The holy week of matzo and bunnies

Author: Sara Black

Both the Easter season and Passover are emotional celebrations that involve mental and physical challenges designed to strengthen and renew the spiritual devotion of their respective participants. The main differences between the Orthodox and Western Church during Lent arise during Holy Week with the celebration of different holy days and different traditions.

In the Catholic Church and various other Christian Churches such as the Orthodox Christian Church, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for 40 days - the amount of time Jesus spent in the wilderness - ending on Easter Sunday. "Lent is a time to strive to be the person that you want to be, because 40 days of doing anything lays a strong foundation for hopefully good habits," religion major Marie Lucci '08.5 said. "It makes me a lot more aware of what I have been given and what I can give to others."

During these 40 days, observant participants are supposed to fast and pray. "The point of making sacrifices is to keep in mind the great sacrifice that Christ made for us," Lucci said. "Whenever we give things up, it leaves us a little bit empty, a little less full or a with a little more time, so we can fill in the extra room with God."

Although the traditions and sacrifices of these religious holidays are often nothing more than candy eggs and fancy clothes for young Easter celebrants and no peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for little Jewish boys and girls, the special preparations and self-denial have grown more poignant with age.

"As I have gotten older, I have learned more about what makes the holiday really meaningful, which makes the rituals in turn more meaningful," Assistant Professor of Religion and Classics Laura Lieber said. "It may seem like a lot of work and nonsense to outsiders, but I would miss it terribly if I weren't able to do it all."

The "work" that Lieber mentions refers in part to the preparations that must take place prior to the celebration of the holiday. "A week or so before the first night, we start to clean the kitchen and move out the regular-year dishes and pantry items," said Lieber. "Once everything is spotless and put away, we have special 'Passover dishes' that we use for the eight days," Lieber said. "Because of the dietary restrictions, we do even more cooking and baking during Passover than we do during the year."

The most visible alteration of daily habits during Passover to an outsider would be the dietary restrictions. In the dining halls the additions of matzah ball soup and the endless boxes of macaroons and matzah annually announce the coming of Passover.

"Now, the only real issue is the fact that we only have 'dairy' dishes for Passover (in a kosher home, you have separate dishes for meat and milk)," Lieber said, "and since soybeans are not kosher during Passover, I get real protein cravings, and I get kind of tired of eggs."

The Lenten dietary restraints are slightly more personal and therefore do not have such visible changes. One of the central parts of Lent is being able to resist temptations like rich foods, such as those in the dining hall and indulgences like make-up and television. Taking on new challenges is also a goal.

"I gave up eating certain foods that I like such as ice cream, meat, juice and salad dressing," Lucci said. "I also gave up luxury-type things like using the heat in my car and listening to music, and I limited activities like checking my e-mail and Facebook. I took on more daily prayer and doing more 'random acts of kindness'."

Sunday was the release from all dietary and dogmatic restraints for the frenzied enjoyment of previously forbidden foods and pastimes. Both Bearman and Lieber looked forward to celebrating the end of Passover with a slice of pizza. Many observant Christians have been planning their Sunday for forty days and have had time to make elaborately decadent plans.

Passover, beginning on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan, is a seven-day long celebration of the "passing-over" of the first-born sons of Hebrew families in Egypt. During this time the Jews are not allowed to eat leavened bread and must observe strict kosher rules.

Occurring this year at the same time, the past week was meaningful for the large number of students celebrating at least one of these holidays, as an increased number of religious services took place across campus. "I attended seders (Passover services) on both Monday and Tuesday nights," former Hillel president Rachel Bearman '08 said. "Hillel always has a seder on campus on the first night of Passover, and then I have been going to Havurah House, the Addison County Jewish Congregation in town, for the second night's seder."

"On Sunday I'll attend Mass, then I'm going to the Newman Club brunch," said Lucci, "where I'll blast music and eat some ice cream and chocolate chip pancakes!"

In the Orthodox Church the Lenten fast is broken before most of the rest of the world is awake. The religious services, beginning with Matins and ending with the Divine Liturgy, are held at midnight and immediately afterward a huge feast is held, often at 2 a.m. or later.