March and April – a Season of Religious Celebrations
During the next two months, Muslims celebrate Ramadan, Jews celebrate Passover and Christians celebrate Lent and Easter. Here are accounts of the importance of each of these holidays.
Lent February 14 - March 28
From The Rev Joan Oleson
Lent, in the Christian tradition, is that holy season of 40 days - from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday - when Christians pay particular attention to our need for repentance and for God’s mercy. It is a time devoted to self-examination, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love. It is also a time to recognize all that separates us from God, our neighbor, and creation. Traditionally, it is also a time for candidates to prepare for baptism on the great festival of Easter, as they learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus, joined to him in his death and resurrection.
Individual Christians and communities of faith live out this season in a variety of ways – whether refraining from (a favorite food, a bad habit), taking on (an act of service, a meditative practice), a cleaning out (spiritually, or physically), as the word "Lent" means “springtime." How many of us think of spring and associate with it the task of "spring cleaning?" For many communities of faith, and individual households, including our own, there is attention given to an additional time of worship (usually midweek) that leads us on a journey of contemplating what Christ’s sacrifice on the cross means for us and the world, how our life in Christ is renewed, and how we can be agents of God's reconciling work in the world.
Ramadan March 10 - April 9
From Nevine Khalil
Once the moon sighting is confirmed, this year Ramadan will likely begin on March 10 and end on April 9. The ninth month of the Muslim lunar (Hijri) calendar, Ramadan is a month of worship and community. It marks the month when the Quran began to be revealed to Prophet Mohamed (Peace Be Upon Him).
Muslims observe it by reading the Quran (cover to cover, several times if possible), performing extra prayers, fasting, celebrating and giving thanks. Fasting is one of the five pillars (tenets) of Islam – along with the declaration of faith, prayer, almsgiving and pilgrimage to Mecca.
Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from all food and drink during daylight hours while going about their daily routine. While fasting is an opportunity to experience the hardships of those less fortunate, it is also an exercise in spiritual, mental and emotional self-discipline. It is a time for more reflection on the prayer rug; cooking a feast but not craving a bite; not losing your temper when someone cuts you off in traffic.
After fasting from all temptations during the day, comes the feast. Family, friends and neighbors gather to break fast (iftar) together when the sun sets, enjoying special Ramadan desserts, community gatherings, and more worship.
In many Muslim countries, gorging on Ramadan television shows and commercials is also a key feature – not too dissimilar from the Super Bowl. And like Thanksgiving, anyone who is alone is also welcomed to the table.
On festively decorated streets, children play with Ramadan lanterns and sing traditional rhymes until the wee hours, as worshippers head to the mosque for very late night prayers (taraweeh). Activities and visits continue well into the night, sometimes until it is time for the pre-dawn meal (suhur), which is a lighter meal followed by plenty of water ahead of the next day's fast.
Ramadan is a celebration of faith, community and self.
Passover April 22 - April 30
From Laura Kovnat
Passover, one of the three major pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel, commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. This holiday takes place for eight days, the 15th-22nd of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar, which is sundown April 22nd through sundown April 30th this year. While its origins lie in ancient spring celebrations of the first grain harvest and lambs of the season, in the Jewish context, the main theme of this holiday is redemption. During Passover we celebrate G-d’s redemptive act of leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to freedom.
Jewish people celebrate and honor Passover by removing all leavened grains from their diets and homes for the extent of the holiday, and by retelling the story of the Exodus at a ceremonial meal called a Seder, using a book called a Haggadah. Most Jewish families use the impending arrival of Passover as an opportunity to do some spring cleaning, often making a game out of finding all traces of hametz, or leavened grain products, and removing them from their homes. Jews will hold Passover Seders on the first and/or second nights in their homes as a family, often with extended family and friends invited. Many Jews, my family included, also participate in a community Seder on one of those nights with other members of their synagogue. During these Seders, we use symbolic foods on the Seder plate and in the meal to represent elements of the story of Exodus. A major component of the entire eight days of Passover is matzah, which is eaten in place of traditional grain products and is symbolic of the hurriedly-made unleavened bread eaten by the Israelites fleeing Egypt. Matzah is eaten throughout the Seder meal and even becomes part of a game for the children in attendance. Part of one piece of matzah is wrapped and hidden in the home by the adults, and before the end of the meal the children seek it. Whoever finds this affikomen is rewarded with a small prize and everyone partakes of a small piece at the end of the Seder meal.
Passover is a time to connect with our Jewish ancestors as we put ourselves in their places, fleeing slavery in Egypt through G-d’s redemptive power. During the Seder we also solemnly recall the plagues, and the suffering the Egyptians had to endure so that ours at their hands could end. We also use the Seder to acknowledge that not everyone is free, that slavery and oppression still pervade our world, and that while we can celebrate our historic freedom, we must still work toward the freedom of all people in our own time.