Every Catholic Goan has childhood memories of the Easter midnight mass, the lighting of the Easter candle, followed by the faithful lighting their own candles, sharing the flame with each other and the baptism of babies. As the festival was always on a Sunday, the sharing of a scrumptious family meal which ended the 40 days period of fast and lent when meats are mostly not consumed and even weddings and other celebrations are generally not held. After an almost 40 day period, there is a wedding invite today. Easter heralds the beginning of the wedding season. In today’s circumstances, when meat is scare in the market, whether to celebrate Eid or Easter, celebrations seem incomplete. Good governance respects the cuisine of all its people and needs to ensure its availability. As is said that the way to a husband's heart is via his stomach, so also is the way to the electorate’s heart for any government to win elections. Unfortunately only majority votes matter! Jesus had said on the Cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
What is Easter? The New Testament speaks of how Jesus Christ was cruelly crucified by the Romans around AD 33. But after three days in the tomb, Jesus miraculously rose again, appeared to his disciples and ascended to heaven. Jesus’ resurrection and triumph over death is what Christians celebrate every Easter. The celebration of this event, called Easter, or the Festival of the Resurrection and is a major feast day of the church.
The English word resurrection comes from two Latin terms, re meaning “again”; and surgere, “to rise.” Resurrection means that a dead body is restored to active, everlasting life. Resurrection or anastasis (Greek word for “rising up”) is the concept of coming back to life after death. The afterlife, refers to the belief that a conscious or essential aspect of an individual's being continues to exist after the physical body dies. This concept is widely practised across different cultures and religions, with different belief systems offering interpretations of what happens after death. As mortals, we see the resurrection through the eyes of our faith. It can be a personal or universal event, with variations across different faiths. Many religions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, have beliefs about an afterlife where the soul continues to exist after death. These beliefs include a concept of heaven as a place where souls go after death or where divine beings reside.
In Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is an important tenet, signifying his victory over death and offering the faithful hope of eternal life. While not as important in other traditions, the idea of resurrection or rebirth can be found in various religions, those of Egypt and Canaan which had cults of dying-and-rising Gods, which may have laid the groundwork for later beliefs about resurrection. Many religions, especially the Abrahamic ones (monotheistic－Judaism, Christianity & Islam) believe in an eternal life in a spiritual realm, either a heaven or hell, determined by an individual's actions and beliefs during their lifetime and a universal resurrection at the end of the world, before the final judgment. Jewish and Islamic eschatology (study of end things e.g. death & afterlife) also include beliefs in a universal resurrection, often involving a Day of Judgement, building upon earlier Middle Eastern and Hellenistic beliefs (influenced by Greek culture after Alexander the Great) about divine beings and the soul. In John 5:24. 24 is written “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life”. Christianity believes in this resurrection of the body and an eternal life in heaven or hell, depending on one's faith and deeds. It's seen as proof of Jesus' divinity and a promise of salvation for believers.
Our knowledge and hope of the Resurrection comes from the scriptures, – the story of Jesus, the witness of the Holy Spirit, personal revelation, and the testimony of the latter-day prophets. Jesus wasn't the only one believed to have risen from the dead. This concept is widely prevalent across various cultures and religions, around the world with different belief systems offering different interpretations of what happens after death. While earlier Jewish thought primarily focused on the soul's immortality, later Jewish tradition developed beliefs about the resurrection of the dead, influencing Christian and Islamic eschatology.
Many belief systems, particularly in Eastern traditions, believe in reincarnation, where the soul or spirit is reborn into a new body or form after death, repeating the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Hinduism believes in a cycle of reincarnation (samsara) where the atma (soul) is reborn into different forms based on karma. The atma is considered immortal and undergoes a cycle of death and rebirth, known as samsara, until it attains liberation. The nature of the atma's next rebirth is determined by its accumulated karma (actions and their consequences) from past lives. In Hinduism when a person dies, their atman (soul) is reborn in a different body. Some believe rebirth happens directly at death, others believe that an atman may exist in other realms. Hindus believe that an atman may enter swarg (heavenly realm) or narak (hellish realm) for a period before rebirth.
Buddhism believes in reincarnation and the cycle of karma, with the ultimate goal of achieving enlightenment and breaking free from the cycle of rebirth. The afterlife, or life after death, in ancient Egypt refers to the belief that an essential aspect of an individual's being continues to exist after the physical body dies. Egyptians believed in an afterlife where the deceased might reside near their tomb, in the celestial domain of the Sun God. Ancient Pharaohs hoped to become immortal through the embalming and mummification rituals. Islam also incorporates the concept of resurrection as a part of the Day of Judgment, where all the dead will be resurrected to face God's judgment.
If most religions believe in resurrection and rebirth, this creates a motivation that we need to live a virtuous life by helping ourselves and others, without animosity to each other, it can lead to peaceful co-existence among communities. Fundamentally all religions have the same teachings and we need to respect each other irrespective of our beliefs.
In yesteryear's, there was much more co-existence among communities in the Goan villages. We have grown up with the village goldsmiths and grocery shops belonging to the Hindu community and the village butcher, always a Muslim. Festival times were times of fun and festivity for all. Today there seems to be a chasm of suspicion between neighbours, fuelled by politics and political parties. We Goans should never be puppets in manipulative hands!
Goa and Goans viewed Easter Sunday, Christmas, Eid, Chaturthi and Diwali as occasions when neighbours and friends invited each other to their hearth, homes and hearts with easterbuns, eastereggs, bibinca, kheer, biryani, modaks and nevreos spreading sweetness and love. Children love receiving easter eggs made of chocolate or filled with chocolates. The bigger the Easter egg, the wider is the smile on a child’s face and much more wider is the smile of the commercial business’ that market these Easter goodies. We need to emulate a child who always looks forward to these sweets from the neighbours on every occasion as much as we need to be good neighbours and give.
(Dr Sushila Sawant Mendes is a Professor and Author of History and an Independent Researcher.)