, a theater professor at the University of Kansas. Maybe that shouldn’t be such a shock: As he pointed out, theater and drama have always been entwined with Bible stories.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/best-easter-pageant-ever-half-a-century-of-jesus-christ-superstar-180628">Best Easter pageant ever? Half a century of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202885/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Like Halloween and Christmas, today’s Easter traditions are a blend of Christian and non-Christian influences.
Molly Jackson, Religion and Ethics Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203074
2023-04-03T14:50:53Z
2023-04-03T14:50:53Z
Easter eggs: their evolution from chicken to chocolate
<p>A lot of Easter traditions – including hot cross buns and lamb on Sunday – stem from <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-history-of-easter-feasts-and-why-the-english-breakfast-might-be-medieval-180521">medieval Christian</a> or even earlier pagan beliefs. The chocolate Easter egg, however, is a more modern twist on tradition.</p>
<p>Chicken eggs have been eaten at Easter for centuries. Eggs have long symbolised rebirth and renewal, making them perfect to commemorate the story of Jesus’ resurrection as well as the arrival of spring.</p>
<p>Although nowadays eggs can be eaten during the fasting period of Lent, in the middle ages they were prohibited along with meat and dairy. Medieval chefs often found surprising ways around this, even making <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mock-medieval-foods">mock eggs</a> to replace them. </p>
<p>For Easter – a period of celebration – eggs and meat, such as lamb (also a symbol of renewal), were back on the table.</p>
<p>Even once eggs were permitted in fasting meals, they kept a special place in the Easter feast. Seventeenth-century cookbook author <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A51636.0001.001/1:10.7?rgn=div2;view=fulltext">John Murrell recommended</a> “egges with greene sawce”, a sort of pesto made with sorrel leaves.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing three young girls rolling dyed blue eggs in the grass on a spring day." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518762/original/file-20230331-22-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rolling Easter Eggs by Edward Atkinson Hornel (1905).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/rolling-easter-eggs-21356/search/keyword:easter-egg--referrer:global-search/page/1/view_as/grid">Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Across Europe, eggs were also <a href="https://time.com/4732984/easter-eggs-history-origins/">given as a tithe</a> (a sort of yearly rent) to the local church on Good Friday. This might be where the idea of giving eggs as a gift comes from. The practice died out in many Protestant areas after the Reformation, but some English villages kept the tradition going until the 19th century.</p>
<p>It’s not known exactly when people started to decorate their eggs, but <a href="https://archive.org/details/eggateaster00vene/page/262/">research has pointed</a> to the 13th century, when King Edward I gave his courtiers eggs wrapped in gold leaf.</p>
<p>A few centuries later, we know that people across Europe were dying their eggs different colours. They usually chose yellow, using onion peel, or red, using madder roots or beetroots. The red eggs are thought to symbolise the blood of Christ. <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=yh6E8D1CHhwC&hl=de&pg=PA241-IA6#v=onepage&q&f=false">One 17th-century author</a> suggested this practice went as far back as early Christians in Mesopotamia, but it’s hard to know for sure. </p>
<p>In England, the most popular way of decorating was with petals, which made colourful imprints. The Wordsworth Museum in the Lake District still has <a href="https://twitter.com/WordsworthGras/status/714107987107913729">a collection of eggs</a> made for the poet’s children from the 1870s.</p>
<h2>From dyed eggs to chocolate eggs</h2>
<p>Although dyeing patterned eggs is still a common Easter activity, these days eggs are more commonly associated with chocolate. But when did this shift happen? </p>
<p>When chocolate arrived in Britain in the 17th century, it was an exciting and very expensive novelty. In 1669, the <a href="https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.FOOD.5.129873">Earl of Sandwich paid £227</a> – the equivalent of around £32,000 today – for a chocolate recipe from King Charles II.</p>
<p>Today chocolate is thought of as a solid food, but then it was only ever a drink and was usually <a href="https://rarecooking.com/2016/01/28/chacolet-from-rebeckah-winches-receipt-book-at-the-folger-shakespeare-library/">spiced with chilli pepper</a> following Aztec and Maya traditions. For the English, this exotic new drink was like nothing they’d ever encountered. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A44919.0001.001/1:5.48?rgn=div2;view=fulltext">One author called it</a> the “American Nectar”: a drink for the gods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustrated advert for Fry's hot chocolate shows a pair of children drinking hot chocolate in bed, with the words 'Hooray! It's Fry's' written on the bed sheet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518763/original/file-20230331-26-lu5ski.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An advert for Fry’s hot chocolate (c.1900-1909).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/p2u4mf9f/images?id=g9w2dz5r">Wellcome Collection</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chocolate was soon a fashionable drink for the aristocracy, often given as a gift thanks to its high status, a tradition still followed today. It was also enjoyed in the <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=zhzVN39UciQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gbs_navlinks_s">newly opened coffee houses</a> around London. Coffee and tea had also only just been introduced to England, and all three drinks were rapidly changing how Britons socially interacted with each other.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07409710701273282?journalCode=gfof20">Catholic theologians</a> did connect chocolate with Easter in this time, but out of concern that drinking chocolate would go against fasting practices during Lent. After heated debate, it was agreed that chocolate made with water might be acceptable during fasts. At Easter at least – a time of feasting and celebration – chocolate was fine.</p>
<p>Chocolate remained expensive into the 19th century, when Fry’s (now part of Cadbury) made the <a href="https://archive.org/details/truehistoryofcho0000coes_o3r0/page/242/">first solid chocolate bars in 1847</a>, revolutionising the chocolate trade.</p>
<p>For the Victorians, chocolate was much more accessible but still something of an indulgence. Thirty years later, in 1873, Fry’s developed the first chocolate Easter egg as a luxury treat, merging the two gift-giving traditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Supermarket shelves stacked with colourful Easter egg boxes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518778/original/file-20230331-16-9b170n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chocolate eggs went mainstream in the 1960s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/exeter-devon-england-march-6th-2019-1334619116">Wise Dog Studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even in the early 20th century, these chocolate eggs were seen as a special present, and many people never even ate theirs. A woman in Wales <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-61154848">kept an egg</a> from 1951 for 70 years and a museum in Torquay recently bought an egg that had been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-56419025">saved since 1924</a>.</p>
<p>It was only in the 1960s and 1970s that supermarkets began to offer <a href="https://theconversation.com/easter-eggs-were-once-a-rare-luxury-so-how-did-they-become-so-commonplace-94151">chocolate eggs at a cheaper price</a>, hoping to profit off the Easter tradition.</p>
<p>With rising concerns over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/15/climate-crisis-to-hit-europes-coffee-and-chocolate-supplies">long-term chocolate production</a> and bird flu provoked egg shortages, future Easters might look a little different. But if there is one thing that Easter eggs can show us, it’s the adaptability of tradition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Serin Quinn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Eggs have long symbolised rebirth and renewal, making them perfect to commemorate the story of Jesus’ resurrection.
Serin Quinn, PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Warwick
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202692
2023-03-31T12:22:48Z
2023-03-31T12:22:48Z
Holy Week starts off with lots of palms – but Palm Sunday’s donkey is just as important to the story
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518538/original/file-20230330-24-xdhqmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C4%2C1014%2C677&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man chooses a palm cross to buy on Palm Sunday near a church in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-chooses-a-palm-cross-to-buy-during-palm-sunday-near-a-news-photo/1239899434?adppopup=true">Javier Campos/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations, the Sunday before Easter marks the beginning of the most important week of the year – “Holy Week,” when Christians reflect on central mysteries of their faith: Christ’s Last Supper, crucifixion and resurrection from the dead.</p>
<p>Palm Sunday commemorates the story of Jesus’ <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+12&version=NRSVCE">triumphal entry into Jerusalem</a> shortly before the Jewish holiday of Passover. According to the Christian Gospels, people lined the streets to greet him, waving palm branches and shouting words of praise.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">a specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual</a>, I think it’s clear that the deeper meaning of this Sunday is rooted in humility, rather than worldly veneration.</p>
<p>Humble service to others is a theme that runs through the New Testament. As the apostle Paul stressed, Christians believe that Jesus, the son of a carpenter, was also the son of God, who “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202&version=NRSVCE">emptied himself</a>” of his divinity to become fully human. Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels praise “the meek, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A5&version=NRSVCE">for they will inherit the earth</a>,” and he proclaims that “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020&version=NRSVCE">whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant</a>.”</p>
<p>Modern Catholic teachings describe humility as grounded in an understanding of <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34023">one’s true relationship with God</a>, one’s own gifts, and an openness to appreciating the talents of others.</p>
<h2>Double symbols</h2>
<p>Each of the four Gospels, the biblical books about Jesus’ life, describe him entering Jerusalem to prepare to celebrate Passover days before being betrayed, arrested, tried and sentenced to a criminal’s death by crucifixion. Each one explicitly says that <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012&version=NRSVCE">he rode into the city</a> <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021&version=NRSVCE">on a donkey</a> or <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2011&version=NRSVCE">a colt</a>. Throughout the Bible, however, <a href="https://bibleapps.com/c/colt.htm">the word meaning “colt”</a> is used almost exclusively for young donkeys, not horses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of people, some of them holding tall palm branches, walk through a narrow street in an ancient city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518539/original/file-20230330-1159-hbo8ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People take part in the Palm Sunday procession in Jerusalem on April 10, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-take-part-in-the-palm-sunday-procession-in-jerusalem-news-photo/1239896869?adppopup=true">Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This image brings to mind a line from the Book of Zechariah in the Jewish scriptures: The prophet describes a victorious king who enters Jerusalem “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah+9%3A9&version=NIV">lowly and riding on a donkey</a>, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”</p>
<p>In Judaism, this passage from Zechariah is taken to <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/messiahs-donkey-of-a-thousand-colors/">refer to the Messiah</a>, a spiritual king who would peacefully redeem Israel. <a href="https://blog.israelbiblicalstudies.com/holy-land-studies/1450-2/">The donkey itself</a> is also interpreted as <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ani1010056">a sign of humility</a>. </p>
<p>In Christianity, <a href="https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/193175.pdf">this animal</a> becomes almost a symbol of Christ himself, given how it patiently suffers and bears others’ burdens. Horses, on the other hand, tend to be associated with royalty, power and war.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the palm branch had been <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/261788?seq=2%5D">associated with triumph and victory</a> for hundreds of years before Christ. Winners of athletic contests, victorious generals and triumphant kings would be awarded or welcomed with <a href="https://www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDiocese.php?op=Article_16786764332354">waving palm branches</a>, a sign of jubilation.</p>
<p>These Gospel narratives left Christians throughout the centuries with two important images for Palm Sunday, the procession with palm branches and the donkey: one associated with triumphant victory, and the other with quiet humility. </p>
<h2>Historical development</h2>
<p>The earliest evidence for a Palm Sunday procession comes from a late fourth-century religious woman named Egeria, who recorded <a href="https://litpress.org/Products/E8445/The-Pilgrimage-of-Egeria">her experiences on a pilgrimage</a> to the Holy Land for her community in Spain. </p>
<p>While in Jerusalem, she describes assembly for prayer on the Mount of Olives in the early afternoon of Palm Sunday. This is a significant location just outside the city, where Christians believe that Jesus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24%3A3-5&version=NRSVCE">taught disciples</a>, prayed in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026%3A36-46&version=NRSVCE">the garden of Gethsemane</a> at its base, and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%201&version=NRSVCE">ascended into heaven</a>.</p>
<p>Afterward, the group processed down to <a href="https://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=32745#:%7E:text=The%20Church%20of%20the%20Holy,on%20which%20Jesus%20was%20crucified">the Anastasis</a>, the church in Jerusalem marking the place <a href="https://www.doaks.org/resources/online-exhibits/holy-apostles/iconography/eastern-dome-with-depiction-of-the-anastasis">believed to be Jesus’ tomb</a>, for evening prayer. Among the crowd were children <a href="https://users.ox.ac.uk/%7Emikef/durham/egetra.html">waving palms</a> and olive branches.</p>
<p>Medieval Christian worship books from the 10th and 11th centuries show that a ritual procession outside churches became a standard feature of <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vRLJKonMfwQC&pg=PA237&lpg=PA237&dq=holy+week+joanne+pierce&source=bl&ots=UUvVjvd6Ab&sig=ACfU3U02BjuDgEVqV1QhS51pr5TFpZfWig&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOs5qK_f39AhXZKFkFHbr6Bak4ChDoAXoECAMQAw#v=snippet&q=palm%20sunday%20&f=false">Palm Sunday celebrations</a> in Western Christianity. In many parts of Europe, <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11432b.htm">other spring flowers or budding branches</a> might be used alongside palm or olive branches, and the Sunday could also be referred to as Flower or Willow Sunday.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men in hats stand around a saddled donkey outside a small building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518542/original/file-20230330-16-bwdl3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A member of a Christian brotherhood pets the donkey Rito, who will carry an image of Jesus during a Palm Sunday procession in Guatemala City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/member-of-the-sagrado-corazon-de-jesus-brotherhood-pets-the-news-photo/98100628?adppopup=true">Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christ could be represented in the procession in numerous ways, such as the presence of the bishop or saints’ relics. In some areas, a carved figure of Christ seated on a donkey, <a href="https://www.medieval.eu/the-hope-was-to-achieve-absolution-for-ones-sins-by-pulling-the-wooden-animal-along-palmesels-were-life-size-wooden-statues-showing-the-donkey-which-jesus-rode-in-his-triumphant-entry-into-j/">called a Palmesel</a> or “palm donkey,” could be pulled in front of the crowd.</p>
<p>During the mass after the procession, clergy would read a Gospel account of Christ’s crucifixion and death, traditionally from <a href="https://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/HolyWk/APalmSun_RCL.html">the Book of Matthew</a>; today, Catholics use versions from other gospels as well. The reading would usually be chanted, with different voices taking the parts of the narrator, Christ, and other speakers, especially the crowd of people described as witnessing his trial, with the congregation still holding their palm branches.</p>
<p>Even today, in the contemporary Catholic calendar, the full title of this first Sunday of Holy Week is <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040223.cfm">Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion</a>.</p>
<h2>Lasting symbols</h2>
<p>Centuries of theological and artistic reflection have shaped today’s Catholic approach to Holy Week specifically, and to the concept of holiness in general. </p>
<p>The image of the quiet, patient, and unassuming donkey has communicated humility in art and in practice. <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-ox-an-ass-a-dragon-sorry-there-were-no-animals-in-the-bibles-nativity-scene-89202">No animals are mentioned</a> in the descriptions of the birth of Jesus in the canonical gospels officially included in the Bible. However, other early Christian texts refer to a donkey at the manger or Mary seated on a donkey as she travels with Joseph. Medieval artists also depicted <a href="https://www.christianiconography.info/nativity.html">the nativity scene</a> with both an ox and an ass in attendance, and <a href="https://www.christianiconography.info/flightIntoEgypt.html">Mary riding on a donkey</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting shows a male saint with a halo holding a cup with a small dragon in it and a palm leaf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518543/original/file-20230330-26-eaheme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of Saint John the Evangelist holding a palm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cristobal Llorens/Museu de Belles Arts de Valencia via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The palm also came to be a wider symbol. Early saints <a href="https://aleteia.org/2020/10/16/how-to-recognize-the-symbols-of-martyrdom-in-art/">who had died as martyrs</a> – that is, who died rather than renounce their Christian faith – came to be pictured standing by a palm tree. More commonly, they were shown <a href="https://www.christianiconography.info/palmCrown.html">holding a palm branch</a>, signifying their victory over death: Having given up their earthly lives to follow Christ, they were now united with him in Paradise. Martyrs are also frequently depicted with the instruments of their torture, helping worshippers to identify and venerate them.</p>
<p>All of these images are rooted in the narrative of Palm Sunday, with its image of Jesus, the carpenter’s son, riding on an ordinary donkey, yet acclaimed for a moment as though he were a worldly king. A similar paradox is at the heart of Christian teachings: that although Jesus Christ willingly died on a criminal’s cross, doing so was a victory over sin and death.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne M. Pierce does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Donkeys and palm leaves are both associated with Christianity’s Palm Sunday – but their symbolism couldn’t be more different.
Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200269
2023-02-22T12:53:32Z
2023-02-22T12:53:32Z
Lent is here – remind me what it’s all about? 5 essential reads
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511050/original/file-20230220-27-p8vr96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1017%2C674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Catholic Ash Wednesday service at St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in Chennai, India, in 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/catholic-christian-devotees-attend-a-holy-mass-during-an-news-photo/1238867563?phrase=ash%20wednesday&adppopup=true">Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foreheads smudged with the sign of the cross are the most visible sign of Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent in many Christian denominations. The 40-day period leads up to Holy Week, some of the most sacred days in the church calendar – including Easter, which commemorates Christians’ central belief that Jesus was crucified and buried before rising from the dead.</p>
<p>But if Easter is associated with celebration and triumphal joy, Lent is more a season of soul-searching and spiritual discipline. Here are some of The Conversation’s many articles exploring the history and significance of Ash Wednesday and Lent. </p>
<h2>1. Ash Wednesday</h2>
<p>Let’s start with the basics: What is Ash Wednesday? Why do worshippers spend the day wearing ashes?</p>
<p>Christians who participate in Ash Wednesday services, where clergy often daub their foreheads with the sign of the cross, are participating in a thousand-year-old tradition, explained <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/religiousstudies/johnston_william.php">William Johnston</a>, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton. In part, the practice exists to call churchgoers to repentance as they begin the spiritual journey of Lent.</p>
<p>Two phrases used in services over the centuries underscore that call to penance: “Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” taken from the biblical Book of Genesis; and “Repent, and believe in the Gospel,” words of Jesus’ in the Gospel of Mark.</p>
<p>“Each phrase in its own way serves the purpose of calling the faithful to live their Christian lives more deeply,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-things-to-know-about-ash-wednesday-112120">Johnston wrote</a>. The first urges believers to “focus on what is essential,” while the second is “a direct call to follow” Jesus’ teachings.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-things-to-know-about-ash-wednesday-112120">4 things to know about Ash Wednesday</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Why ashes, though?</h2>
<p>For a deeper dive on the practice, <a href="https://www.rit.edu/directory/mslgsh-michael-laver">Michael Laver</a> of Rochester Institute of Technology looked back at ashes’ spiritual symbolism throughout history. They figure in many biblical stories, where they represent penitence and remorse.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two hands hold a seashell filled with ashes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206065/original/file-20180212-58348-1s8sz4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pastors at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Sacramento provide ‘Ashes to Go’ for those who want to participate in Ash Wednesday worship but cannot attend a church service.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christian churches have used ashes to demonstrate repentance for centuries, but that isn’t to say the practice is unchanging. Laver, an Episcopal priest and historian of Christianity, traced how the Protestant Reformation initially put ashes out of favor in non-Catholic churches. They reembraced the practice in the 1800s, at a time “when many Protestant churches entered into intentional dialogue with each other and with the Catholic Church, a phenomenon that is called the ‘ecumenical movement,’” <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-christians-wear-ashes-on-ash-wednesday-91556">he wrote</a>.</p>
<p>In recent years, many churches have been innovating yet again, offering “ashes to go” to passersby in public. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-christians-wear-ashes-on-ash-wednesday-91556">Why do Christians wear ashes on Ash Wednesday?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. The long journey of Lent</h2>
<p>After Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day period of Lent, a word whose roots refer to the “lengthening” of days in springtime. Spiritually, however, its purpose is preparation: a time of fasting and prayer before the joy of Easter.</p>
<p>Fasting was common by the fourth century as a way to avoid self-indulgence during a time of repentance – even marriage was prohibited during Lent, as College of the Holy Cross <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">professor Joanne Pierce</a> explained.</p>
<p>Some Christians follow traditional fasts today, but others give up something pleasurable for the entire 40 days, from chocolate to TV. But Lent is not just about giving up, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-origins-of-lent-155622">according to Pierce</a>. Its spiritual renewal is about giving, too, such as “making amends with estranged family and friends,” or doing community service.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-origins-of-lent-155622">What are the origins of Lent?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Your body sans sugar</h2>
<p>Giving up chocolate must be one of the most common Lenten vows – but what happens if you take it a step further and nix sweets entirely?</p>
<p>Penn State neuroscientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V-PvnBIAAAAJ&hl=en">Jordan Gaines Lewis</a> walked us through <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-give-up-sugar-for-lent-37745">the science of your brain on sugar</a>. The delight it brings most people is a “natural reward,” an incentive to keep eating carbohydrates. But “modern diets have taken on a life of their own,” she wrote: even a decade ago, the average American was estimated to consume 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Small brightly colored mice made out of sugar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72376/original/image-20150218-20810-qzhm2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sugar rodents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sugar by Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“The notion of sugar addiction is still a rather taboo topic,” Lewis noted. Yet experiments with animals suggest that sugar may hook us in a similar way that drugs do.</p>
<p>“Repeated access to sugar over time leads to prolonged dopamine signaling, greater excitation of the brain’s reward pathways and a need for even more sugar to activate all of the midbrain dopamine receptors like before,” she wrote. “The brain becomes tolerant to sugar – and more is needed to attain the same ‘sugar high.’”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-give-up-sugar-for-lent-37745">Here's what happens to your brain when you give up sugar for Lent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. Looking for God online</h2>
<p>Another increasingly popular “fast” is especially 21st century: going offline.</p>
<p>Taking a pause from the internet, especially social media, is sometimes promoted as a way to help focus on faith and “real world” connections. That can work, but some of these theories’ assumptions about technology are misguided, argued <a href="https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/communication/profile/heidi-a-campbell/">Heidi Campbell</a>, a Texas A&M communications expert who studies religion. </p>
<p>Digital fasting often buys into the idea of “technological determinism,” which often portrays technology as something dehumanizing and all-powerful. But this overlooks users’ ability to make choices about which goals of theirs technology can and can’t fulfill – including spiritual goals. Today, apps even offer to help people study religious texts, find faith-based products, or connect with others who share their beliefs.</p>
<p>“Technology can, in fact, be good for religion,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-use-digital-devices-this-lent-for-holy-reflection-74024">Campbell wrote</a>. “The question is, how do we engage with technology thoughtfully and actively?”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-use-digital-devices-this-lent-for-holy-reflection-74024">How to use digital devices this Lent for holy reflection</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Christians live out Lent in many different ways. Yet “Lent in the 21st century remains essentially the same as in centuries past,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-origins-of-lent-155622">as Pierce wrote</a>: “a time of quiet reflection and spiritual discipline.”</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A roundup of The Conversation’s articles about this holy Christian season and its history.
Molly Jackson, Religion and Ethics Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200311
2023-02-20T20:33:41Z
2023-02-20T20:33:41Z
Pancakes and football: a brief history of Shrove Tuesday in the UK
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511215/original/file-20230220-28-a01g4m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C2%2C1979%2C994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">"Medieval football" is still played annually on Shrove Tuesday in some parts of the UK.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/illustration-of-a-game-of-football-being-played-in-the-streets-of-london-during-the-14th-century-football-of-this-time-played-without-rules-in-narrow-medieval-streets-was-both-fantastically-popular-and-equally-violent-in-1314-a-group-of-london-merchants-petitioned-king-edward-ii-to-ask-him-to-ban-the-playing-of-football-due-to-the-impact-it-was-having-on-their-business-the-king-was-happy-to-ban-the-game-feeling-that-many-evils-might-arise-from-the-playing-of-football-colourised-version-of-10219013-date-1905-image472815923.html?imageid=570E79E3-0A57-46B9-97F3-AB70EFD906E4&p=1912084&pn=1&searchId=87694fee2da257e1fbe19c02e78f2dd4&searchtype=0">Shutterstock/Alamy</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/politics-pancakes">Pancake Day</a>, or Shrove Tuesday is once again upon us. Celebrated in many countries around the world, for Christians, Shrove Tuesday marks the last day, or the feast day before Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter. </p>
<p>This is traditionally a time of abstinence associated with clearing your cupboards of things like <a href="https://theconversation.com/egg-shortage-a-nutritionist-on-the-best-egg-alternatives-195248">eggs</a>, sugar and fats. Pancakes are eaten on this day to use up these foods before the fasting season of Lent begins.</p>
<p>But Shrove Tuesday isn’t just about pancakes. Indeed, historically in the UK, it formed part of a more elaborate pre-Lent festival called <a href="https://ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/research/">Shrovetide</a>, which was all about feasting and sports. </p>
<p>Shrovetide games ranged from cruel animal blood sports like <a href="https://ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2021/02/18/kings-of-the-school-britains-carnival-monarchs-and-social-inversion/">cock-fighting</a> to tug-o-wars and <a href="https://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/article.php?article=699">skipping</a>. Yet no Shrovetide sport was more widespread and longstanding than football.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-making-a-perfect-pancake-54371">The science behind making a perfect pancake</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511225/original/file-20230220-946-v8u3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Village Ba’ Game by Alexander Carse, 1818: a village football match in Jedburgh, Scotland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Village_Ba%27_Game_by_Alexander_Carse.jpg">Painting of a large group of men playing football in front of a large rural building.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to players from <a href="https://calendarcustoms.com/articles/duns-ba/">Duns</a>, a town in the Scottish Borders, in 1686, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103825529&view=1up&seq=184&q1=football">it was</a> “an ancient custom throughout all this kingdom to play at football upon Fastens Eve (Shrove Tuesday)”. </p>
<p>Shrovetide ball games are documented from the 12th century onwards, in scores of communities throughout Britain and northern France – several of which in <a href="https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ashbourne-royal-shrovetide-football">England</a> and <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16042850.pictures-battle-crowned-jedburgh-handba-champions/">Scotland</a> still play it today. Shop windows are <a href="https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/rules-ashbourne-royal-shrovetide-players-8151777">boarded up and businesses are closed</a> for the day as whole towns take to the streets to join in the annual Shrovetide football game.</p>
<h2>Shrove football</h2>
<p>As ancestors to our modern games, folk football matches varied considerably in the manner of play. But generally, players contested a ball with hand and foot, usually towards a goal. </p>
<p>Shrovetide games were often the big matches of the day, featuring sometimes hundreds of participants. Whether town versus country, or married against bachelors, teams battled to move the ball through streets and countryside, towards goals like mills, streams or even the church.</p>
<p>Due to its destructive potential, <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781442654044-013/html?lang=en">football often fell foul</a> of authority and was banned outright. Medieval royal prohibitions called it “vain, unthrifty and idle”, while <a href="https://theconversation.com/bites-brawls-and-severed-heads-footballs-history-of-violence-28429">Puritans deemed it</a> “a bloody and murdering practise”. But others in power obviously saw its appeal, to judge from its festive sponsorship in many cities and towns. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JRQahGlunXU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In Chester, for example, every Shrove Tuesday in the early 16th century, the Merchant Drapers’ Company received a football from the Shoemakers’ Company, a wooden ball from the Saddlers’ Company and a small silk ball from each man from the city married within the last year. Under the mayor’s supervision, the Drapers tossed up the balls (which doubled as prizes) for the craftsmen and crowd to play from the common field to the city’s Common Hall.</p>
<p>Chester’s Shrovetide sponsorship was mirrored throughout the British Isles. Craftsmen and guilds played key roles as participants and providers of the ball(s). On Shrove Tuesday 1373, for example, skinners (who skin animals) and tailors played in the streets of London. Butchers did the same in Jedburgh, Scotland. </p>
<p>While in the late 18th century in the market town of Alnwick in Northumberland, England, the Skinners’ and Shoemakers’ companies paraded the ball to the match between married and bachelor men. Indeed, leather workers like shoemakers were especially important, crafting Shrovetide footballs in 15th-century London, 16th-century Glasgow and 17th-century Carlisle.</p>
<h2>An ancient custom</h2>
<p>Newlyweds also fronted the ball in many communities. In Dublin, recently married men had to present a ball to city magistrates every Shrove Tuesday during the 15th and 16th centuries. Newlywed members of trade guilds in Perth in central Scotland, and Corfe Castle in Dorset also paid a Shrovetide “football due”, while a similar custom seems to have existed in medieval London. </p>
<p>These were part of a broader folk tradition, where newly married couples owed a “bride ball” or “ball money” to their community. Since weddings were customary during Shrovetide (and prohibited in Lent), it was an ideal time to collect this money. Local governments would gather the “wedding ball” dues, hire drummers and pipers to pump up the crowds, or pay for the footballs directly. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of crowd playing football in a tonw" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511208/original/file-20230220-28-678g79.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration of Shrove Tuesday football in Kingston Upon Thames (1865).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shrovetide_Football_Kingston_upon_Thames_1865.png"> Penny Illustrated Weekly News (London), p. 636, 1865-03-18</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Failure to pay your football dues could result in imprisonment, heavy fines or the forced closing of a craftsman’s shop. These harsh consequences reflect the worth of Shrove Tuesday football to these communities. To them, it was not a “vain and idle” game, but an “ancient and laudable custom” of “goodly feats and exercise” where participation was often obligatory. </p>
<p>Officials thus sponsored games that were technically illegal because Shrovetide football equated with the “common wealth of the city”. Participation and patronage of the game <a href="https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/203974643/Taylor_Aucoin_Doctoral_Thesis_When_the_Pancake_Bell_Rings_Final_Copy.pdf">reinforced the status and privilege</a> that came with civic membership. </p>
<p>Gradually, authorities in most major cities did withdraw their support from Shrovetide football. Some cities like St Andrews in Scotland simply banned it because of the “many ills” and “disorder”. </p>
<p>Others “reformed” the games into less dangerous entertainments, like foot and horse races in 1540s Chester, or a fire-engine display in 1725 in Carlisle. By the middle of the 18th century, officially sanctioned Shrovetide ball games were mostly confined to smaller market towns and villages, which is where some live on to this day.</p>
<p>So as you reach for the batter this Shrove Tuesday, remember the history of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-violent-peasants-to-multi-million-pound-megastars-the-history-of-football-27348">riotous game</a> we call football and its lesser-known origins as a prelude to pancakes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Aucoin currently receives funding from the British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies. His PhD research was partially funded by grants from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Royal Historical Society, Society for Renaissance Studies, Richard III Society, Sidney Perry Foundation, the Humanitarian Trust, the Bristol Graduate Research Centre, Bristol Alumni Foundation, Sir John Plumb Trust, Sir Richard Stapley Trust, Folklore Society, Society for Theatre Research, and the Medieval Academy of America.
</span></em></p>
Pancake Day isn’t just about pancakes.
Taylor Aucoin, British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in History, The University of Edinburgh
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181386
2022-04-14T21:54:52Z
2022-04-14T21:54:52Z
Christians hold many views on Jesus’ resurrection – a theologian explains the differing views among Baptists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458226/original/file-20220414-20-dk713t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C27%2C2967%2C1963&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Resurrection of Christ depicted in 14th-century fresco in Chora Church, Istanbul, Turkey.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/resurrection-fresco-in-chora-church-istanbul-turkey-royalty-free-image/124516452?adppopup=true">LP7/Collections E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, Christians from around the world gather for worship on Easter Sunday. Also known as Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, Easter is the final day of a weeklong commemoration of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/327976/the-historical-figure-of-jesus-by-e-p-sanders/">the story of Jesus’ final days</a> in the city of Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.</p>
<p>Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/this-is-the-night-9780567027603/">Holy Week</a>. In Western Christianity, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Easter is the third day of the larger three-day festival known as <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/36244?rskey=v0m9To&result=1">Holy Triduum</a>, which begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday, marking the night of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. Good Friday marks Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death. Holy Saturday marks Jesus’ burial in a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea. The festival reaches its climax on early Sunday morning with the Easter Vigil and ends on the evening of Easter Sunday.</p>
<p>As a Baptist minister and <a href="https://virginia.academia.edu/JasonOEvans">theologian</a> myself, I believe it is important to understand how Christians more generally, and Baptists in particular, hold differing views on the meaning of the resurrection. </p>
<h2>The resurrection</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/2120/exploring-and-proclaiming-the-apostles-creed.aspx">According to the Christian faith</a>, resurrection is the pivotal event when “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A11-13&version=NCV">God raised Jesus from the dead</a>” after he was <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800628864/The-Crucifixion-of-Jesus">crucified</a> by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.</p>
<p>While none of the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-gospels-and-jesus-9780199246168?cc=us&lang=en&">four canonical Gospels</a> of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John describe the actual event of the resurrection in detail, they nonetheless give varying reports about the <a href="http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-story-of-jesus-in-history-and-faith/338111">empty tomb and Christ’s post-resurrection appearances</a> among his followers both in Galilee and Jerusalem.</p>
<p>They also report that it was women who discovered the empty tomb and received and proclaimed the first message that Christ was risen from the dead. These narratives were passed down orally among the earliest Christian communities and <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6782/the-oral-gospel-tradition.aspx">then codified in the Gospel writings</a> beginning some 30 years after Jesus’ death.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800626792/The-Resurrection-of-the-Son-of-God">Earliest Christians believed</a> that by raising Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, God cleared Jesus from any wrongdoing for which he was tried and unjustly condemned to death by Pilate.</p>
<p>By affirming the resurrection, Christians do not mean that Jesus’ body was merely resuscitated. Rather, as New Testament scholar <a href="https://candler.emory.edu/faculty/emeriti-profiles/johnson-luke-timothy.html">Luke Timothy Johnson</a> <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-real-jesus-luke-timothy-johnson?variant=32117576564770">writes</a>, resurrection means that “[Jesus] entered into an entirely new form of existence.” </p>
<p>As the risen Christ, Jesus is believed to share God’s power to transform all life and also to share this same power with his followers. So the resurrection is believed to be something that happened not only to Jesus, but also an experience that happens <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15&version=NRSV">to his followers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Christ standing before Roman governor Pontius Pilate, in a tile from the Cathedral of Siena, Italy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christ before Pilate: Detail of a tile from the Cathedral of Siena, Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/siena-museo-dellopera-metropolitana-christ-before-pilate-news-photo/146325687?adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Opposing views</h2>
<p>Over the years, Christians have engaged in passionate debates over this central doctrine of Christian faith.</p>
<p>Two major approaches emerged: the “liberal” view and the “conservative” or “traditional” view. Current perspectives on the resurrection have been predominated by two questions: “Was Jesus’ body literally raised from the dead?” and “What relevance does the resurrection have for those struggling for justice?” </p>
<p>These questions emerged in the wake of <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800637958/Modern-Christian-Thought-Second-Edition">theological modernism</a>, a European and North American movement dating back to the mid-19th century that sought to reinterpret Christianity to accommodate the emergence of modern science, history and ethics.</p>
<p>Theological modernism led liberal Christian theologians to create an alternative path between the rigid orthodoxies of Christian churches and the rationalism of atheists and others. </p>
<p>This meant that liberal Christians were willing to revise or jettison cherished Christian beliefs, such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus, if such beliefs could not be explained against the bar of human reason. </p>
<h2>Baptist views on the resurrection</h2>
<p>Just like all other Christian denominations, Baptists are divided on the issue of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Arguably, what may be unique about the group is that <a href="https://www.helwys.com/sh-books/the-baptist-identity/">Baptists believe</a> that no external religious authority can force an individual member to adhere to the tenets of Christian faith in any prescribed way. One must be free to accept or reject any teaching of the church. </p>
<p>In the early 20th century, Baptists in the United States found themselves on both sides of a schism within American Christianity over doctrinal issues, known as the <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/fundamentalism-and-american-culture-9780195300475?cc=us&lang=en&">fundamentalist-modernist</a> controversy. </p>
<p>The Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, a liberal Baptist pastor who served First Presbyterian Church and later Riverside Church in Manhattan, <a href="https://www.mupress.org/Baptist-Theology-A-Four-Century-Study-P1014.aspx">rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus</a>. Rather, Fosdick viewed the resurrection as a “persistence in [Christ’s] personality.” </p>
<p>In 1922, Fosdick delivered his famous sermon “<a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5070/">Shall the Fundamentalists Win</a>?” rebuking fundamentalists for their failure to tolerate difference on doctrinal matters such as the infallibility of the Bible, the virgin birth and bodily resurrection, among others, and for downplaying the weightier matter of addressing the societal needs of the day.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/titles/clayborne-carson/the-autobiography-of-martin-luther-king-jr/9780759520370/">autobiography</a>, civil rights leader and Baptist minister the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. explained that in his early adolescence he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus. </p>
<p>While attending Crozer Seminary in 1949, <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/what-experiences-christians-living-early-christian-century-led-christian">King wrote a paper </a> trying to make sense of what led to the development of the Christian doctrine of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. For King, the experience of the early followers of Jesus was at the root of their belief in his resurrection.</p>
<p>“They had been captivated by the magnetic power of his personality,” King argued. “This basic experience led to the faith that he could never die.” In other words, the bodily resurrection of Jesus simply is the outward expression of early Christian experience, not an actual or, at least, a verifiable event in human history. </p>
<p>It is not clear from his later writings that King changed his views on the bodily resurrection. In one of his notable <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/questions-easter-answers-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church">Easter sermons</a>, King argued that the meaning behind the resurrection signaled a future where God will put an end to racial segregation. </p>
<p>Others within the Baptist movement disagreed. Like his fundamentalist forebears, conservative evangelical Baptist theologian <a href="https://www.crossway.org/books/god-revelation-and-authority-tpb/">Carl F.H. Henry argued in 1976</a> that all Christian doctrine can be rationally explained and can persuade any nonbeliever. Henry rigorously defended the bodily resurrection of Christ as a historical occurrence by appealing to the Gospels’ telling of the empty tomb and Christ’s appearances among his disciples after his resurrection.</p>
<p>In his six-volume magnum opus, “<a href="https://www.crossway.org/books/god-revelation-and-authority-tpb/">God, Revelation, and Authority</a>,” Henry read these two elements of the Gospels as historical records that can be verified through modern historical methods.</p>
<h2>Alternative views</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fresco of Christ with lifted arms, his head encircled by a halo, or nimbus, wearing a tunic and a mantle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christians hold a diversity of perspectives on Christ’s resurrection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-basilicata-matera-cripta-di-santa-maria-alle-malve-news-photo/187388766?adppopup=true">Bruno Balestrini / Electa / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite their predominance, the liberal and conservative arguments on the resurrection of Jesus are not the only approaches held among Baptists. </p>
<p>In his book “<a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781592445172/resurrection-and-discipleship/">Resurrection and Discipleship</a>,” Baptist theologian <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/author/thorwald-lorenzen/">Thorwald Lorenzen</a> also outlines what he calls the “evangelical” approach, which seeks to transcend the distinctions of “liberal” and “conservative” approaches. He affirms, with the conservatives, the historical reality of the resurrection, but agrees with the liberals that such an event cannot be verified in the modern historical sense. </p>
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<p>Other than these, there is a “liberation” approach, which stresses the social and political implications of the resurrection. Baptists who hold this view primarily interpret the resurrection as God’s response and commitment to liberating those who, like Jesus, <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800698782/We-Have-Been-Believers">experience poverty and oppression</a>.</p>
<p>Given this diversity of perspectives on the resurrection, Baptists are not unique among Christians in engaging matters of faith practice. However, I argue that Baptists may be distinct in that they believe that such matters must be freely believed by one’s own conscience and not enforced by any external religious authority.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a piece <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-baptists-hold-differing-views-on-the-resurrection-of-christ-and-why-this-matters-158572">first published on April 15, 2021</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Oliver Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Christians have engaged in passionate debates over the meaning of the resurrection. Baptists may be distinct in that they believe an external religious authority cannot enforce views on such matters.
Jason Oliver Evans, Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181105
2022-04-14T16:48:05Z
2022-04-14T16:48:05Z
Jesus the faithful Jew: How misreadings of the Christian Gospels miss this and fuel anti-Judaism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457523/original/file-20220411-22014-da1xfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C71%2C687%2C402&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The harmful belief that Christianity 'replaced' Judaism is partly rooted in the erroneous view that
Jesus told his followers that rules regarding ritual purity were outdated. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_cleans_leper_man.jpg">(Wikimedia)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/jesus-the-faithful-jew--how-misreadings-of-the-christian-gospels-miss-this-and-fuel-anti-judaism" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>This year, Easter and Passover, holidays central to Christianity and Judaism, respectively, begin on the same weekend. </p>
<p>This timing provides an ideal opportunity to address faulty and often dangerous misconceptions that have been part of Christian communities for nearly 2,000 years. </p>
<p>Many Christians of varying denominations regard their faith as having developed from Jesus’s <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780879757045/The-Life-of-Jesus">rejection of Judaism</a>. But Jesus was a faithful Jew who respected and protected Jewish traditions, practices and laws.</p>
<p>The belief that Christianity replaced or supplanted Judaism is known as Christian <a href="https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/supersessionism">supersessionism</a>. </p>
<p>Christian supersessionism has not only fed into negative perceptions of Jews and Judaism <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-way-we-think-about-the-messiah-is-very-problematic">since antiquity</a>, but has also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/overcoming-supersessionism-christianity-the-jews-and-the-end-of-/10099398">incited violence against Jews</a>.</p>
<p>Historically, Christian anti-Jewish sentiment often became especially pronounced <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-good-friday-was-dangerous-for-jews-in-the-middle-ages-and-how-that-changed-114896">when Christians observed Holy Week</a>, the week commemorating the time leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection.</p>
<p>As Amy-Jill Levine, a leading professor of New Testament and Jewish studies, writes, “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/holy-week-and-the-hatred-of-the-jews/11029900">every time the Passion narratives are read, the threat of anti-Judaism reappears</a>.” </p>
<h2>Reading the Christian Gospels</h2>
<p>From as <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/barnabas-lightfoot.html">early as the second century</a> to today, some Christian readers of the New Testament Gospels have concluded that these depict Jesus doing away with Jewish law <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/media/decade-later-passion-still-raises-questions-anti-semitism">or replacing Judaism</a>. This interpretation often includes the view that Jesus told his audiences that rules regarding ritual purity were irrelevant and outdated. But these views are simply incorrect.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/purity-and-pollution-in-the-hebrew-bible/1613446D1EB1F0F1AE22EFFF09745ADD">Ancient Jewish law</a> focused on three sources of ritual impurity: corpses; male and female genital discharges; and skin conditions known in Hebrew as <em>tzaraʿat</em>, translated into Greek as <em>lepra</em>. English translations of the Bible mistakenly identified this with leprosy, a <a href="https://www.thetorah.com/article/tzaraat-in-light-of-its-mesopotamian-parallels">disease that would have been unknown</a> to the ancient Israelites.</p>
<p>Anyone in a state of impurity was not permitted to visit the temple until a certain period of time had passed and they had washed in <a href="https://www.thetorah.com/article/biblical-purification-was-it-immersion">a ritual bath</a>.</p>
<p>The Gospels depict how Jesus interacts with many people who were experiencing ritual impurity. At the end of every one of those episodes, the people he meets are no longer in a state of ritual impurity. Their encounter with Jesus results in both their healing and purification.</p>
<h2>Removing sources of ritual impurity</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A woman is shown crouching and touching the edge of a man's garment." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457767/original/file-20220412-13-s1o2zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jesus asks, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ when he’s touched by a bleeding woman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia Commons)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in Gospel stories describing the life of Jesus, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+13&version=NRSV">people with <em>lepra</em></a> are <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A40-45&version=NRSV">purified</a> when Jesus heals them. </p>
<p>In the Gospel of Mark, a woman who had been “suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years” — <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+15.25&version=NRSV">another condition causing impurity</a> — leaves Jesus with her <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+5.25-34&version=NRSV">defiling discharge</a> healed. </p>
<p>And even corpses, which are <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers+19%3A11-16&version=NRSV">inherently impure</a> under Jewish law, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+5.35-45&version=NRSV">are no longer corpses</a> after Jesus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+11%3A38-44&version=NRSV">brings them back to</a> to life.</p>
<p>Since many modern Christian readers are unfamiliar with ancient Judaism’s ritual impurity system, they often fail to recognize that Jesus repeatedly removes the sources of ritual impurity from people he encounters. These sources of impurity seem to be <a href="https://janes.scholasticahq.com/article/2391-the-rationale-for-biblical-impurity">connected with death</a> or the loss of life.</p>
<h2>Brushes with death</h2>
<p>My scholarship has examined how <a href="http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/jesus-and-the-forces-of-death/399984">Jesus roots out ritual impurity</a> throughout his ministry. These encounters with people who are ritually impure do not depict him rejecting the ritual impurity system, but battling the root sources of impurity (forces of death) and defeating them. </p>
<p>These events demonstrate Jesus caring so much about ritual impurity that he took actions to resolve it wherever he encountered it, because it was a barrier to accessing the temple, where God’s presence dwelt.</p>
<p>These skirmishes with impurity culminate with Jesus’s own death <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/crucifixion-capital-punishment">on a Roman cross</a>. At the very point when it looks like death has defeated Jesus and he has become irrevocably ritually impure, the Gospels depict Jesus’s resurrection and triumph over death itself. <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-resurrection-of-the-body-in-western-christianity-2001336/9780231185295">Jesus’s resurrection</a> becomes a central aspect of Christian theology. </p>
<h2>Impurity and destruction of the temple</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457771/original/file-20220412-50132-q5ngyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After Jerusalem’s Second Temple (shown here in a model) was destroyed, some Jesus followers’ concerns with impurity receded when no one could visit the Temple.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">( Ariely/Wikimedia Commons)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The notion that Jesus rejected Judaism and Jewish observances developed in the decades after the crucifixion. </p>
<p>After the destruction of Jerusalem’s <a href="https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/main-articles/second-temple">Second Temple</a> under Roman occupation in 70, some followers of Jesus felt there was no longer a reason to be concerned with impurity because no one could visit the temple.</p>
<p>Many Christians today, especially those in the West, live with little or no concern for ritual impurity, and thus conclude that Jesus too must not have cared about it. But this is an inaccurate understanding of Jesus. </p>
<p>In fact, many <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/purity-community-and-ritual-in-early-christian-literature-9780198791959?cc=us&lang=en&">early Christians</a>, some of whom were Jews and others of whom were non-Jews, continued to observe aspects of ritual purity, only abandoning it partially and over time.</p>
<h2>Avoid perpetuating anti-Judaism</h2>
<p>One of the most dangerous New Testament passages occurs in the Gospel of Matthew’s Passion narrative, which depicts Jews at Jesus’s trial demanding his crucifixion and declaring, “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt+27%3A24%E2%80%9325&version=NRSV">May his blood be on us and our children</a>.” Many Christians through the ages have understood these verses to pronounce an eternal blood curse upon Jews as “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/christ-killers-9780195178418?cc=us&lang=en&">the Christ killers</a>.” This imagery and wrongful accusation has been used to <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/AboutUs/CivilSociety/ReportHC/75_The_Louis_D._Brandeis_Center__Fact_Sheet_Anti-Semitism.pdf">fuel dangerous myths</a> that have served to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/passion-of-the-jews-of-prague-the-pogrom-of-1389-and-the-lessons-of-a-medieval-parody/2635394D614DC3CEC350C02ECB942499">bolster violence against Jews</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-have-washed-their-hands-and-blamed-others-since-jesuss-crucifixion-157761">Politicians have 'washed their hands' and blamed others since Jesus's crucifixion</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Matthew’s Gospel was written by <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA577209453&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00259373&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E6a609ec7">a Jewish believer in Jesus</a> and for other Jewish believers in Jesus. So regardless of its polemical nature, it is unlikely that Matthew would have intended or approved the use of these verses as both a curse and a pretext for violence against all Jews throughout time.</p>
<h2>Avoiding anti-Judaism</h2>
<p>Levine discusses and evaluates <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/holy-week-and-the-hatred-of-the-jews/11029900">contemporary Christian strategies</a> for avoiding anti-Judaism during Christian Holy Week. One strategy she flags as misguided and insensitive is taking a romantic approach to the past — such as if churches seek to celebrate a “Christian seder.” </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A platter showing unleavened bread with other symbols like the egg on a platter at a seder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457519/original/file-20220411-12-59j6aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unleavened bread at the Passover seder represents bread the Israelites took as they fled slavery in Egypt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Passover and Easter both commemorate liberation — one in terms of <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-seder-plate/">escaping the bondage of slavery</a>, the other in the form of resurrection from the dead and freedom from sin. Some earlier <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Eucharistic_Words_of_Jesus.html?id=hqQbAAAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">biblical scholars</a> believed that what the Gospels describe as Jesus’s Last Supper was in fact his celebration of the Passover seder, but most <a href="https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/was-jesus-last-supper-a-seder">scholars now disagree</a>. </p>
<p>Levine notes while there are “educational benefits to introducing Christians to Jewish ritual,” a Christian seder is “historically compromised,” demonstrates interfaith insensitivity and “serves to absolve the congregation: how could they be anti-Jewish if they are doing something so Jewish as having a Passover seder?”</p>
<p>Levine writes that “Jews and Christians today can recover and even celebrate our common past,” while working together to “<a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/486809/jewish/Why-Write-Gd-Instead-of-G-o-d.htm">love G-d and</a> our neighbour.” For Christians, this begins with admitting the problem and directly confronting it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Thiessen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Easter and Passover begin on the same weekend this year. This is an opportunity to revisit misconceptions about Jesus’s ministry and to address anti-Jewish uses of Christian scripture.
Matthew Thiessen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, McMaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179401
2022-04-14T08:55:22Z
2022-04-14T08:55:22Z
Easter laughter: the hilarious and controversial medieval history of religious jokes
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456596/original/file-20220406-10476-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=84%2C48%2C7972%2C4614&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/priest-religion-man-confident-happy-big-1080873869">Krakenimages.com / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just how serious is Easter? For non-churchgoers (like myself) with a sweet tooth (guilty, again) the answer to this question is probably: not very, although the chocolate eggs are welcome. For the more devout, Easter is an incredibly serious business.</p>
<p>And yet, there has always been scope for joy and laughter in Easter celebrations. The early Christian tradition of <em>risus paschalis</em> – Easter laughter – is alive and well in congregations around the world. Historically-minded preachers hark back to the view, first offered by the Church Fathers, that Jesus’s resurrection represents the ultimate practical joke, played by God on the devil: the triumph of life over death, of good over evil.</p>
<p>But what interests me more, as someone who researches the cultural history of joking and laughter, is the controversial status Easter laughter once held. In late medieval Europe, priests provoked the laughter of their congregations on Easter Day by telling crude jokes, making obscene gestures and putting on slapstick comedic performances. According to one <a href="https://crrs.ca/publications/tt16/">contemporary witness</a>, preachers often spiced up these occasions by pitting husbands and wives against each other.</p>
<p>Ironically, the most detailed accounts of this practice survive in the writings of its staunchest critics across northern Europe. By expressing their outrage in letters and theological treatises, those who tried so desperately to cancel this popular custom preserved knowledge of it for posterity. </p>
<p>One such opponent was Johannes Oekolampadius, a preacher in Basel who was gently teased by fellow pastors for giving rather dull sermons. In one letter (dated 1518), Oekolampadius launches into a bitter rejection of the immorality of priests who tell jokes. He accuses them of behaving like comedians, resorting to the basest techniques to get their congregations to laugh, with a repertoire including offensive hand gestures and animal noises (such as a cow in labour).</p>
<p>Obviously, testimony like Oekolampadius’s is biased, but the excesses he describes did eventually lead to at least one pope trying to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W7b6Ohp4C10C&pg=PA212&lpg=PA212&dq=Clement+X+banning+risus+paschalis&source=bl&ots=VFNn9tgGMS&sig=ACfU3U30RzFIe5-aqSwwuvymmPdL2cUoaw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKzsDpiPD2AhUbiVwKHdQfD9sQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=Clement%20X%20banning%20risus%20paschalis&f=false">put a stop</a> to this kind of entertainment taking place in church.</p>
<h2>Medieval cancel culture</h2>
<p>Cancel culture, it turns out, is not a modern phenomenon, especially when it comes to joking and laughter. Theoretical discussion as to what constitutes a good or a bad joke, what is permissible or morally reprehensible, is as old as the practice of joking in public.</p>
<p>Before modern times, the stakes were probably at their highest in the Christian middle ages, when the relationship between religious belief and laughter was, at best, uneasy. Deriding wickedness and laughing at the devil were, under certain circumstances, entirely acceptable. Even Martin Luther, the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, <a href="https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/issues.aspx?article_id=1601">declared as much</a>. And moderate exuberance when reminded of Christ’s triumph over death could hardly be objected to. </p>
<p>But satirical jibes concerning priests and the institution of the Church were pushing it, and laughing at central tenets of the Christian faith itself was a different matter altogether. In the eyes of the serious-minded and more educated men of the day, there was always the danger that ordinary people might draw the wrong conclusions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Against a bright yellow background, a young girl wearing bunny ears laughs and holds up two colourful eggs to her eyes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457406/original/file-20220411-10926-h1gbu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How seriously should Easter be taken?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cheerful-happy-child-ears-bunny-holds-1629254413">Olga Nikiforova / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is just one of the reasons why, in the middle ages, humorous material in written form tended to be prefaced with an apology of sorts. Joke tellers sought to preempt or minimise any offence they might cause. Readers (and audiences) were often given a warning or provided with some justification or assurance as to the honest intentions of their entertainers. </p>
<p>Heinrich Bebel, a prominent collector of jokes and funny anecdotes in the early 16th century, wrote in the preface of a collection of jokes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So far, honest reader, I have steered these ‘facetiae’ in such a way as to avoid telling jokes that come across as too lascivious and base. I have occasionally included merrier items in this little book, and to people who know no better, these will seem to contain some obscenity. However, here too I have taken nothing that I have not heard told by serious men at banquets and, for the most part, in the presence of ladies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bebel also attributes certain jests to other people, devolving responsibility, as it were. He cites a local abbot when relaying a joke about the Holy Trinity’s squabble over who should go down to earth to be crucified – God, the Holy Ghost or Jesus. They settle on Jesus, as God claims he is too old and the Holy Ghost argues that a dove on the cross would simply look ridiculous.</p>
<p>From the abbot who knows a good one about the crucifixion, to priests who offer their own comedy routines at Easter, the different facets of <em>risus paschalis</em> modify what we think we know about medieval Christian practices. They may even help us to see Easter in a new, less serious light, although obscenities in the pulpit are probably a thing of the past. Above all else, they remind us of the enduring appeal of joke tellers and entertainers who can laugh at themselves and their own ideology – whatever that happens to be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seb Coxon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Religion has been a laughing matter since the middle ages.
Seb Coxon, Reader in German, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180813
2022-04-14T05:54:03Z
2022-04-14T05:54:03Z
Surprise! There might be salmonella in your chocolate
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457864/original/file-20220413-9289-ldw894.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C8%2C6000%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-halves-broken-chocolate-egg-children-2126860385">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past three months, more than <a href="https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/rapid-outbreak-assessment-multi-country-salmonella-outbreak-linked-chocolate-products">150 cases of salmonella food poisoning across Europe</a> have been linked to Kinder chocolate products. Most of the cases have been in children under ten years old.</p>
<p>Health officials have traced the outbreak to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/eu-salmonella-outbreak-chocolate-eggs-due-bad-milk-84031934">bad milk in a factory in Belgium</a>, and many products have been <a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/industry/foodrecalls/recalls/Pages/Kinder-chocolate-products-.aspx">recalled from shelves</a> as Easter approaches.</p>
<p>As consumers, we often think of the risk of food poisoning from raw or under-cooked meat, <a href="https://theconversation.com/christmas-leftovers-how-long-is-it-safe-to-keep-them-84484">leftovers</a> or even <a href="https://theconversation.com/salmonella-in-your-salad-the-cost-of-convenience-54325">packaged salad</a>. It’s less common to worry about chocolate.</p>
<h2>Salmonella outbreaks in chocolate</h2>
<p>While reports of salmonella bacteria in chocolate are not common, there have been several high-profile outbreaks. Most documented cases of salmonellosis have been in Europe and North America, perhaps because chocolate consumption is high and monitoring and surveillance is in place. </p>
<p>Outbreaks include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>1970: cocoa powder contaminated with salmonella was used in confectionery products and subsequently caused <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4650740/">an outbreak that affected 110 people in Sweden</a></p></li>
<li><p>1973–74: 95 cases of salmonellosis, acquired from Christmas-wrapped chocolate balls, were <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S031554637573804X">reported in Canada</a> and another 30 in the United States </p></li>
<li><p>1982–83: a salmonella outbreak involving 245 people in the United Kingdom was <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673683928222">traced to two types of chocolate bars</a> produced in Italy</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457077/original/file-20220408-20-pb8skx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Salmonella outbreaks linked to chocolate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Bean</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p>1985–86: 33 cases of gastroenteritis due to salmonella were <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/jfp/article/52/1/51/166460/An-International-Outbreak-of-Salmonella-Nima-from">reported in Canada and the US</a>, and eventually traced back to chocolate coins imported from Belgium</p></li>
<li><p>1987: 361 confirmed cases of salmonellosis in Norway and Finland were <a href="https://journals.asm.org/doi/abs/10.1128/jcm.28.12.2597-2601.1990">part of an outbreak</a> linked to chocolate contaminated with salmonella (it is estimated the actual number of infections was 20,000-40,000)</p></li>
<li><p>2001–02: an outbreak of salmonella occurred in Germany, resulting in<a href="https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2334-5-7"> at least 439 reports of infection</a>, traced to a specific brand of chocolate distributed exclusively through a single supermarket chain</p></li>
<li><p>2006: an outbreak in the UK was <a href="https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/esw.11.26.02985-en">traced to chocolate</a>, with 56 cases reported.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Why do salmonella outbreaks occur?</h2>
<p>Chocolate begins its life as various agricultural products, the most important of which is cacao. Much of the world’s cacao comes from small farms in West Africa. </p>
<p>Beans from the cacao tree are harvested, fermented and dried on these farms. There are plenty of opportunities for the beans to become contaminated with salmonella from animals and the environment.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/salmonella-in-your-salad-the-cost-of-convenience-54325">Salmonella in your salad: the cost of convenience?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When the beans reach a chocolate factory, they are roasted. This will kill any salmonella on the beans. But if salmonella is present on the raw beans it can potentially be a source of contamination. </p>
<p>It is important raw beans are well segregated from roast beans to prevent cross-contamination. </p>
<p>As well as this segregation, chocolate factories must be well maintained and have risk-control mechanisms in place. The 2006 outbreak in the UK, for example, was ultimately linked to <a href="https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2006/08/02/Cadbury-contamination-proves-costly">water leaks from pipes onto chocolate</a>.</p>
<h2>Salmonella in chocolate</h2>
<p>Even when chocolate is made using appropriate food safety techniques, it has inherent properties that make it <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2062-4_14">very capable of spreading bacteria</a>. </p>
<p>While salmonella will not <em>grow</em> in chocolate (there isn’t enough water), it <em>survives</em> in chocolate very well. Chocolate may even protect the salmonella during its passage through the gut. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photograph of a person pouring molten chocolate from a pot into a tray." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457869/original/file-20220413-9145-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Salmonella won’t grow in chocolate, but it survives there very well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/production-cooking-people-concept-confectioner-filling-1283944153">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This means a batch of chocolate product contaminated with salmonella may remain a food safety risk for a long time and be distributed over a large geographical area. This explains why chocolate-related outbreaks can affect large numbers of people in multiple countries.</p>
<p>Another important consideration is who often consumes chocolate: children. Children are often disproportionately represented in these outbreaks and may be more susceptible to severe infections.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Most confectionery manufacturers operate under stringent guidelines to ensure quality and safety of their products. Good manufacturing processes and food safety guidelines are well established to ensure chocolate is safe. </p>
<p>Manufacturers would prefer to eliminate pathogens (disease causing microorganisms) such as salmonella in chocolate, or at least detect it during manufacturing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christmas-leftovers-how-long-is-it-safe-to-keep-them-84484">Christmas leftovers: how long is it safe to keep them?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, the current Kinder recall and others like it are evidence of the system working, albeit late in the process. When a recall notice is issued, consumers should take the advice seriously.</p>
<p>So don’t put off a little Easter indulgence! In the absence of a recall notice in a specific product, it is safe to assume eating chocolate won’t make you sick – unless perhaps you over-indulge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I previously worked at Mars as a Global Microbiology Food Safety Manager.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Greenhill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Despite the recent Kinder chocolate recall, there’s no cause for wider concern about chocolate safety.
David Bean, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Federation University Australia
Andrew Greenhill, Associate Professor in Microbiology and Fermentation Technology, Federation University Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180320
2022-04-14T05:31:23Z
2022-04-14T05:31:23Z
Is the Easter bunny real? How to answer, according to a psychologist
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457799/original/file-20220412-23-jddua2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C997%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-colorful-easter-eggs-basket-364094579">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re leaving for your family Easter lunch, trying to make sure all children are wearing shoes and socks. Then you’re hit with the dreaded question, “Dad, is the Easter bunny real?”.</p>
<p>For many families, Easter traditions bring a special kind of magic for both children and adults. Like Santa and the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny represents the pure innocence and fun of childhood. With a dash of imagination, and plenty of beautifully wrapped chocolate, what could go wrong? </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1512581081580683271"}"></div></p>
<p>Well, unfortunately, the truth may be what goes wrong, leading to tears for disappointed children.</p>
<p>Thankfully, there are ways to manage this situation gracefully and even use it as a learning opportunity.</p>
<h2>Family traditions and Easter</h2>
<p>Some families organise Easter egg hunts in the backyard or park for children to find eggs the Easter bunny leaves behind. Some families create magic through shared games, gifts and delicious food, without telling white lies about the Easter bunny.</p>
<p>However, whatever holiday traditions you follow in your family, children often hear about the Easter bunny at school. </p>
<p>So even if you don’t welcome the Easter bunny into your family, you may still be faced with the dreaded question. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-easter-bunny-tale-fun-fiction-or-harmful-myth-25657">The Easter Bunny tale: fun fiction or harmful myth?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Part of a rich storytelling tradition</h2>
<p>Storytelling has played a rich part in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-tell-stories-hunter-gatherers-shed-light-on-the-evolutionary-roots-of-fiction-88586">human history and evolution</a>. When we tell stories to children, we teach them about about social norms – the rules and expectations society expects of us all.</p>
<p>Santa and the tooth fairy teach children about socially desirable behaviour – behave well and you’ll be rewarded. The Easter bunny teaches children about celebration and showing appreciation through giving gifts.</p>
<p>Children are usually very good at <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234142">separating the unreal from the real</a>. Depending on the circumstances, this can even be as young as three years old. </p>
<p>The strength of children’s beliefs is directly related to the amount of supporting “evidence” they’ve experienced over the years.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Elsa in front of candle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457816/original/file-20220413-22-hvp86m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We don’t tend to hear children asking if Frozen’s Elsa is real. There’s a good reason.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkokthailand-november-10th-2019-queen-elsa-1560718436">spiderman777/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beliefs about cultural figures, such as the Easter bunny and Santa, are often stronger than beliefs about fictional television or book characters (such as SpongeBob SquarePants or Frozen’s Elsa). That’s because rituals for Easter and Christmas are so widespread and are reinforced in western society.</p>
<p>Children’s beliefs are often stronger in families where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201416300375?casa_token=8EwTs1qefv0AAAAA:Varwleoi5hIjAeV-yenuM7w4-KaYwCtDRPyTMlKdhYP3FsYArEh5M0xTKp4h4yfvylxUzS8H">parents provide more detail</a> about the story or ritual, or if parents go the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088520141730196X?casa_token=ZBdwyelEUtYAAAAA:sXh9UAEsvymXkW0MYNs4eVnQtTqy46VIG-pxtho8Sb0oXkTDCNoWttSXlzUX4dBe6MB0SY_M">extra mile in providing evidence</a> by putting out carrots for the Easter bunny, or milk and cookies for Santa. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-tell-stories-hunter-gatherers-shed-light-on-the-evolutionary-roots-of-fiction-88586">Why do we tell stories? Hunter-gatherers shed light on the evolutionary roots of fiction</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It’s a time to celebrate</h2>
<p>There’s some loss for kids in finding out the truth, but there’s also a gain. </p>
<p>The process of children finding out the truth can be a really important <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1477878520947042">learning experience for your child</a>. Asking questions (about the Easter bunny or other tricky matters) develops their critical thinking skills, important milestones in child development. </p>
<p>However awkward you may feel, such critical thinking should be celebrated and supported.</p>
<h2>So, what shall I say?</h2>
<p>You’ll be relieved to know you can handle the question, “Is the Easter bunny real?” without ruining the magic and ritual of Easter.</p>
<p><strong>If your child is questioning and unsure</strong></p>
<p>To support your child, you can relax, listen carefully and be guided by your child. Aim to answer questions in a simple, straight-forward way. But remember, you don’t need to give the answer straight away. </p>
<p>You might say: “Hmm, can you tell me why you think the Easter bunny might not be real?”</p>
<p>When children learn their parents will always listen to them, take them seriously, and answer their questions as best they can, this will strengthen their bond by building trust.</p>
<p><strong>If your child has heard other kids asking</strong></p>
<p>Some kids may be asking about the Easter bunny because they’ve heard other kids asking the question, but make it clear to you in other ways they still want to believe.</p>
<p>You might say: “Even though other kids are asking about it, it sounds like you still believe in the Easter bunny? Should we see what happens this year?”.</p>
<p><strong>If your child is sad about the truth</strong></p>
<p>For most kids, finding out the truth is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02253287">positive experience</a>. But some may feel really sad and upset when they find out. For these kids, it will help if parents acknowledge and validate their feelings.</p>
<p>You might say: “I know it feels so sad and disappointing to find out the Easter bunny isn’t real.”</p>
<p><strong>Celebrate the moment</strong></p>
<p>Parents can also talk about how it’s such a big important milestone for kids to be ready for the truth.</p>
<p>You might say: “All kids hear the story about the Easter bunny, and when they figure out it’s not real, it’s a really special moment. It shows how much you’ve grown and how clever you are at working things out on your own. I think we should celebrate!”</p>
<p><strong>Coming-of-age tradition</strong></p>
<p>Parents might also want to turn the occasion into a positive coming-of-age tradition, where they learn Easter is about family togetherness and celebration. </p>
<p>You might tell your child: “Even though there’s no actual Easter bunny, the magic of Easter is really about doing all the fun things together with our family and friends, and showing each other we love them by giving chocolate gifts.”</p>
<p>Kids like to feel involved, so you could ask: “What would you like to keep doing each year to keep the magic of Easter alive?”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-children-really-believe-in-santa-the-surprising-psychology-behind-tradition-126783">Why children really believe in Santa – the surprising psychology behind tradition</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>When are kids ready to hear the answer?</h2>
<p>In advising parents, my usual rule of thumb is, if a child is asking a question, they’re ready to hear the answer. This goes for all topics, including painful or embarrassing ones. </p>
<p>But kids communicate in a number of ways, so take your lead from your child. </p>
<p>Every child is different, and although all kids pass through <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-a-milestone-understanding-your-childs-development-50894">broad developmental stages</a>, some kids may want to hold onto beliefs about the Easter bunny and Santa for longer.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-ways-to-make-easter-safe-and-inclusive-for-children-with-food-allergies-132264">7 ways to make Easter safe and inclusive for children with food allergies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Rope in the older kids</h2>
<p>How do you handle the situation where there are children of different ages in the family? If parents want younger children in the family to believe in the Easter bunny, it may work to “recruit” older children in on the secret. </p>
<p>Older kids are more likely to support the magic of the Easter bunny for their younger brothers and sisters if they feel important and are part of something special. </p>
<p>However, if the younger child learns from their older sibling the Easter bunny isn’t real, that’s OK too. Older siblings can <a href="https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.12682">help younger kids</a> develop a range of complex cognitive skills. Watching bigger kids find out the truth about the Easter bunny may help everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Westrupp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
You can still tell the truth without ruining everyone’s Easter. Here are some tips.
Elizabeth Westrupp, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Deakin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181274
2022-04-14T02:00:16Z
2022-04-14T02:00:16Z
What’s the white stuff on my Easter chocolate, and can I still eat it?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458044/original/file-20220414-13-qcrmx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C16%2C971%2C649&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The words “chocolate” and “disappointment” don’t often go together. </p>
<p>But you may have experienced some disappointment if you’ve ever unwrapped the bright foil of an Easter egg to discover white, chalky chocolate inside. What is this white substance? Is it mould? Bacteria? Is it bad for you? Can you still eat it?! </p>
<p>The answer is yes, you can! It’s called “bloom” and it’s caused by fats or sugar from the chocolate. To understand why it forms, and how to avoid it forming, we need to consider the chemistry of chocolate.</p>
<h2>The right stuff</h2>
<p>Easter egg chocolate is made up of a relatively small number of ingredients: cacao beans, sugar, milk solids, flavourings, and emulsifiers to keep it all mixed together. </p>
<p>Fermenting and roasting cacao beans triggers many chemical reactions which develop delicious flavours. Much in the same way peanut butter can be made from peanuts, the roasted cacao beans are ground into a paste known as cocoa liquor. </p>
<p>The liquor is mixed with the other ingredients, and ground together with heating (known as conching) to form liquid chocolate.</p>
<h2>Fat crystals</h2>
<p>The fluidity of the cocoa liquor comes from the fats released when the beans are ground. These fat molecules are known as triglycerides, and they resemble the letter Y with three long zigzagging arms connected to a central junction. The triglyceride arms can vary, but they tend to be a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Triglyceride molecule" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=218&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=218&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=218&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458073/original/file-20220414-20-yvg0rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An example of a typical chocolate triglyceride with saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the melted chocolate cools, these triglyceride fats assemble into highly ordered structures that are crystals at the molecular scale. Depending on how well the temperature is controlled, the fats can take on one of six different crystal structures. These different crystal forms are called polymorphs. </p>
<h2>Control your temper</h2>
<p>The most desirable crystal form gives chocolate a smooth, glossy appearance, a clean snap and a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Achieving this requires careful temperature control from liquid to solid through a process known as “tempering”.</p>
<p>Poorly controlled cooling of the melted chocolate results in other crystal forms, which tend to have a less pleasing look and mouth feel – often chalky or gritty. These less desirable forms can convert during storage. And as the underlying crystal structure of the fats change, some of the triglycerides separate. </p>
<p>These separated fats collect at the surface as colourless crystals, giving the chocolate a white fat bloom. This is especially noticeable if the chocolate is poorly stored and goes through melting and re-solidification.</p>
<p>The ingredients can also affect fat bloom. Cheap chocolate tends to use less cocoa butter and more milk solids, which introduce more saturated fats. Saturated fats are also common in nuts, and can migrate from the nut to the chocolate surface. So a chocolate-covered hazelnut is more likely to show fat bloom than a nut-free version.</p>
<h2>Sugar or fat crystals?</h2>
<p>Sugar bloom is less common than fat bloom, although they can look very similar. It occurs when sugar crystals separate from the chocolate, particularly under humid storage conditions. </p>
<p>You can tell the difference with a simple test. Sugar bloom will dissolve in a little water, while fat bloom will repel water and will melt if you touch it for a while. Unfortunately chocolate bloom can’t be reversed unless you completely melt the chocolate and recrystallise it at the correct temperature.</p>
<p>The easiest ways to avoid bloom on your Easter eggs is by choosing a brand with a high cocoa butter content, transporting and storing your eggs in a low temperature and humidity, and making sure you eat them before their best before date – assuming they last that long!</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-buy-guilt-free-easter-chocolate-pick-from-our-list-of-good-eggs-that-score-best-for-the-environment-and-child-labour-180549">Want to buy guilt-free Easter chocolate? Pick from our list of 'good eggs' that score best for the environment and child labour</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Kilah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It’s totally fine to eat chocolate with a white film on the surface. But what is it, how did it get there, and how can it be avoided?
Nathan Kilah, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180484
2022-04-13T21:51:22Z
2022-04-13T21:51:22Z
Sacred hares, banished winter witches and pagan worship – the roots of Easter Bunny traditions are ancient
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458017/original/file-20220413-15-x0e57b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=222%2C49%2C7959%2C5425&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children celebrating Easter, with their Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/two-young-boys-wearing-easter-bunny-ears-royalty-free-image/1388063471?adppopup=true">Sanja Radin/Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Easter Bunny is a much celebrated character in American Easter celebrations. On Easter Sunday, children look for hidden special treats, often chocolate Easter eggs, that the Easter Bunny might have left behind.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=prZyKrMAAAAJ&hl=en">folklorist</a>, I’m aware of the origins of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346357286_The_Shifting_Baselines_of_the_British_Hare_Goddess">long and interesting journey</a> this mythical figure has taken from European prehistory to today. </p>
<h2>Religious role of the hare</h2>
<p>Easter is a celebration of spring and new life. Eggs and flowers are rather obvious symbols of female fertility, but in European traditions, the bunny, with its amazing reproduction potential, is not far behind.</p>
<p>In European traditions, the Easter Bunny is known as the Easter Hare. The symbolism of the hare has had many tantalizing ritual and religious roles down through the years.</p>
<p>Hares were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102672">given ritual burials</a> alongside humans during the Neolithic age in Europe. Archaeologists have interpreted this as a religious ritual, with hares representing <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_787590_en.html">rebirth</a>. </p>
<p>Over a thousand years later, during the Iron Age, ritual burials for hares were common, and in 51 B.C., Julius Caesar mentions that in Britain, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346357286_The_Shifting_Baselines_of_the_British_Hare_Goddess">hares were not eaten</a>, due to their religious significance.</p>
<p>Caesar would likely have known that in the Classical Greek tradition, <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Text/PhilostratusElder1A.html">hares were sacred to Aphrodite</a>, the goddess of love. Meanwhile, Aphrodite’s son Eros was often depicted carrying a hare, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110308815.311">as a symbol of unquenchable desire</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting depicting a young woman handing baby Jesus to Virgin Mary, who puts one hand around him, while holding a hare with the other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Madonna of the Rabbit,’ a painting from 1530, depicting the Virgin Mary with a hare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Tizian_018.jpg">A painting by artist Titian (1490-1576), Louvre Museum, Paris.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the Greek world through the Renaissance, hares often appear as symbols of sexuality in literature and art. For example, the Virgin Mary is often <a href="http://musee.louvre.fr/oal/viergeaulapinTitien/viergeaulapinTitien_acc_en.html">shown with a white hare or rabbit</a>, symbolizing that she overcame sexual temptation.</p>
<h2>Hare meat and witches’ mischief</h2>
<p>But it is in the folk traditions of England and Germany that the figure of the hare is specifically connected to Easter. Accounts from the 1600s in Germany describe children hunting for Easter eggs hidden by the Easter Hare, much as in the contemporary United States today. </p>
<p>Written accounts from England around the same time also mention the Easter Hare, particularly in terms of traditional Easter hare hunts, and the eating of hare meat at Easter. </p>
<p>One tradition, known as the “Hare Pie Scramble,” was held at Hallaton, a village in Leicestershire, England, which involved eating a pie made with hare meat and people “scrambling” for a slice. In 1790, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1253567">local parson tried to stop the custom</a> due to its pagan associations, but he was unsuccessful, and the custom continues in that village until this day. </p>
<p>The eating of the hare may have been associated with various longstanding folk traditions of scaring away witches at Easter. Throughout Northern Europe, folk traditions record a strong belief that witches would often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1260796">take the form of the hare</a>, usually for causing mischief such as stealing milk from neighbors’ cows. Witches in medieval Europe were often believed to be able to suck out the life energy of others, making them ill, and suffer.</p>
<p>The idea that the witches of winter should be <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24862791">banished at Easter</a> is a common European folk motif, appearing in several festivities and rituals. The spring equinox, with its promise of new life, was held symbolically in opposition to the life-draining activities of witches and winter.</p>
<p>This idea provides the underlying rationale behind various festivities and rituals, such as the “Osterfeuer,” or the Easter Fire, a celebration in Germany involving large outdoor bonfires <a href="https://www.twosmallpotatoes.com/osterfeuer-embracing-easter-traditions-in-germany/">meant to scare away witches</a>. In Sweden, the popular folklore states that at Easter, the witches all fly away on their broomsticks <a href="http://realscandinavia.com/in-sweden-easter-is-a-time-for-witches/">to feast and dance with the Devil</a> on the legendary island of Blåkulla, in the Baltic Sea. </p>
<h2>Pagan origins</h2>
<p>In 1835, the folklorist <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jacob_Grimm">Jacob Grimm</a>, one of the famous team of the fairy tale “Brothers Grimm,” argued that the Easter Hare <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1515655">was connected with a goddess</a>, whom he imagined would have been called “Ostara” in ancient German. He derived this name from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, that <a href="https://exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu/bede-the-history-of-the-english-church/">Bede</a>, an Anglo-Saxon monk considered to be the father of English history, mentioned in 731. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The goddess Ēostre/*Ostara flies through the heavens surrounded by winged angels, beams of light and animals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Ostara’ by Johannes Gehrts, created in 1884. The goddess Ēostre flies through the heavens surrounded by Roman-inspired putti, beams of light, and animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre#/media/File:Ostara_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg">Felix Dahn, Therese Dahn, Therese (von Droste-Hülshoff) Dahn, Frau, Therese von Droste-Hülshoff Dahn (1901) via Wikimedia Commons.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bede noted that in eighth-century England the month of April was called Eosturmonath, or Eostre Month, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1253567">named after the goddess Eostre</a>. He wrote that a pagan festival of spring in the name of the goddess had become assimilated into the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that while most European languages refer to the Christian holiday with names that come from the Jewish holiday of Passover, such as Pâques in French, or Påsk in Swedish, German and English languages retain this older, non-biblical word, Easter.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346357286_The_Shifting_Baselines_of_the_British_Hare_Goddess">archaeological research</a> appears to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/175169708X329372">confirm the worship of Eostre</a> in parts of England and in Germany, with the hare as her main symbol. The Easter Bunny therefore seems to recall these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1515655">pre-Christian celebrations of spring</a>, heralded by the vernal equinox and personified by the Goddess Eostre.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>After a long, cold, northern winter, it seems natural enough for people to celebrate themes of resurrection and rebirth. The flowers are blooming, birds are laying eggs, and baby bunnies are hopping about. </p>
<p>As new life emerges in spring, the Easter Bunny hops back once again, providing a longstanding cultural symbol to remind us of the cycles and stages of our own lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tok Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A folklorist explains the prehistoric origins of the mythical Easter Bunny and why this longstanding cultural symbol keeps returning each spring.
Tok Thompson, Professor of Anthropology and Communication, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.