Easter
Easter is one of two main religious holidays in the Christian calendar, the other being Christmas.
According to tradition, Easter marks the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Easter is partly based on the Jewish Pesach, in English Passover, which commemmorates the Exodus, since it is during this holiday that Jesus is believed to be resurrected.
The Date of Easter
Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the calendar year (which follows the motion of the Sun and the seasons). Instead, they are based on a lunar calendar like that used by the Jews. After the First Council of Nicaea in 325 it was decided that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday on or after the first full moon after the day of the vernal equinox. Eventually, all churches accepted the Alexandrian method of computing Easter, which set the northern hemisphere vernal equinox at 21 March (the actual equinox may fall one or two days earlier or later), and the date of the full moon was to be determined by using the Metonic cycle. A problem here is the difference between the western churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The former now use the Gregorian Calendar to calculate the date of Easter, while the latter still use the original Julian Calendar. The World Council of Churches proposed a reform of the method of determining the date of Easter at a summit in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997. This reform would have eliminated the difference in the date between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was due to be implemented starting in 2001, but it failed. See Reform of the date of Easter.
Western Christianity
In Western Christianity, Easter marks the end of the forty-six days of Lent, a period of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday. Lent really comprises 40 days since the 6 Sundays during this period are excluded from the Lenten fast, and are days that set apart to commemorate Easter Sunday.
The days before Easter also are special in the Christian tradition: the Sunday before is Palm Sunday, and the last three days before Easter are Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (sometimes referred to as Silent Saturday). Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday respectively commemmorate Jesus's entry in Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday are sometimes referred to as the Triduum (Latin for "Three Days").
Eastern Christianity
In Eastern Christianity, preparations begin with Great Lent. Following the fifth Sunday of Great Lent is Palm Week, which ends with Lazarus Saturday. Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close, although the fast continues for the following week. After Lazarus Saturday comes Palm Sunday, Holy Week (Holy Monday through Holy Saturday), and finally Easter itself, or Holy Pasch, and the fast is broken immediately after the Divine Liturgy. Easter is immediately followed by Bright Week, during which there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday.
Other Celebrations of Easter
As with other Christian dates, Easter is also commercially important, with big sales of confectionery such as chocolate Easter eggs, marshmallow bunnies, Peeps, jelly beans, and greeting cards.
In the United States, the Easter holiday has been secularized, so that the main holiday event for many Americans is the coloring of Easter eggs, followed on Easter Sunday by an Easter egg hunt, in which young children gather the eggs that have been hidden in their homes or yards. According to the children's stories, eggs and other treats are delivered by the Easter Bunny in the form of an Easter basket which children find waiting for them when they wake up on Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny's motives for doing this are seldom clarified.
Eostre was an Anglo-Saxon goddess associated with Spring, fertility and the hare; she was sometimes depicted with a hare's head. The English name of this spring festival comes from from her name, and her connections with the hare would appear to be the origin of the Easter Bunny, eggs being a worldwide symbol of fertility.
When is Easter?
West (Roman Catholic and Protestant)
- 2000 April 23
- 2001 April 15
- 2002 March 31
- 2003 April 20
- 2004 April 11
- 2005 March 27
- 2006 April 16
- 2007 April 7
- 2008 March 24
- 2009 April 12
- 2010 April 4
- 2011 April 24
East (Orthodox)
- 2000 April 30
- 2001 April 15
- 2002 May 5
- 2003 April 27
- 2004 April 11
- 2005 May 1
- 2006 April 23
- 2007 April 8
- 2008 April 27
- 2009 April 19
- 2010 April 4
- 2011 April 24