The Easter Story For Children
These days we can learn of the Easter story from many sources. The following is a you tube clip made especially for children. It has been made to be easier for children to understand, just like the book we have been using during literature lessons. Put on your headphones and watch and listen.
Easter? What is it all about?
What is Easter?
Easter is the season of joy. Christians, who remember everything that Jesus did for them, celebrate together the most important feast in the Church’s year. People pray and sing joyfully to celebrate the new life of Easter. Esater is a sign of hope and life.
Why Eggs?
On Easter Sunday, we give gifts of easter eggs as a sign of new life. This continues a very old custom dating far back to the times before Jesus came. The ancient Egyptians and Persians ate coloured eggs during their festivals to welcome the spring. Eggs were often red, the colour of fire and of blood, a colour of life and joy. For Christians the egg has another meaning too. The baby bird with its new life comes from the egg; Jesus came from the tomb on the first Easter day.
When is Easter?
The date of Easter changes every year (Just like Chinese New Year changes). It is not like Christmas which is always on the 25th of December. Easter is always at the time of a full moon. It is a festival which dates back further than anyone can remember, to the years when people kept track of time by counting the full moons. We still keep the Easter feast on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the equinox. The equinox is when day and night are of equal length on the 22nd of March.
From ancient times people have watched the moon. Sometimes they felt afraid of it. Sometimes it comforted them. They saw how the moon affected the movement of the tides. They thought that perhaps the moon had an effect on the growth of the plants, animals and even people. At harvest time the moon seemed very beautiful. People celebrated the changing of the seasons, new life and the growth of their crops by the light of the full harvest moon.
The moon dies and rises again and the Easter moon tells us that we belong to a great changing pattern of life.
Easter is the season of joy. Christians, who remember everything that Jesus did for them, celebrate together the most important feast in the Church’s year. People pray and sing joyfully to celebrate the new life of Easter. Esater is a sign of hope and life.
Why Eggs?
On Easter Sunday, we give gifts of easter eggs as a sign of new life. This continues a very old custom dating far back to the times before Jesus came. The ancient Egyptians and Persians ate coloured eggs during their festivals to welcome the spring. Eggs were often red, the colour of fire and of blood, a colour of life and joy. For Christians the egg has another meaning too. The baby bird with its new life comes from the egg; Jesus came from the tomb on the first Easter day.
When is Easter?
The date of Easter changes every year (Just like Chinese New Year changes). It is not like Christmas which is always on the 25th of December. Easter is always at the time of a full moon. It is a festival which dates back further than anyone can remember, to the years when people kept track of time by counting the full moons. We still keep the Easter feast on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the equinox. The equinox is when day and night are of equal length on the 22nd of March.
From ancient times people have watched the moon. Sometimes they felt afraid of it. Sometimes it comforted them. They saw how the moon affected the movement of the tides. They thought that perhaps the moon had an effect on the growth of the plants, animals and even people. At harvest time the moon seemed very beautiful. People celebrated the changing of the seasons, new life and the growth of their crops by the light of the full harvest moon.
The moon dies and rises again and the Easter moon tells us that we belong to a great changing pattern of life.
Click on the PowerPoint file below to read more about Easter and the way we celebrate it.
easter_powerpoint.ppt | |
File Size: | 983 kb |
File Type: | ppt |
Click on the EASTER in the UK link to learn more about Easter and its customs. We celebrate using many of these customs too.
EASTER in the UK
EASTER in the UK
The Washing of Feet
The washing of feet in Ancient times
Where did this custom start?
People in ancient days did not wear the type of footwear that most of us wear today. They wore sandals.
Furthermore, most of the nearby travel was by walking on dusty roads. This meant that your feet became very dirty during your journey.
It was a common act of hospitality. When a visitor came calling, a typical Eastern host might bow, greet, and kiss his guest, then offer water to allow the guest to wash their feet or have servants do it. Though the wearing of sandals might necessitate washing the feet, the water was also offered as a courtesy even when shoes were worn.
If a man was wealthy enough to have servants, he might use the servant to wash his guest’s feet. Generally, it was the servant’s role to wash the master’s feet. Keep this thought in mind.
It was a great sign of humility or affection if the host washed the feet of his guests and this didn't happen very often.
So it was a common practice in those days to wash your feet after a journey or to provide the water for others when they arrived at your home. It had been going on for a long, long time before Jesus was alive.
People in ancient days did not wear the type of footwear that most of us wear today. They wore sandals.
Furthermore, most of the nearby travel was by walking on dusty roads. This meant that your feet became very dirty during your journey.
It was a common act of hospitality. When a visitor came calling, a typical Eastern host might bow, greet, and kiss his guest, then offer water to allow the guest to wash their feet or have servants do it. Though the wearing of sandals might necessitate washing the feet, the water was also offered as a courtesy even when shoes were worn.
If a man was wealthy enough to have servants, he might use the servant to wash his guest’s feet. Generally, it was the servant’s role to wash the master’s feet. Keep this thought in mind.
It was a great sign of humility or affection if the host washed the feet of his guests and this didn't happen very often.
So it was a common practice in those days to wash your feet after a journey or to provide the water for others when they arrived at your home. It had been going on for a long, long time before Jesus was alive.
Start this video to have the text above read aloud to you.
Look in the Bible for other times that feet were washed
Genesis 18:3 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.
Genesis 19:2 "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
Genesis 24:32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet.
Genesis 43:24 The steward took the men into Joseph's house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys.
Luke 7:44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
John 13:5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Looking more closely at a special part of the Easter story.
Some things to think about......
Jesus washed each of their feet. Did he do this to teach them anything?
Jesus was their leader, why would he do this for them?
What was Jesus showing them about being a good leader?
What was Jesus teaching them about serving others?
If you are "great" do you need to still do things for others?
Or is it the little things you do for others that makes you great?
He said that they should follow his example and serve one another. Did he just mean by washing each other's feet?
What other ways can we serve each other?
Complete the following sheet:
Jesus was their leader, why would he do this for them?
What was Jesus showing them about being a good leader?
What was Jesus teaching them about serving others?
If you are "great" do you need to still do things for others?
Or is it the little things you do for others that makes you great?
He said that they should follow his example and serve one another. Did he just mean by washing each other's feet?
What other ways can we serve each other?
Complete the following sheet:
Once the sheet is complete and your answers are corrected, you can type your responses into a wordle.
Go to Wordle here
Go to Wordle here