ST Abuja residents brace odds to celebrate Easter
Easter is one of the major celebrations in the Christian calendar. Abuja residents share how they hope to celebrate the season.
What does Easter mean? Easter is the weekend from Good Friday to Easter Monday. It is considered the most important and oldest festival of the Christian faith, celebrating the resurrection of Christ. It usually occurs between 21 March and 25 April and climaxes the Lenten period which begins on Ash Wednesday.
It is typically the most wellattended Sunday service of the year in many Christian churches. Some individuals attend church service once a year and it is on Easter Sunday.
Christians generally believe, according to the Bible, that Jesus Christ came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, which is always the Friday just before Easter. Through his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the price for sin, thus purchasing for all who believe in Him, eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Easter climaxes the Holy Week which begins with Palm Sunday. It is the first day of Holy Week and celebrates Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Crowds of people came out of the city to greet him, throwing down palm branches on the road.
Anglican and Roman Catholic churches give out small crosses made from palm leaves, as a reminder of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and his death on the cross. Some Christians keep these in their homes all year as a symbol of their faith.
This is followed by Holy Thursday also called Maundy Thursday, which is the Thursday before Easter Day. This comprises of the feast of the ‘Last Supper’. Christians remember when Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, breaking bread and drinking wine, which is now known as the Last Supper.
Many Christians remember this by sharing bread and wine together in a service called Holy Communion, Eucharist or Mass. It is a reminder that Jesus sacrificed his life for mankind.
At this meal Jesus told his followers that they should love and serve one another. He demonstrated this by washing the feet of the disciples - something a servant would normally do.
The word ‘maundy’ comes from the command (mandate) given by Jesus at the Last Supper, that we should love one another.
Roman Catholic Church services include a ceremony in which the priest washes the feet of 12 people to commemorate Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples.
Good Friday which is the Friday before Easter Sunday follows and commemorates the execution of Jesus by crucifixion.
Good Friday is a day of mourning in church. During special Good Friday services Christians remember Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, and what this means for their faith. The commemoration also includes a dramatization of the Stations of the Cross which is different stages of Jesus’ journey from the garden of Gethsemane to the cross of Calvary.
The main service on Good Friday takes place between midday and 3pm. In many churches it takes the form of a meditation based on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross, with hymns, prayers, and short sermons. Celebrations Elebrating Easter Like Christmas, Easter is celebrated with a lot of fanfare and jubilations as many Christians consider it an even more important feast than Christmas is. Salaries not paid “I was hoping that my office would pay us our April salary in advance or at least give us half to enable us have something to celebrate with,” said Jubril Ibrahim. “But that didn’t happen. So we are staying put in Abuja and will just visit friends and family around town during the holidays,” the father of six added.
Binke Badebo complained that, “Things are tight right now and with Easter falling mid-month it means no salary or extra to throw around this period.” She told our reporter who met her at the Utako market, “that I’m lucky to have something to come to market with to do this last minute shopping from last month end when I realised Easter would be mid-month. But even then, I have to prioritise and can’t buy everything I usually would in previous years.” Travellers still throng parks In spite of the unrest in Abuja and its environs travellers were undeterred and still thronged the city’s parks as early as 6am and some, even earlier as they headed in different directions of the country.
Utako’s A. E. Ekukinam Street where most of the transport lines with luxury buses have their stations was a beehive.
Sarah Njoku and her three children were seen at the Jabi Motor Park heading for Enugu. According to her, “I’ve always travelled for Easter because it’s less hassle at this time than at Christmas. This way if I can’t travel at the end of the year, I don’t feel bad.”
On whether she felt uncomfortable being at the park uncertain of the people who came in and out, she said, “Scary as it might be, I’ve resolved that I will not be held in bondage by such incidences as has plagued our country in recent times. We can only die once; and if it pleases God that it will happen by a bomb blast, then may His will be done.”
A driver, at GUO Park, who spoke to our reporter said, “We didn’t worry about lack of passengers. People must travel whether there is money or not, whether there is chaos or not. In fact in chaos, there are more travellers than ever. We didn’t increase our travel rates. But we will do so tomorrow and on Sunday for last minute travellers.
I’m too afraid to go anywhere especially with the blast that happened in Nyanya on Monday. I feel relaxation parks may be a target. Power outage “We haven’t had power in my area in Karu for the past one week and it doesn’t seem like it will be restored during the holiday,” said Asmau Abdullahi.
The mother of four said, “I couldn’t even take the risk to stock up anything in my deep freezer because my generator can’t power it. So we’ll shop in the morning of Easter Sunday at the risk of buying over inflated items. But then, we have no choice because that’s the situation the government has put us in.” Turning 90 on Easter Sunday Probably the most excited person about Easter this year is Mrs Esther Oghogho Ajekuko who will be 90 years old that day. The mother of eight says, “turning 90 on Easter day is more blessing than I could ask for or imagine especially that I am in good health, I still go up and down the stairs on my own and do a lot of things without aid, makes me so full of gratitude to God.
“I’m also very happy to have all my children and grandchildren alive and around me. I couldn’t ask for a better gift than this,” she said.