Symbols at the Easter Vigil

Bells

Bells, which have not been heard since the Gloria of the Mass on Holy Thursday, are jubilantly rung at the Gloria of the Easter Vigil. Bells have a very hallowed place among the musical symbols used by the Church. She even sets apart a very privileged pontifical ceremony for their blessing. The bishop first washes the bell in holy water, then it is anointed inside and out with oil. Tower bells are traditionally given names of saints and their use lends a decidedly sacred tone to the ceremonies of the Vigil.

Water

The Vigil begins with one elemental force... fire. The midpoint of the celebration is the Liturgy of Initiation, wherein the Elect (formerly Catechumens) and the Candidates are baptized (or formally received into the Church) and confirmed. Water, another elemental force, is the sign of Baptism, and the sacred Chrism blessed earlier in Holy Week by the bishop, is used in Confirmation. In the Blessing of Water, the Church presents a brief "history" of the religious significance of water: its gift in creation, the great flood, the Red Sea, the Jordan, the water and blood that flowed from the Savior's side (itself symbolizing Baptism and Eucharist, or humanity and divinity). Being submerged in the waters of Baptism represents a kind of death; hence the Paschal candle is lowered into the font of water to be blessed, with the words:

May all who are buried with Christ in the death of baptism rise also with him to newness of life.

After the Elect are baptized, the newly blessed water is placed in the aspersory, or pail, from which the aspergillem, or sprinkler, is filled. The faithful are sprinkled with new holy water, recalling their own baptism. In many churches, the baptismal font is octagonal. The number eight has significance as one beyond the seven days of creation, representing the new creation into which the neophyte (the "newly-baptized") is initiated.

General Symbols of the Resurrection

Apart from the official symbols that the Church uses at Easter, there are other "less-official" symbols for Easter and the Resurrection. Some are obvious... some take a slight stretch to understand.

• Banner - representing triumph and victory
• Bee - the new bee emerges from the cell of the comb as from a tomb
• Butterfly - transformation and new life through the cocoon
• Candle - representing Christ's light, fire of life, baptism
• East - the rising sun; resurrection of the dead
• Egg - new life, spring's recreation of life
• Frog - emergence after hibernation
• Lamb with banner - the triumphant Lamb of the Apocalypse
• Lily - purity and joy of Easter; springs forth from dried bulb
• Peacock - festive joy
• Phoenix - rising from the ashes of death
• Pomegranate - the pod bursts with life-giving seeds
• Rooster - a symbol of the resurrection of the dead
• Swallow - a springtime return with renewed life
• trumpet - waking the dead in the final resurrection

Date of Easter

Have you ever wondered how the date of Easter is determined? It's ultimately tied into the Jewish date of Passover (the 14th day of Nisan). The Council of Nicæa set the standard followed by most Christians in AD 325:

Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

The vernal (or springtime) equinox is when the sun is directly overhead at the equator. It occurs about March 20. This puts the earliest possible date for Easter at March 22; it can fall as late as April 25.