复活节风俗大揭秘

 　　As with almost all "Christian¹" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication。

　　和其它基督教节日一样，复活节正慢慢"被世俗"和"被商业"。即便如此，复活节的这两个性质和它的标志并不是必然的"现代产物"。

　　The History of Easter复活节的历史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。

　　"复活节是神圣的庆典"的概念在公元200年已经形成，自那时起，复活节就站在了非宗教的一方。而事实上，最初的复活节是异教徒的节日。

　　The ancient Saxons celebrated² the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating³ their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries⁴ encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine⁵ manner。

　　古撒克逊人庆祝春至时非常热闹，因为这也纪念他们祖先和春天的"复活"。在公元200年，基督教的传教士并偶然来到这个拥有异教庆典的北方部落。这些传教士尝试让撒克逊人改信基督教，而他们使用的方法非常隐秘。

　　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 decided⁶ 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。

　　早期的基督教人为了庆祝他们神圣的节日而在仪式中自杀，然而这些仪式并没有与以前的庆祝仪式相类似。为了拯救生命，传教士略施小计，在人群中慢慢散布神明的信息，谎称神明允许人们继续庆祝异教节日，但是要使用基督教的方式进行庆祝。

　　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, therefore, 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。

　　就这样，复活节在同年出现了，而且被当作耶稣复活的基督教仪式。因此，这个节日就被慢慢被改变，渐渐转变为基督教的一个节日。于是，人们渐渐皈依基督教。而复活节早期的名字"Eastre"，最后也被改成流传至今的拼法"Easter"。

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 commemorating   

v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements. 他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The post office issued a series commemorating famous American entertainers. 邮局发行了一个纪念美国著名演艺人员的系列邮票。 来自互联网

4 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。