Easter on the North Shore: Religious Traditions, Old and New

There is debate over the origins of the word “Easter” — whether it stems from the name of Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, or from the Old High German eosta­rum, derived from the Latin phrase in albis, the plural form of alba (“dawn”), an early Christian desig­nation of Easter week. In French, Easter is known as Paques, a word coming from the Latin and Greek Pascha (“Passover”), referring to the time of year on the Jewish calendar that often coincides with Easter. But despite the linguis­tic difficulties of the origin of the word “Easter”, it is celebrated as a Christian holiday by many, includ­ing individuals on the North Shore.

March 22nd and 23rd saw a start to the Easter services with some Lake County residents visiting and participating in the “A Day in Je­rusalem” pageant at Faith Baptist Church in Hermantown. “A Day in Jerusalem” featured the church set up to look like first century Jerusa­lem. Attendees traveled from room to room in “tour groups”, watching the Biblical events of Holy Week unfold.

The following day, March 24th, saw churches throughout the Ar­rowhead region celebrating with palm branches, commemorating Jesus’ triumphal entry; hence the name of this day, Palm Sunday.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, several churches in the Northland hosted times to gath­er and reflect on the significance of Holy Week to their faith. One of these services was Holy Spirit Catholic Church’s Monday eve­ning “At His Feet”.

Thursday, March 28th, called Maundy Thursday (“maundy” be­ing a shortened form of the Latin mandatum, meaning “mandate”, referring to the command to love one another in John 13:34), had special services at multiple church­es, including First Baptist Church in Two Harbors. First Baptist’s service was titled “Service of the Shadows”, a Protestant adap­tation of a service dating from the fourth century. According to ma­terial distributed by First Baptist, “[The Service of the Shadows] is held in many churches on Maun­dy Thursday to signify the gath­ering of the darkness and gloom preceding Good Friday. The quiet and dignified service consists of thirteen Scripture readings, candles representing Christ and the twelve disciples, and hymns. Following the final hymn, the Christ candle is removed briefly from the sanc­tuary to signify Christ’s death. Af­ter the church bell tolls thirty-three times (signifying Jesus’ thirty-three years), the Christ candle is brought back as a foretaste of the resurrec­tion that we will celebrate on Eas­ter.” In Silver Bay, services were held at Faith Lutheran, and the United Protestant Church held a combined service with Sychar Lu­theran.

Good Friday, March 29th, again saw services taking place through­out the Arrowhead region. In Two Harbors, First Baptist Church and Living Waters Fellowship held a combined service, and Emmanuel Lutheran held a “Community Ser­vice”. In Silver Bay, Faith Luther­an held their Good Friday service, and in Grand Marais, Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church had both a Good Friday service and a Stations of the Cross, the latter be­ing held on Zoom.

On Saturday, March 30, Easter Vigils and Easter Eve services were held, the latter at First Baptist, and the former at Faith Lutheran.

Finally, on Sunday, March 31, Resurrection Sunday was celebrat­ed, starting with an Easter Sunrise service at Burlington Bay. Brunch­es and breakfasts were served at churches across the Northland. Church attendees could be seen arrayed in festive clothing, and op­tions were available via Zoom and livestream for those who were un­able to attend in person. After ser­vice, activities such as egg hunts were held for children.

Easter is a season of hope, re­newal, and new life, and these three things were celebrated in churches across Lake and Cook counties this year.