In common language, the habit of calling the Monday after Easter “Easter Monday” has now become consolidated: a traditional holiday also known as “Angel Monday”, or the day on which Mary Magdalene and the Madonna went to the tomb of Jesus, they found it empty and an angel announced to them the miracle of the Resurrection.
But, in reality, this is a mistake, a false myth: why? The problem lies in the fact that the sacred texts actually describe the event of the women at the tomb, but they refer to the Jewish Easter and not to the Christian one, since at the time of the Gospels, “Easter” indicated the liberation of the people of Israel by Moses and, traditionally, fell on a Saturday and not on a Sunday.
Another error associated with this day is the denomination “in Albis”: again based on the sacred texts, since the Jewish Passover coincided with the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt by Moses, there existed the Sunday following Easter, known as ” Sunday in Albis”.
The term “Albis” derives from the Latin “Albus” and means “white”, indicating the tradition, still followed until a few decades ago, of baptizing newborns on Easter night and dressing them in a white dress to symbolize their purity . These clothes were to be worn by newborns for the entire week after baptism, therefore known as “week in Albis”.
The name “Monday in Albis” has been attributed by tradition to Monday alone, probably to symbolize the beginning of the “week in Albis” or to indicate the first day after baptism in which children wore the white dress.
