Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday
The last day of Lent marks the period of impatient anticipation. Soon, Easter Bunny will bring small gifts to children and the Easter basket will be blessed. More importantly, however, according to the Christian belief, Jesus will be resurrected on Sunday. That is why Holy Saturday, which falls on the eve of Easter, is often called the Great Vigil of Easter.
Other names for the holiday are: the Great Sabbath (mostly in North America), Easter Eve (most common for the Anglicans), Black Saturday (referring to the period of mourning and the Protestant custom of covering the altar in black), Bright Saturday (valid for Eastern Christianity), Easter Even, and more. Although the holiday commemorates Christ lying dead in a tomb and his disciples waiting by the cross, Holy Saturday is sometimes associated with joy and excitement, since the merry Sunday is about to come.
The tradition of anticipation before Easter Sunday dates back to the first century A.D., since the modern custom is based on apostles’ vigil after Christ’s death. At the inception of the Christian church, Easter Eve was the only Saturday during which fasting was allowed. The first official celebrations of Jesus’ death and resurrection were probably observed around the year 100 A.D., though they were not divided as the Paschal Triduum. With the passage of time, the Roman Empire developed a few traditions, such as the lighting of the Paschal candle, which is still done today. The observance of Holy Saturday, after it had been widely adopted in Europe, traveled across oceans to America and Australia. In Canada, prominent references to the holiday have been made in the 19th century. In the United States, a special tradition associated with the Great Sabbath originated around 1930 in California: the “Blessing of the Animals” is a custom of Catholic Mexican immigrants. In Australia, on the other hand, the group of Italian immigrants in the 1950s brought the Ulladulla tradition, which is the blessing of the fishing fleet.
Holy Saturday, as might be deduced from aforementioned traditions, is a holiday that promotes baptism; many ceremonies of water, animal and people blessing take place before Easter Sunday. In the Republic of Ireland, the old custom is to drink three sips of holy water, as it is believed to be the best medicine. Another curious tradition in the country is reminiscent of the Italian blessing of the fishing fleet in Australia, since Irish people used to celebrate mock funerals called the Herring Procession. These were probably the result of the anticipation for Lent’s end, when Catholics could finally taste meat different than fish. Other Holy Saturday traditions are rather common for most Anglophone countries: decorating chicken eggs, buying chocolate eggs and bunnies (in Australia, native bilbies), burning the Paschal candles and attending evening Vigils.
Holy Saturday is not a public holiday in a majority of Anglophone countries, except from some states and territories in Australia, such as New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, or Victoria. Some countries, mostly the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia feature a number of Eastern Orthodox celebrations, which are held 39 days after regular Easter and are called the Feast of Ascension. Western Christianity, however, observes Easter on the first Sunday after full moon on or after March 20 (the Equinox).
The Easter long weekend is not an obvious home celebration, because it is not as prominent today as Christmas, and it falls in the beginning of warm spring. That is why non-devout Christians, atheists or believers of different faith spend Holy Saturday as a regular day, sometimes traveling inside or beyond their country’s boundaries. For many Christians, however, Holy Saturday is an important observance marked by joy and sorrow, anticipation and excitement.