Easter, Peshah, Ramadan / Three monotheistic religions celebrate

Monotheistic religions celebrate. Not together yes at a time. On Good Friday, Catholics remembered the crucifixion of Christ as a day of prayer and silence. On Sunday, Easter Day celebrates his resurrection. On Friday evening, before the Passover, the Jews commemorate the departure of the Israelites from Egypt and thus the end of slavery. Muslims are in the holy month of Ramadan, which began on April 2 and ends on May 2 and becomes more intense throughout the month. This point of view of the holidays is unusual, especially the proximity of the month of Ramadan to the period of Christian fasting with the feast of Peshawar and Easter.

Unlike the movement of the sun that defines the Christian calendar of the Western world, the Islamic calendar is entirely oriented by the moon and the lunar year. 12 months last in the year according to the movement of the sun 365 days, in the lunar year 354 days. This is how the year and time of the holiday in Islam “travels” during the 3 decades in the western calendar year.

“Brothers and sisters in humanity”

The shortest time offers Muslims “the opportunity to experience Ramadan and other holidays in different seasons and different climatic conditions,” Abdassamad El Yazidi, spokesman for the Muslim Coordination Council, told DW. And with this it happens that the feasts of the Muslims over time coincide with the feasts of the Christians and the Jews. “This should remind us that we are all brothers and sisters in humanity and as a community we should seek the best.”

Jerusalem – the pilgrimage center of the three monotheistic religions

The Jewish holiday of Passover and the Easter day of the western churches are usually very close to each other in the spring. But they rarely shoot to be at a time. In 2022, Passover begins on April 16, and the “holy days” of Christians last from Holy Thursday, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ until Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Jesus. The difference is based on what the ecclesiastical calendar from 325 defines the Feast of Easter the following Sunday after the full moon of the equinox. In the Hebrew calendar Peshah can begin on any day of the week.

Abdassamad El Yazidi

Jerusalem celebrates

Nowhere in the world are three monotheistic festivals so close as in Jerusalem. There feels a “so intense” period, how the three religions “wait in fever” these days, says for DW the German Benedictine priest, Nicodemus Schnabel who has been living in the old part of the city of Jerusalem for years. “The city vibrates from pilgrims and pilgrims, as if there is an extraordinary need after Corona to celebrate outside again and reunite with others.”

After all it is the shared experience of a pilgrimage feast that unites the three religions. For a few days Christians walk through the Old Quarter of Jerusalem. Early Friday are Muslims going to the mosque on Temple Mountain. Many Jews these days pass through the western wall of the temple, the wall of mourning for prayer. Due to political tensions in the country these days are also a major challenge for the security forces in the country.

Nicodemus Schnabel

Easter in Orthodoxy

After this Easter weekend does not end, not even in Jerusalem. Because for orthodoxy and those associated with the natal church the commemoration of Christ’s death and resurrection begins next weekend. The reason for this is that the Eastern Christians did not follow the correction through a calendar reform carried out in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, ie the orientation from the Gregorian calendar, and thus differently defined the beginning of spring.

Thus Greeks, Russians and other Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this year a week after Western Christians. In Germany, Ukrainian communities are expecting a large influx of believers, who have fled their homeland due to Russian aggression./DW

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