dresses / dressing up at Easter best

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Easter Dress

While the tradition of Easter goes back beyond the Christian celebration the practice of wearing your best, or new clothes on Easter Sunday is very firmly rooted in Christianity.

It was Emperor Constantine of Rome, via the Council of Nicea, who set the date (or rather the formula for when Easter should be celebrated) for Easter and stated that the people should wear their very best clothes to celebrate the most important day in the religious calendar.

It has been suggested that, for non-Christians, the rebirth of the year can also be celebrated by one’s own re-birth by wearing new clothes. However it is more likely that this is a late addition and an effort to justify the tradition.

Traditional Easter dresses are red, representing the blood of Christ which in this case represents love an sacrifice. Other suitable colours would be white, green, yellow and purple which have more to do with Spring but represent hope and happiness.

Buying a completely new outfit can be expensive so the tradition grew up in the 19th century of just having a new hat: the Easter Bonnet.

As a result of the tradition it has come to be considered "good luck" to wear new clothes on Easter Sunday, this is a natural progression from the idea of simply wearing one’s best. Wearing "summery" clothes brings the element of Spring, warmth and joy to the whole event.