THE MORGANS CELEBRATE EASTER MONDAY IN CAMELOT

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma say goodbye to Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table while celebrating Easter Monday, a festival that unites Carolingian peoples, from Iceland to the Valencian Country, passing through the fantastic world of Camelot.

Tomorrow, the family will return to London where they will continue their English training over the next few weeks.

It is been a few relaxing days, but also an intense literary lesson about one of the most wonderful and popular sagas in Europe, a saga which The Grandma loves and admires with all her heart.

Long live Camelot! Long live literature! Long live Easter Monday!

Easter Monday is the second day of Eastertide and a public holiday in more than 50 predominantly Christian countries. In Western Christianity it marks the second day of the Octave of Easter; in Eastern Christianity it marks the second day of Bright Week.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, this day is called Bright Monday or Renewal Monday. The services, as in the rest of Bright Week, are quite different from during the rest of the year and are similar to the services on Pascha (Easter Sunday) and include an outdoor procession after the Divine Liturgy. While this is prescribed for all days of Bright Week, often they are only celebrated on Monday and maybe a couple of other days in parish churches, especially in non-Orthodox countries.

Should the calendar date for the feast day of a major saint (e.g. Saint George on April 23, or the patron saint of a church) or one's name day fall within Holy Week and Pascha itself, the feast is transferred to Easter Monday.

In Western Christianity, Easter Monday is the second day of Eastertide, as well as the second day in the Octave of Easter.

In the Lutheran Churches, the Gospel for Easter Monday concerns the Road to Emmaus appearance.

Easter Monday is an official public holiday in Catalonia, the Land of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Navarre, the Basque Country, Cantabria, the village of Galvez, and La Rioja. In Catalonia, the Land of Valencia, and Murcia a feature of this day is a pastry called Easter mona. It is usually given by godparents to their godchildren, and it is traditional for families or groups of friends to gather for a trip somewhere, like the countryside, to eat the mona. Traditionally, the age of the children was reflected in the number of eggs in the mona, until they were 12 years old. Currently, it is common for godparents to give the mona to their godchildren throughout their lives.

The Easter mona tradition is tied to that of bakers, who make works of art with pastry and chocolate, and since the mid-nineteenth century, mones have lost their initial simplicity, making their presentation more complex, for they must be elaborated with caramelized sugar, sugar almonds, jams, crunchy toppings, or silver anise, before being decorated with painted Easter eggs or figures made from porcelain, wood, cardboard or fabric.

More information: English Heritage

Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope,

renewal, and new life.

Janine di Giovanni