美國重要節(jié)日：復(fù)活節(jié).

　　復(fù)活節(jié)(主復(fù)活日)是一個西方的重要節(jié)日，在每年春分月圓之后第一個星期日?；酵秸J為，復(fù)活節(jié)象征著重生與希望，為紀念耶穌基督于公元30到33年之間被釘死在十字架之后第三天復(fù)活的日子。

　　As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

　　和其它基督教節(jié)日一樣，復(fù)活節(jié)正慢慢“被世俗”和“被商業(yè)”。即便如此，復(fù)活節(jié)的這兩個性質(zhì)和它的標志并不是必然的“現(xiàn)代產(chǎn)物”。

　　The history of Easter 復(fù)活節(jié)的歷史

　　Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.

　　“復(fù)活節(jié)是神圣的慶典”的概念在公元200年已經(jīng)形成，自那時起，復(fù)活節(jié)就站在了非宗教的一方。而事實上，最初的復(fù)活節(jié)是異教徒的節(jié)日。

　　The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

　　古撒克遜人慶祝春至?xí)r非常熱鬧，因為這也紀念他們祖先和春天的“復(fù)活”。在公元200年，基督教的傳教士并偶然來到這個擁有異教慶典的北方部落。這些傳教士嘗試讓撒克遜人改信基督教，而他們使用的方法非常隱秘。

　　It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

　　早期的基督教人為了慶祝他們神圣的節(jié)日而在儀式中自殺，然而這些儀式并沒有與以前的慶祝儀式相類似。為了拯救生命，傳教士略施小計，在人群中慢慢散布神明的信息，謊稱神明允許人們繼續(xù)慶祝異教節(jié)日，但是要使用基督教的方式進行慶祝。

　　As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

　　就這樣，復(fù)活節(jié)在同年出現(xiàn)了，而且被當(dāng)作耶穌復(fù)活的基督教儀式。因此，這個節(jié)日就慢慢被改變，漸漸轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榛浇痰囊粋€節(jié)日。于是，人們漸漸皈依基督教。而復(fù)活節(jié)早期的名字Eastre，最后也被改成流傳至今的拼法Easter。

　　The date of Easter 復(fù)活節(jié)的日期

　　Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is dined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

　　在公元325年之前，復(fù)活節(jié)的慶祝時間可以是一周中不同的時間，而這些時間包括星期五、星期六和星期天。在那些年里，康斯坦丁大帝組建了尼西亞理事會。這個理事會制定了復(fù)活節(jié)的標準：復(fù)活節(jié)應(yīng)該在第一個滿月后或是春分后的第一個星期進行慶祝。在這里，我們要作一下解釋。在規(guī)定中所指的“滿月”是基督教的滿月，而“滿月”的時間定在陰歷月份的第十四天，那么，這個月的1號就是基督教的“新月”。由于天文滿月，復(fù)活節(jié)的日期不會是每年的同一天。另外，基督教的“春分”通常是3月21日。因此，復(fù)活節(jié)必須在3月22日-4月24日之間的其中一個星期天進行慶祝。