Some respect is definitely due for those mathematicians who have puzzled their way through algorithm after algorithm to determine the dates of the Russian Orthodox Easter. This year the festival falls on 27th April, so it would be fitting to have a glance at the traditions of an Eastern Easter.
Lent
The 40-day period of Lent which precedes Easter Weekend can be a time of strict denial. In the run up to the festival, adherents to the faith will give up all products originating from animals, such as meat, eggs and dairy products. In the past, theatres and music halls were closed during Lent, as they were thought to be a distraction for the religious public, who should have been reflecting and repenting.
Holy Week
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and is a week where Russian families spring clean their homes and prepare for the Easter weekend. Eggs play a special role in the Orthodox church as they are a symbol of Jesus Christ's re-birth.
As well as being painted and used as decorations, it is also believed that the Easter eggs possess the powers to ward off evil spirits and protect crops. Russians usually hide an Easter egg in the foundations of their home to protect it.
Easter Weekend
Holy Saturday is the start of the Easter weekend and the day is spent fasting in preparation for the midnight feast, which breaks the fast and celebrates the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday.
Mass is attended at midnight, usually in a darkened Church to symbolise the sadness of a world without faith in Jesus. After Mass, families tuck into all the foods that were forbidden during Lent- beef, bacon, cheese, and of course the special Easter bread (paskha) and cake (kulich).
On Easter Sunday, people visit their loved ones, bringing decorated eggs to be given as gifts. A Russian fable says that "an Easter egg given from the heart will never spoil." It is also traditional to visit the graves of loved ones and present eggs, bread and sometimes beer at the graveside.
The Fabergé Eggs
At the end of the 19th and the turn of the 20th century, Easter became a magical time for the Russian aristocracy. In 1858 the first Fabergé egg was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III as a surprise for his wife Maria Fyodorovna and it was truly a bejewelled masterpiece.
On the outside it appeared to be a plain white-enamelled egg, but inside was a golden yolk, inside that a golden hen, and inside that was the real "surprise" - a diamond replica of the imperial crown and a ruby pendant.
This surprise turned out to be such a success that every year, Tsar Alexander commissioned a special egg for his wife. When their son, Tsar Nicholas II took to the throne, he continued this tradition of presenting an egg to his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna and to his widowed mother, every Easter until 1917.