Easter ceremonies

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderEaster ceremonies[STING]
　　William: Hello and welcome to Weekender – I’mWilliam Kremer. Now for over abillion people across the world, this weekend is veryspecial. It's Easter weekend, the time that Christiansremember the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ,which they believe happened two thousand years ago.
　　They believe Jesus was crucified – that is, that he waskilled by being attached to a wooden cross. The verb is‘crucify’ – and the noun is also commonly used– ‘crucifixion’.
　　Christians 2 also believe Jesus was resurrected after threedays – this means that he came alive again: ‘Resurrect’.
　　The noun form is ‘resurrection’.
　　Now, Easter Day is on Sunday, and it’s always on a Sunday.
　　The Friday beforeEaster Sunday – so, that’s today – is called GoodFriday, and this is the day that Christians believe Jesuswas crucified. The day before Good Friday – so, yesterday– is called Maundy Thursday.
　　Now, let me give you just one more piece of vocabulary –it’s a noun and it is‘service’. You’ve probably heard this word before, butin a religious context it means a ceremony where peoplecome together – usually in a church.
　　Let's hear from Emily Hollins, who is a colleague of mineat the BBC, and who is a Catholic. Now, Emily is going tomention something called the‘blessed sacrament’. See if you can work out what ‘theblessed sacrament’ is.
　　Emily: At the Maundy Thursday service we have the BlessedSacrament, which is a piece of the bread, the holy bread,and it’s displayed so that people can kneel down before itand watch and wait with Jesus. And the reason we’rewatching and waiting is because that was the night he waspraying in a garden, waiting for the guards to come andarrest him, to take him to be crucified.
　　William: Did you hear? Listen again.
　　Emily: At the Maundy Thursday service we have the BlessedSacrament, which is a piece of the bread, the holy bread,and it’s displayed so that people can kneel down before itand watch and wait with Jesus. And the reason we’rewatching and waiting is because that was the night he waspraying in a garden, waiting for the guards to come andarrest him, to take him to be crucified.
　　William: Emily says that the Blessed Sacrament is apiece of bread, the holy bread. In a Catholic Churchservice, a priest says a prayer over some bread and wineand Catholics believe that when the priest says thisprayer, the bread becomes the body of Jesus Christ and thewine becomes the blood of Jesus Christ. The priest, wemight say, blesses the wine - he says a prayer which makesit holy.
　　The past tense of ‘to bless’ is ‘blessed’ but there’san adjective with the same spelling but a differentpronunciation: ‘blessed’. It means the same as holy.
　　So Catholics call this holy bread the Blessed Sacrament,and on MaundyThursday it is displayed in Church.
　　[STING]
　　William Now, let's hear from Dima Kostenko, anothercolleague of mine at BBCLearning English. Dima is from Ukraine, and he describesfor us the EasterDay service in the Orthodox Church.
　　Dima: The Easter service is an overnight service, fromSaturday to Sunday. It starts with people walking aroundthe church with candles. They walk around the church threetimes, then they enter the church and the servicecontinues.
　　William: So, in Ukraine, people walk around thechurch three times before the service begins! Next, Dimadescribes what happens at the end of the service. As youlisten, see if you can hear a word which means the same as‘to bless’, or ‘to make holy’:
　　Dima:  And at the end of the overnight service,people’s food, which they had brought into the churchbefore the service, is being sanctified. The food issanctified by the priest, who sprinkles some holy water onit. And then, after that, people eat and drink andcelebrate the end of the lent.
　　William: The word is ‘sanctify’. The priestsanctifies people’s food in the service by lightlyspreading some holy water on it. After their food has beensanctified, or blessed, they eat and drink.
　　You can find out more about Easter traditions by followingthe links on the Weekender page on BBC Learning English dotcom, where you can also download this programme as an mp3.
　　I hope you have a great weekend, and if you’re aChristian, I wish you a Happy Easter.
　　In today’s programme we heard from a Catholic and from anOrthodox Christian 1, but I’ll leave you with the Easterbells of an Anglican Cathedral – that’s LichfieldCathedral in England. Goodbye.
　　[Bells]