Thanks to a friend, I can pass on to you what the greeting would be that Aragorn and Arwen would have exchanged on Pascha (Easter Day) had it existed back then. Yes, someone has translated the traditional greeting–Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!–into Quenya.
Ortanne Laivino!
Anwa ortanne Laivino!
From an Orthodox website, here is a tale of how the Paschal greeting and the exchanging of red eggs began. I cannot verify its accuracy, but here it is:
Do you know the origin of this custom? It is quite an ancient one. According to tradition, it began with the Equal to the Apostles St. Mary Magdalene. After the Lord’s Ascension, she came to Rome to preach the Gospel. Standing before Emperor Tiberias and saying, “Christ is Risen!” she presented him with a red egg. In those days, it was customary for poor people to give their friends, benefactors, the wealthy, and authorities, an egg on the New Year and on birthdays, as a sign of respect. Following Mary Magdalene’s example, early Christians began giving eggs to one another on the days celebrating Christ’s Glorious Resurrection. They passed that custom on to us.
But why did it become the custom to give one another red eggs? According to tradition, the following took place: On the actual day of Christ’s Resurrection, when everyone was convinced that Jesus Christ could not possibly rise from the tomb, a certain Jew was carrying a basket of eggs to market. Along the way, he met another Jew who said to him, “So, friend, do you know what a miraculous thing has happened in our city Jerusalem? For Christ, Who died three days ago, has risen from the tomb, and already many have seen Him.” However, the Jew who was taking the fresh eggs to market said to him, “No, I do not believe that Christ has been resurrected from the tomb. That would be just as impossible as to have white eggs suddenly turn red.” And what happened? As soon as he had spoken those words, the white eggs in the basket suddenly turned red. That miracle so amazed him that he rushed to adopt the Christian Faith. News of that marvelous event soon spread among the faithful Christians, and in commemoration thereof, they began to exchange red eggs with one another. It was perhaps for that reason that Mary Magdalene presented Emperor Tiberius with a red egg.
At the same time, the red color of the Paschal egg has a special significance. It would be no sin to assert that it represents the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Had Jesus Christ not redeemed us, we would have remained eternal prisoners of hell and death, and consequently would not have any reason to hope in our own coming resurrection. But we have been redeemed, redeemed through the priceless Blood of our Lord. Consequently, we will certainly be resurrected. As our redemption was accomplished with the Blood of Jesus Christ, we receive our coming resurrection, acquired through that same Blood. The eggs’ red color reminds us of that, and specifically preaches to us the fact that our resurrection is the fruit or consequence of the spilling of our Savior’s priceless Blood.
I have been a little busy, but I will return to regular blogging and do the final post on the series I had going, tomorrow.
Ortanne Laivino!
Anwa ortanne Laivino!
I’ve heard that Mary Magdalen made teh egg bargain – if he is risen, this egg will turn red. THis story is repeated in the Orthodox Wiki as well as in Icons of Mary Magdalen.
It’s worth noting: to make eggs the rich red needed, many ancient cultures would have used beets, an easy and inexpensive way to make dye – for you d not need to give up the food qualities of the vegetable to dye the eggs. The only other common colour for eggs would be yellow/brown from onion skins (again, you don’t need to sacrifice the food to make the colour happen). Other options sacrifice the food or are costly in and of themselves. I would suggest this “economia” and the richness of the result is the reason for red (as opposed to green or blue or yellow/brown).
Don’t forget Klingon:
Hu’ta’ QISt!
Hu’bejta’
(Or, as my godfather says whenever I tell him “Hu’ta’ QISt”, “you betcha!”)
All right, below is the “Hail Mary, full of grace” classical Roman Catholic prayer in Quenya. The translation is Tolkien’s own translation:
Aia María quanta Eruanno i Héru as elye,
aistana elye imíca n´si, ar aistana i yáve mónalyo Yésus.
Aire María Eruo ontaril á hyame r´men úcarindor s´ ar lúmesse ya firuvamme.
Násie.
Traditionally, the story is that Mary Magdalene went to Emperor Tiberius to proclaim Christ’s resurrection. In those times one had to have a gift to present the Emperor in order to have an audience. All she had was a white egg. When she presented the egg to the emperor, she proclaimed, “Christ is Risen!” and the egg miraculously turned red before the eyes of all, thus verifying the truth of her words.
This is why the faithful paint eggs red on Pascha.
“Anwa” is just the adjetive “True”, but with the suffix “-ve” it would be adverb “Trully”.
Also it is unnecesary (but valid) to translate literally “Christ”, as Tolkien created the word “Hristo”.
I personally think it should be “Hristo ortanne! Anwave ortannes!”.