Easter symbols in the greeting cards

Easter is the holiday full of traditions and symbols. It is the time when everything borns again. For Christians, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. For laymen, it represents the end of the winter and the beginning of the summer. It was required to welcome Easter with cleanliness, therefore on The Holy Week (from The Palm Sunday till Easter) the yard, the garden, the inside of the cottage were cleaned. Women laundered everything, shook out the featherbeds, cleaned the clothes, washed the ceilling and walls, scrubbed the floor. On The Maundy Thursday heated the bathhouse. Tidy houses were decorated with greenery, the bird or the garden made out of straws was hung on the ceilling, window frames and shelfs were embellished with paper cuttings. On The Holy Saturday evening people went to church for the holy water and fire. When the holy coals were brought, the old fire was put out and the new one was fired which was attempted to be saved till The Pentecost or even till the next Easter. It was believed that the Easter fire protects against lightning, brings happiness and harmony. Fields, huts, animals, seeds were sprinkled with holy water. The Easter Sunday morning started with The Sunrise Service. After, the food was sanctified: the Easter eggs, the salt, the bread, the cake, the meat, the butter, the cheese – that the first bite would be sanctified. Afterwards, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors greeted one another, wished good years, strong health, happiness in the family. One of the most important and most known Easter symbols is the Easter egg.
Since this beautiful spring holiday and greetings are inseparable, it is illustrated by the selected Easter cards from the Trakai History Museum Philocart collection. More than 400 saved Easter cards could be divided into several conditional groups: religious content (depicting biblical The Resurrection of Jesus holiday images); Easter eggs postcards; chickens, ducklings, bunnies, children, osier and willow twigs postcards; humorous; Lithuanian verses postcards; neutral postcards – just with the greeting inscription; patriotic (with the Lithuanian state symbols, rulers, political issues).