April Fools Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

Symbols for Communication - Ukrainian Pysanky — Ukrainian Pysanky

One thing that distinguishes humans is our extensive use of symbols for communication. The ancient Persians were amazed to see life come from an egg, a seemingly dead object. They presented each other with eggs at the spring equinox, marking the beginning of a new year. In the Western world, eggs became a symbol of spring and the start of a new year on April 1, until 1582, when the Gregorian calendar moved the New Year to January 1. People who refused to accept the new calendar were called “April Fools.”

It was a natural thing for religions to use eggs as symbols. In Judaism, eggs are an essential part of the Passover seder plate. People who celebrated Lent, when they could not eat eggs for 40 days, collected eggs and decorated them with vegetable dye. Crimson eggs honored the blood of Christ. In parts of Eastern Europe, people put intricate designs on eggs with wax resist technique before coloring. Those intricately decorated eggs are called pysanky and are still common in Ukraine today. In Germany, people pierce eggs and hollow them to hang them from trees during Easter week.

The New Testament shows the use of symbols for communication. In Matthew 26:26-30, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, which Paul refers to as a symbol in 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. Peter tells us that baptism is a “like figure,” or symbol, of the kind of salvation that Noah received (1 Peter 3:20-21). Symbols can change their meaning. In Acts 18:24-19:5, we see baptism changing from a symbol of John’s baptism of repentance to Jesus Christ’s baptism to wash away sins.

Problems come when a symbol used in one culture is misinterpreted in a different culture or time. A classic example of that is in Revelation. Twentieth-century Christians often misinterpret symbols in that book that first-century Christians would have understood. Only by studying the symbols’ meaning when the author wrote the book can we get an accurate picture of what they meant. Using symbols for communication only works when we all understand the meaning.

Did you get fooled on April 1? We have talked about traditions several times on this site, and April Fools Day is rooted in an interesting tradition. The battle between different religious belief systems has altered our calendar in various ways, and the start of the new year is one of them.

In the fifteenth century, many people celebrated Easter as the start of the new year. The problem was that Easter came on the first Sunday after a full moon after the vernal equinox. That meant that the new year started at a different time every year, making the calendar incredibly complicated.

With the Gregorian calendar in 1539, people began the tradition of celebrating New Years Day in January. However, some diehards wanted to keep it tied to Easter. The Flemish poet Eduard de Dene jumped into the discussion and wrote of playing jokes on April 1 on those who began the new year in April.

Celebration of the new year was a response to religious tradition, and it has no biblical basis. The Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles measuring the years from the traditional date of Genesis. Independence Day for the nation of Israel was in the Jewish year of 5708 (May 14, 1948, on the Gregorian calendar).

January was named by a Roman ruler, in honor of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. People have made significant alterations in the calendar based on human traditions and the position of the Sun and the Moon, but April Fools Day was a time of playing pranks on those who held to Easter as the start of the year.

Tag: April Fools

Symbols for Communication

April Fools Day and Traditions