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Holy Week & Easter

Holy Week and Easter in Nadur

Good Friday week is an interesting time in Nadur! Many tourists and Maltese people come over to our town to enjoy the Basilica, the set of Good Friday statues, the procession and numerous exhibitions around the town.

Official celebrations start on Palm Sunday, a week before Easter. Then, on Maundy Thursday, hundreds of people keep tradition alive with their visit to the seven churches. The Good Friday procession is the biggest religious manifestation of Holy Week. On this day Nadur is turned into Roman and Jewish pageantry. In the inner core of the town one comes near Pontius Pilate and Barabbas!

Nadur celebrates Easter with the traditional procession of the Risen Christ. Easter is also the day when children can finally enjoy their figolla... a traditional Maltese sweet associated with this time.

Introduction

[photo by michael xuereb] For Christians, Holy Week is the final week of Lent. It begins with Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, and ends with Easter Sunday. During this week Christians are expected to devote time to the study of the passion of Jesus Christ - his suffering, his death, and his eventual resurrection which is commemorated on Easter.

The earliest use of the term "Holy Week" can be found in the 4th century writings of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. At this time only Friday and Saturday were widely celebrated as holy days and early Christians apparently made no particular effort to imitate the elaborate passion chronologies found in the gospels.

Instead, they celebrated Jesus' death and crucifixion all on one day, Easter (known as the time as Pascha, a word derived from the Hebrew term for Passover).

Over time, however, more days were added to the week's celebrations. Today, Passion Sunday commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, Maundy Thursday commemorates Judas' betray and the beginning of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Good Friday commemorates his passion and death, Saturday his burial, and Easter Sunday his resurrection.