ORIGINS OF EASTER

Easter is the holiday when Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Christian Messiah, Jesus Christ. The most important celebration in Christian calendar, it is a commemoration of a living symbol of the very nature of Christianity. During Easter, Christians believe that they symbolically pass through death and into a new life (spiritually) in Jesus Christ, just as Jesus passed through death and three days later rose from the dead.

The date celebrating Easter is different each year. It always falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25, depending how the lunar calendar corresponds to the Gregorian calendar in that particular year. The time for other Lenten festivals that fix their dates according to Easter also changes too, such as Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

Although Easter is just one day in the liturgical calendar, in reality preparations for Easter take place throughout the 40 days of Lent and it plays a central role in the following 50 days of Pentecost (also known as the Easter season). This makes Easter the central day in the entire Christian calendar.

Since Easter is probably the oldest Christian celebration aside from the Sabbath, it wasn’t always the same as what people currently think of when they look at Easter services. The earliest known observance, Pasch, occurred between the second and fourth centuries and the celebrations commemorated both Jesus’ death and his resurrection at once, whereas today these two events have been split up between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

There is a deep connection between Easter and baptism. During the time of early Christianity, the season of Lent was used by catechumens (those who wanted to become Christians) to prepare for their baptism on Easter day – the only day of the year when baptisms for new Christians were performed. This is why the blessing of the baptismal font on Easter night is so important today.

It is also believed that the Easter Festival has some connections with a number of pre-Christian faiths, including paganism and Judaism. Lots of historians believe that the word Easter is derived from the Saxon name of the Pagan goddess of spring and fertility, Eastre. The lunar calendar month of April was dedicated to a celebration of Eastre, featuring rituals to mark the vernal equinox and welcome the fertility associated with springtime. Pagans traditions also seem have been incorporated into Christianity’s celebration of Easter today. For instance; the Easter bunny and Easter eggs are both Pagan symbols of fertility.

The traditions of Easter also have roots in the Jewish springtime holiday of Passover. The name Easter is reflected in the Hebrew word for Passover or Pesach and in Europe, the word Pasch is synonymous with the name of Easter.