THE coming weekend is one of the busiest in the year with a wide range of celebrations.

Most of us have some reason to celebrate at Easter whether it is a wedding, some other family event, the purchase of new clothing or even the annual visit to church. Some of us will celebrate at home while others head overseas for their Easter holiday break.

In addition to all this, Easter, like Christmas, is a major religious festival across a range of countries in the Christian world.

The incidents commemorated in church include the sadistic Crucifixion of Christ and his later Resurrection even though their actual dates cannot be ascertained with accuracy. We remember the symbolism of what happened rather than when it happened.

In spite of the powerful Christian symbolism of Easter, however, it is named after the Germanic pagan goddess, Eostre, after whom the Anglo-Saxons called the fourth month of the year, Eosturmonath.

Some experts believe that the old word of Eostre has strong links with the east and with sunrise whilst others believe it heralds the dawn of a new year. Certainly, April is part of that new dawn as the fresh leaves adorn our trees and plants, and wild flowers open to greet the coming year.

It has to be said, however, that modern researchers disagree with this version of events because most of the Germanic nations referred to this season as Pasch along with Pascal Candles on church altars and Paacal feasts to celebrate the time of year.

The Pasch, of course, marks the Jewish Passover, often celebrated with a feast.

It all means that most of us have little or no idea of the distant origins of Easter, except perhaps for its association with the Crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday. We have different memories of our early Easters.

Although our family attended a church service on Good Friday (not called Mass as symbolically Christ died on that day) we all attended a celebratory Mass on Easter Sunday, getting there early to ensure a seat. There was a party-like atmosphere after Mass, and it was the main part of our overall happiness

One lingering memory is the renewal of all lights (candles) in the church on Easter Sunday, and in some areas short celebratory plays were staged in front of the altar or in the wider body of the church.

Usually they were performed by children but most entertainments of this kind were forbidden by the Reformation. It was felt they smacked of paganism.

After Mass we returned home for a celebratory lunch in a party-like atmosphere, perhaps being joined by friends or relations. However, the main entertainment after Mass was rolling Easter Eggs.

I seem to recall that this was an event for Easter Monday. My mother would hard-boil a pan full of hens’ eggs (from our own hens) and then, before eating them, the shells had to be stained with bright colours. The colouring agents were added to the water in the pan.

An interesting selection of colouring agents was used, such as the yellow flowers of a gorse bush, the red of cochineal, the dark yellow of onion skins that also left a pattern on the shell.

Safe dyes of various kinds and other tricks were also used by our parents. Praying for fine weather, we walked to a local highpoint known as The Nab and, as always a gathering of local children with their parents awaited.

Some of the children knew of games involving the rolling of Easter Eggs and so a sense of competition and enjoyment prevailed. There were no prizes for winning a game – the rewards were the eggs themselves which, in some areas of Yorkshire were known as paste eggs or Pasch Eggs.

Another treat for children who could not be taken to The Nab was to hide the eggs in one’s garden, and ask the children find them. That was one of our customs when we became parents and the children, often with neighbours, seemed to enjoy the challenge.

It didn’t do the garden much good, however.

Another custom when I was a child was to have new clothes for Easter, and they were first worn on Easter Sunday.

It meant that lots of children turned up for Mass in their new Easter outfits which all of us found highly embarrassing.

It was made worse by a practice known as “Nip for New” which meant that all children in new clothes could expect to be chased and then nipped somewhere like a bare knee as the perpetrator shouted, “Nip for New.”

I am not sure whether this custom was restricted to my part of Yorkshire or whether it was practised elsewhere. I seem to think it was also done during days that were not associated with Easter – any new clothes at any time warranted a nip.