Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week, which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which the betrayal of Jesus is mourned),[12] and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper,[13][14] as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus.[15] In Eastern Christianity, the same events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with "Holy" or "Holy and Great", and Easter itself might be called Great and Holy Pascha. In both Western and Eastern Christianity, Eastertide, the Easter or Paschal season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday, but in Eastern Christianity the leavetaking of the feast is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension.
The English term is derived from the Saxon spring festival Ēostre;[18] Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by its name (Hebrew: פֶּסַחpesach, Aramaic: פָּסחָאpascha are the basis of the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover)[19][20] and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages, both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover are called by the same name; and in the older English translations of the Bible, as well, the term Easter was used to translate Passover.[21]
The modern English term Easter, cognate with modern Dutchooster and GermanOstern, developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastrun, Ēastron, or Ēastran; but also as Ēastru, Ēastro; and Ēastre or Ēostre.[nb 4]Bede provides the only documentary source for the etymology of the word, in his eighth-century The Reckoning of Time. He wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English for 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month".[35]
In Latin and Greek, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Pascha (Greek: Πάσχα), a word derived from Aramaicפסחא (Paskha), cognate to the Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach). The word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt.[36][37] As early as the 50s of the 1st century, Paul the Apostle, writing from Ephesus to the Christians in Corinth,[38] applied the term to Christ, and it is unlikely that the Ephesian and Corinthian Christians were the first to hear Exodus 12 interpreted as speaking about the death of Jesus, not just about the Jewish Passover ritual.[39] In most languages, the feast is known by names derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha.[7][40] Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration.[41] Others call the holiday "Resurrection Sunday" or "Resurrection Day", after the Greek Ἀνάστασις, Anastasis, 'Resurrection' day.[8][9][42][43]
Theological significance
A stained-glass window depicting the Passover Lamb, a concept integral to the foundation of Easter
Easter celebrates Jesus' supernatural resurrection from the dead, which is one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith.[45] Paul writes that, for those who trust in Jesus's death and resurrection, "death is swallowed up in victory". The First Epistle of Peter declares that God has given believers "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". Christian theology holds that, through faith in the working of God, those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation, and can hope to be physically resurrected to dwell with him in the Kingdom of Heaven.[46]
Easter is linked to Passover and the Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings, and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection.[40] According to the three Synoptic Gospels, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the upper room during the Last Supper he prepared himself and his disciples for his death.[40] He identified the bread and cup of wine as his body, soon to be sacrificed, and his blood, soon to be shed. The Apostle Paul states in his First Epistle to the Corinthians: "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." This refers to the requirement in Jewish law that Jews eliminate all chametz, or leavening, from their homes in advance of Passover, and to the allegory of Jesus as the Passover lamb.[47][48]
Early Christianity
The Last Supper celebrated by Jesus and his disciples. The early Christians, too, would have celebrated this meal to commemorate Jesus's death and subsequent resurrection.
As the Gospels assert that both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus occurred during the week of Passover, the first Christians timed the observance of the annual celebration of the resurrection in relation to Passover.[49] Direct evidence for a more fully formed Christian festival of Pascha (Easter) begins to appear in the mid-2nd century. Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referring to Easter is a mid-2nd-century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one.[50] Evidence for another kind of annually recurring Christian festival, those commemorating the martyrs, began to appear at about the same time as the above homily.[51]
While martyrs' days (usually the individual dates of martyrdom) were celebrated on fixed dates in the local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish[52]lunisolar calendar. This is consistent with the celebration of Easter having entered Christianity during its earliest, Jewish period, but does not leave the question free of doubt.[53]
The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of pre-Christian custom, "just as many other customs have been established", stating that neither Jesus nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. Although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed.[54]
Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars (both of which follow the cycle of the sun and the seasons). Instead, the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar.
A five-part Russian Orthodox icon depicting the Easter story. Eastern Orthodox Christians use a different computation for the date of Easter from the Western churches.
The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter of contention. By the later 2nd century, it was widely accepted that the celebration of the holiday was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. The Quartodeciman controversy, the first of several Easter controversies, arose concerning the date on which the holiday should be celebrated.[55]
The term "Quartodeciman" refers to the practice of ending the Lenten fast on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew calendar, "the LORD's passover".[56] According to the church historian Eusebius, the Quartodeciman Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna, by tradition a disciple of John the Apostle) debated the question with Anicetus (bishop of Rome). The Roman province of Asia was Quartodeciman, while the Roman and Alexandrian churches continued the fast until the Sunday following (the Sunday of Unleavened Bread), wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus persuaded the other, but they did not consider the matter schismatic either, parting in peace and leaving the question unsettled.[57]
Controversy arose when Victor, bishop of Rome a generation after Anicetus, attempted to excommunicatePolycrates of Ephesus and all other bishops of Asia for their Quartodecimanism. According to Eusebius, a number of synods were convened to deal with the controversy, which he regarded as all ruling in support of Easter on Sunday.[58] Polycrates (c.190), however, wrote to Victor defending the antiquity of Asian Quartodecimanism. Victor's attempted excommunication was apparently rescinded, and the two sides reconciled upon the intervention of bishop Irenaeus and others, who reminded Victor of the tolerant precedent of Anicetus.[59][60]
It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice continued. But both those who followed the Nisan 14 custom, and those who set Easter to the following Sunday, had in common the custom of consulting their Jewish neighbors to learn when the month of Nisan would fall, and setting their festival accordingly. By the later 3rd century, however, some Christians began to express dissatisfaction with the custom of relying on the Jewish community to determine the date of Easter. The chief complaint was that the Jewish communities sometimes erred in setting Passover to fall before the Northern Hemisphere spring equinox.[63][64] The Sardica paschal table[65] confirms these complaints, for it indicates that the Jews of some eastern Mediterranean city (possibly Antioch) fixed Nisan 14 on dates well before the spring equinox on multiple occasions.[66]
Because of this dissatisfaction with reliance on the Jewish calendar, some Christians began to experiment with independent computations.[nb 5] Others, however, believed that the customary practice of consulting Jews should continue, even if the Jewish computations were in error.[69]
The settlement of the controversy about the Paschal season caused by the Quartodeciman practice of Asian churches is listed in our principal source for the works of the Council of Nicaea, Socrates Scholasticus's Ecclesiastical History, as one of the two reasons for which emperor Constantine convened the Council in 325.[70] The Canons of the Council preserved by Dionysius Exiguus and his successors do not include any relevant provision, but letters of individuals present at the Council mention a decision prohibiting Quartodecimanism and requiring that all Christians adopt a common method to independently determine Paschal observance following the churches of Rome and Alexandria, the latter "since there was among the Egyptians an ancient science for the computation."[71] Already in the end of the 4th century and, later on, Dionysius Exiguus and others following him maintained that the bishops assembled at Nicaea had promulgated the celebration of Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox and that they had adopted the use of the 19-year lunar cycle, better known as Metonic cycle, to determine the date; subsequent scholarship has refuted this tradition, but, with regards to the rule of the equinox, evidence that the church of Alexandria had implemented it before 325 suggests that the Council of Nicaea implicitly endorsed it.[72]
Canons[73] and sermons[74] condemning the custom of computing Easter's date based on the Jewish calendar indicate that this custom (called "protopaschite" by historians) did not die out at once, but persisted for a time after the Council of Nicaea.[75] In any case, in the years following the council, the computational system that was worked out by the church of Alexandria came to be normative. The Alexandrian system, however, was not immediately adopted throughout Christian Europe. Following Augustalis' treatise De ratione Paschae (On the Measurement of Easter), Rome retired the earlier 8-year cycle in favor of Augustalis' 84-year lunisolar calendar cycle, which it used until 457. It then switched to Victorius of Aquitaine's adaptation of the Alexandrian system.[76][77]
Because this Victorian cycle differed from the unmodified Alexandrian cycle in the dates of some of the Paschal full moons, and because it tried to respect the Roman custom of fixing Easter to the Sunday in the week of the 16th to the 22nd of the lunar month (rather than the 15th to the 21st as at Alexandria), by providing alternative "Latin" and "Greek" dates in some years, occasional differences in the date of Easter as fixed by Alexandrian rules continued.[76][77] The Alexandrian rules were adopted in the West following the tables of Dionysius Exiguus in 525.[78]
Early Christians in Britain and Ireland also used an 84-year cycle. From the 5th century onward this cycle set its equinox to 25 March and fixed Easter to the Sunday falling in the 14th to the 20th of the lunar month inclusive.[79][80] This 84-year cycle was replaced by the Alexandrian method in the course of the 7th and 8th centuries. Churches in western continental Europe used a late Roman method until the late 8th century during the reign of Charlemagne, when they finally adopted the Alexandrian method. Since 1582, when the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar while most of Europe used the Julian calendar, the date on which Easter is celebrated has again differed.[81]
In 725, Bede succinctly wrote: "The Sunday following the full Moon which falls on or after the equinox will give the lawful Easter."[82] However, this does not precisely reflect the ecclesiastical rules. The full moon referred to (called the Paschal full moon) is not an astronomical full moon, but the 14th day of a lunar month. Another difference is that the astronomical equinox is a natural astronomical phenomenon, which can fall on 19, 20 or 21 March,[83] while the ecclesiastical date is fixed by convention on 21 March.[84]
In addition, the lunar tables of the Julian calendar are currently five days behind those of the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the Julian computation of the Paschal full moon is a full five days later than the astronomical full moon. The result of this combination of solar and lunar discrepancies is divergence in the date of Easter in most years (see table).[85]
Easter is determined on the basis of lunisolar cycles. The lunar year consists of 30-day and 29-day lunar months, generally alternating, with an embolismic month added periodically to bring the lunar cycle into line with the solar cycle. In each solar year (1 January to 31 December inclusive), the lunar month beginning with an ecclesiastical new moon falling in the 29-day period from 8 March to 5 April inclusive is designated as the paschal lunar month for that year.[86]
Easter is the third Sunday in the paschal lunar month, or, in other words, the Sunday after the paschal lunar month's 14th day. The 14th of the paschal lunar month is designated by convention as the Paschal full moon, although the 14th of the lunar month may differ from the date of the astronomical full moon by up to two days.[86] Since the ecclesiastical new moon falls on a date from 8 March to 5 April inclusive, the paschal full moon (the 14th of that lunar month) must fall on a date from 22 March to 18 April inclusive.[85]
The Gregorian calculation of Easter was based on a method devised by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio) for adjusting the epacts of the Moon,[87] and has been adopted by almost all Western Christians and by Western countries which celebrate national holidays at Easter. For the British Empire and colonies, a determination of the date of Easter Sunday using Golden Numbers and Sunday letters was defined by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 with its Annexe. This was designed to match exactly the Gregorian calculation.[88]
Western-Eastern divergence
In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April,[89] within about seven days after the astronomical full moon.[90] The preceding Friday, Good Friday, and following Monday, Easter Monday, are legal holidays in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions.[91]
Eastern Orthodox Christians use the same rule but base their 21 March according to the Julian calendar. Because of the thirteen-day difference between the calendars from 1900 through 2099, 21 March Julian corresponds to 3 April in the Gregorian calendar (during the 20th and 21st centuries). Consequently, the date of Orthodox Easter varies between 4 April and 8 May in the Gregorian calendar. Orthodox Easter is usually several days or more than a month later than Western Easter.
Among the Oriental Orthodox, some churches have changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the date for Easter, as for other fixed and moveable feasts, is the same as in the Western church.[92]
The Greek island of Syros, whose population is divided almost equally between Catholics and Orthodox, is one of the few places where the two Churches share a common date for Easter, with the Catholics accepting the Orthodox date—a practice helping considerably in maintaining good relations between the two communities.[93] Conversely, Orthodox Christians in Finland celebrate Easter according to the Western Christian date.[94]
In the 20th and 21st centuries, some individuals and institutions have propounded changing the method of calculating the date for Easter, the most prominent proposal being the Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Despite having some support, proposals to reform the date have not been implemented.[95] An Orthodox congress of Eastern Orthodox bishops, which included representatives mostly from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Serbian Patriarch, met in Constantinople in 1923, where the bishops agreed to the Revised Julian calendar.[96]
The original form of this calendar would have determined Easter using precise astronomical calculations based on the meridian of Jerusalem.[97][98] However, all the Eastern Orthodox countries that subsequently adopted the Revised Julian calendar adopted only that part of the revised calendar that applied to festivals falling on fixed dates in the Julian calendar. The revised Easter computation that had been part of the original 1923 agreement was never permanently implemented in any Orthodox diocese.[96]
In the United Kingdom, Parliament passed the Easter Act 1928 to change the date of Easter to be the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April (or, in other words, the Sunday in the period from 9 to 15 April). However, the legislation has not been implemented, although it remains on the Statute book and could be implemented, subject to approval by the various Christian churches.[99]
At a summit in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997, the World Council of Churches (WCC) proposed a reform in the calculation of Easter which would have replaced the present divergent practices of calculating Easter with modern scientific knowledge taking into account actual astronomical instances of the spring equinox and full moon based on the meridian of Jerusalem, while also following the tradition of Easter being on the Sunday following the full moon.[100] The recommended World Council of Churches changes would have sidestepped the calendar issues and eliminated the difference in date between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was proposed for implementation starting in 2001, and despite repeated calls for reform, it was not ultimately adopted by any member body.[101][102]
In January 2016, the Anglican Communion, Coptic Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Church, and Roman Catholic Church again considered agreeing on a common, universal date for Easter, while also simplifying the calculation of that date, with either the second or third Sunday in April being popular choices.[103]
In November 2022, the Patriarch of Constantinople said that conversations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches had begun to determine a common date for the celebration of Easter. The agreement is expected to be reached for the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.[104]
Table of the dates of Easter by Gregorian and Julian calendars
↑ Jewish Passover is on Nisan 15 of its calendar. It commences at sunset preceding the date indicated (as does Easter by some traditions).
↑ Astronomical Easter is the first Sunday after the astronomical full moon after the astronomical March equinox as measured at the meridian of Jerusalem according to this WCC proposal.
Easter and other named days and day ranges around Lent and Easter in Western Christianity, with the fasting days of Lent numbered
In most branches of Western Christianity, Easter is preceded by Lent, a period of penitence that begins on Ash Wednesday, lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays), and is often marked with fasting. The week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is an important time for observers to commemorate the final week of Jesus' life on earth.[106] The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday, with the Wednesday before Easter being known as Spy Wednesday (or Holy Wednesday). The last three days before Easter are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (sometimes referred to as Silent Saturday).[107]
Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday respectively commemorate Jesus's entry in Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the crucifixion. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are sometimes referred to as the Easter Triduum (Latin for "Three Days"). Many churches begin celebrating Easter late in the evening of Holy Saturday at a service called the Easter Vigil.[108]
The week beginning with Easter Sunday is called Easter Week or the Octave of Easter, and each day is prefaced with "Easter", e.g. Easter Monday (a public holiday in many countries), Easter Tuesday (a much less widespread public holiday), etc. Easter Saturday is therefore the Saturday after Easter Sunday. The day before Easter is properly called Holy Saturday. Eastertide, or Paschaltide, the season of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the day of Pentecost, seven weeks later.[109][110][111]
Eastern Christianity
In Eastern Christianity, the spiritual preparation for Easter/Pascha begins with Great Lent, which starts on Clean Monday and lasts for 40 continuous days (including Sundays). Great Lent ends on a Friday, and the next day is Lazarus Saturday. The Vespers which begins Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close, although the fast continues through the following week.[112][113]
The liturgical season from Easter to the Sunday of All Saints (the Sunday after Pentecost) is known as the Pentecostarion (the "50 days"). The week which begins on Easter Sunday is called Bright Week, during which there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday. The Afterfeast of Easter lasts 39 days, with its Apodosis (leave-taking) on the day before the Feast of the Ascension. Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day from Easter (counted inclusively).[115] In the Pentecostarion published by Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, the Great Feast Pentecost is noted in the synaxarion portion of Matins to be the 8th Sunday of Pascha. However, the Paschal greeting of "Christ is risen!" is no longer exchanged among the faithful after the Apodosis of Pascha.[116][117]
The Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western Christians. The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as practised among Roman Catholics, Lutherans,[120] and some Anglicans begins on the night of Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil which follows an ancient liturgy involving symbols of light, candles and water and numerous readings form the Old and New Testament.[121]
Services continue on Easter Sunday and in a number of countries on Easter Monday. In parishes of the Moravian Church, as well as some other denominations such as the Methodist Churches, there is a tradition of Easter sunrise services,[122] often starting in cemeteries[123] in remembrance of the biblical narrative in the Gospels, or other places in the open where the sunrise is visible.[124]
In some traditions, Easter services typically begin with the Paschal greeting: "Christ is risen!" The response is: "He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"[125]
Eastern Christianity
The congregation lighting their candles from the new flame, just as the priest has retrieved it from the altar. The picture is flash-illuminated; all electric lighting is off, and only the oil lamps in front of the Iconostasis remain lit. (St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Adelaide).
Preparation for Easter begins with the season of Great Lent, which begins on Clean Monday.[127] While the end of Lent is Lazarus Saturday, fasting does not end until Easter Sunday.[128] The Orthodox service begins late Saturday evening, observing the Jewish tradition that evening is the start of liturgical holy days.[128]
The church is darkened, then the priest lights a candle at midnight, representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Altar servers light additional candles, with a procession which moves three times around the church to represent the three days in the tomb.[128] The service continues early into Sunday morning, with a feast to end the fasting. An additional service is held later that day on Easter Sunday.[128]
Easter is rejected by groups such as the Restored Church of God, who claim it originated as a pagan spring festival adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.[133][134]
Jehovah's Witnesses maintain a similar view, observing a yearly commemorative service of the Last Supper and the subsequent execution of Christ on the evening of Nisan 14 (as they calculate the dates derived from the lunar Hebrew calendar). It is commonly referred to by many Witnesses as simply "The Memorial". Jehovah's Witnesses believe that such verses as Luke 22:19–20 and 1 Corinthians 11:26 constitute a commandment to remember the death of Christ, though not the resurrection.[135][136]
Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), as part of their historic testimony against times and seasons, do not celebrate or observe Easter or any traditional feast days of the established Church, believing instead that "every day is the Lord's Day", and that elevation of one day above others suggests that it is acceptable to do un-Christian acts on other days.[137][138] During the 17th and 18th centuries, Quakers were persecuted for this non-observance of Holy Days.[139]
In countries where Christianity is a state religion, or those with large Christian populations, Easter is often a public holiday.[140] As Easter always falls on a Sunday, many countries in the world also recognize Good Friday and Easter Monday as public holidays.[141] Depending on the country, retail stores, shopping malls and restaurants may be closed on the Friday, Monday or Sunday.[142]
In the Nordic countries, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday are public holidays,[143] and Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays.[144] In Denmark, Iceland and Norway, Maundy Thursday is also a public holiday; it is a holiday for most workers, except those operating some shopping malls which keep open for a half-day. Many businesses give their employees almost a week off, called Easter break.[145] Schools are closed between Palm Sunday and Easter Monday. According to a 2014 poll, 6 of 10 Norwegians travel during Easter, often to a countryside cottage; 3 of 10 said their typical Easter included skiing.[146]
Easter in Italy is one of that country's major holidays.[147] Easter in Italy enters Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, concluding with Easter Day and Easter Monday. Each day has a special significance. In Italy, both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are national holidays,[148] which results in a first and a second Easter Sunday, after which the week continues to a Tuesday.[148] Also in the Netherlands, both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are national holidays, and like first and second Christmas Day, they are both considered Sundays, resulting in a first and a second Easter Sunday, after which the week continues to a Tuesday.[149]
Good Friday and Saturday as well as Easter Sunday and Monday are traditionally observed public holidays in Greece. It is customary for employees of the public sector to receive Easter bonuses as a gift from the state.[150]
In Commonwealth nations, Easter Sunday is rarely a public holiday, as is the case for celebrations which fall on a Sunday. In the United Kingdom, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays, except in Scotland, where only Good Friday is a bank holiday.[151] In Canada, Easter Monday is a statutory holiday for federal employees. In the Canadian province of Quebec, either Good Friday or Easter Monday are statutory holidays (although most companies give both).[152] In Australia, Easter is associated with harvest time;[153] Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays across all states and territories. The Saturday before Easter is a public holiday in every Australian state except Tasmania and Western Australia, while Easter Sunday itself is a public holiday only in New South Wales; Easter Tuesday is additionally a conditional public holiday in Tasmania, varying between award, and was also a public holiday in Victoria until 1994.[154] In New Zealand, Good Friday and Easter Monday are both state holidays.
In the United States, which is a secular country, Easter is not designated as a federal holiday.[155]Easter parades are held in many American cities, though not sponsored by any government, involving festive strolling processions.[30]
The egg is an ancient symbol of new life and rebirth.[156] In Christianity it became associated with Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection.[157] The custom of the Easter egg originated in the early Christian community of Mesopotamia, who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion.[158][159] As such, for Christians, the Easter egg is a symbol of the empty tomb.[25][26] The oldest tradition is to use dyed chicken eggs.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church Easter eggs are blessed by a priest[160] both in families' baskets together with other foods forbidden during Great Lent and alone for distribution or in church or elsewhere.
Traditional red Easter eggs for blessing by a priest
A priest blessing baskets with Easter eggs and other foods forbidden during Great Lent
A priest distributing blessed Easter eggs after blessing the Soyuz rocket
Easter eggs are a widely popular symbol of new life among the Eastern Orthodox but also in folk traditions in Slavic countries and elsewhere. A batik-like decorating process known as pisanka produces intricate, brilliantly colored eggs. The celebrated House of Fabergé workshops created exquisite jewelled Easter eggs for the Russian Imperial family from 1885 to 1916.[161]
Modern customs
A modern custom in the Western world is to substitute decorated chocolate, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jellybeans; as many people give up candy (sweets) as their Lenten sacrifice, individuals indulge in them at Easter after having abstained during the preceding forty days of Lent.[162]
Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb, are a popular cultural symbol of Easter.[24]
Marshmallow rabbits, candy eggs and other treats in an Easter basket
Manufacturing their first Easter egg in 1875, British chocolate company Cadbury sponsors the annual egg hunt which takes place in over 250 National Trust locations in the United Kingdom.[163][164] On Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the White House lawn for young children.[165]
In some traditions, the children put out their empty baskets for the Easter Bunny to fill while they sleep. They wake to find their baskets filled with candy eggs and other treats.[166][31] A custom originating in Germany,[166] the Easter Bunny is a popular legendary anthropomorphic Easter gift-giving character analogous to Santa Claus in American culture. Many children around the world follow the tradition of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving baskets of candy.[31] Historically, foxes, cranes and storks were also sometimes named as the mystical creatures.[166] Since the rabbit is a pest in Australia, the Easter Bilby is available as an alternative.[167]
↑ Eusebius reports that Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, proposed an 8-year Easter cycle, and quotes a letter from Anatolius, Bishop of Laodicea, that refers to a 19-year cycle.[67] An 8-year cycle has been found inscribed on a statue unearthed in Rome in the 17th century, and since dated to the 3rd century.[68]
Related Research Articles
A moveable feast is an observance in a Christian liturgical calendar which occurs on different dates in different years. It is the complement of a fixed feast, an annual celebration that is held on the same calendar date every year, such as Christmas.
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of scripture are to be read.
Holy Week includes the events of Jesus Christ's entry into Jerusalem, the last supper, the arrest, and his death by crucifixion. For all Christian traditions, it is a moveable observance. In Eastern Christianity, which also calls it Great Week, it is the week following Great Lent and Lazarus Saturday, starting on the evening of Palm Sunday and concluding on the evening of Great Saturday. In Western Christianity, Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday.
Holy Saturday, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Sábado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday", "the Saturday of Light", and "Mega Sabbatun" among Coptic Christians, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Christians prepare for the latter.
The Paschal Triduum or Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. It is a moveable observance recalling the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.
Quartodecimanism is the name given to the practice of celebrating the death of Christ on the day of Passover, the 14th of Nisan according to biblical dating, on whatever day of the week it occurs. The Quartodeciman controversy in the Church was the question of whether to celebrate Easter on Sunday, or Passover.
The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It is one of the ecumenical feasts of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion and Pentecost. Following the account of Acts 1:3 that the risen Jesus appeared for 40 days prior to his Ascension, Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter according to inclusive counting, although some Christian denominations have moved the observance to the following Sunday, sometimes called Ascension Sunday. The day of observance varies by ecclesiastical province in many Christian denominations, as with Methodists and Catholics, for example.
Eastertide or Paschaltide is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Preceded by Lent, it begins on Easter Sunday, which initiates Easter Week in Western Christianity, and Bright Week in Eastern Christianity.
The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar describes and dictates the rhythm of the life of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Passages of Holy Scripture, saints and events for commemoration are associated with each date, as are many times special rules for fasting or feasting that correspond to the day of the week or time of year in relationship to the major feast days.
The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.
The Paschal cycle, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as the period of the Triodion, referring to the liturgical book that contains the services for this liturgical season. This period includes the three weeks preceding Great Lent, the "pre-Lenten period", the forty days of Lent, and Holy Week. The 50 days following Pascha are called the Pentecostarion, also named after the liturgical book.
Christian observance of Passover is in modern times referred to as Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday and is held the day before Good Friday. Sometimes a shortened Seder meal is practiced. Many churches do a washing of the feet of the congregation on this day in recognition of Jesus washing the apostles feet at the last supper. [oremus Bible Browser : John 13:5–14] It marks the end of the Lenten season.
Easter Saturday, on the Christian calendar, is the seventh day of Eastertide, being the Saturday of Easter or Bright Week. In the kalendar of Western Christianity it is the last day of Easter Week, sometimes referred to as the Saturday of Easter Week or Saturday in Easter Week. It is the seventh day in the Octave of Easter too. In the liturgy of Eastern Christianity it is the last day of Bright Week, and called Bright Saturday, The Bright and Holy Septave Saturday of Easter Eve, or The Bright and Holy Septave Paschal Artos and Octoechoes Saturday of Iscariot's Byzantine Easter Eve. Easter Saturday is the day preceding the Second Sunday of Easter.
Bright Week, Pascha Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches for the period of seven days beginning on Easter and continuing up to the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday.
Radonitsa , also spelled Radunitsa, Radonica, or Radunica, in the Russian Orthodox Church is a commemoration of the departed observed on the second Tuesday of Pascha (Easter) or, in some places, on the second Monday of Pascha. In the Ukrainian tradition it is called Provody.
Public holidays in Botswana are largely controlled by government sector employers who are given paid time off. The government holiday schedule mainly benefits employees of government and government regulated businesses. At the discretion of the employer, other non-federal holidays such as Christmas Eve are common additions to the list of paid holidays.
Fasika (Ge'ez: ፋሲካ, sometimes transcribed as Fasica; [ultimately from Aramaic פַּסְחָא ] is the Ge'ez, Amharic, and Tigrinya word for Easter, also called Tensae.
The Pentecostarion is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches during the Paschal Season which extends from Pascha (Easter) to the Sunday following All Saints Sunday.
Easter traditions are customs and practices that are followed in various cultures and communities around the world to celebrate Easter, which is the central feast in Christianity, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. The Easter season is seen as a time of celebration and feasting, in contrast to the antecedent season of Lent, which is a time of penitence and fasting.
The Christian holiday Easter has several names. The names differ depending on languages, but most are derived from Greek and Latin "pascha", which is taken from the Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach), meaning Passover. The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Ēastre or Ēostre, which itself developed prior to 899, originally referring to the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre.
↑ Ferguson, Everett (2009). Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p.351. ISBN978-0802827487. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2014. The practices are usually interpreted in terms of baptism at the pasch (Easter), for which compare Tertullian, but the text does not specify this season, only that it was done on Sunday, and the instructions may apply to whenever the baptism was to be performed.
1 2 Davies, Norman (1998). Europe: A History. HarperCollins. p.201. ISBN978-0060974688. In most European languages Easter is called by some variant of the late Latin word Pascha, which in turn derives from the Hebrew pesach, meaning passover.
1 2 Gamman, Andrew; Bindon, Caroline (2014). Stations for Lent and Easter. Kereru Publishing Limited. p.7. ISBN978-0473276812. Easter Day, also known as Resurrection Sunday, marks the high point of the Christian year. It is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 2 Boda, Mark J.; Smith, Gordon T. (2006). Repentance in Christian Theology. Liturgical Press. p.316. ISBN978-0814651759. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2014. Orthodox, Catholic, and all Reformed churches in the Middle East celebrate Easter according to the Eastern calendar, calling this holy day "Resurrection Sunday", not Easter.
↑ Trawicky, Bernard; Gregory, Ruth Wilhelme (2000). Anniversaries and Holidays. American Library Association. ISBN978-0838906958. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2020. Easter is the central celebration of the Christian liturgical year. It is the oldest and most important Christian feast, celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The date of Easter determines the dates of all movable feasts except those of Advent.
↑ Cooper, J.HB. (23 October 2013). Dictionary of Christianity. Routledge. p.124. ISBN9781134265466. Holy Week. The last week in LENT. It begins on PALM SUNDAY; the fourth day is called SPY WEDNESDAY; the fifth is MAUNDY THURSDAY or HOLY THURSDAY; the sixth is Good Friday; and the last 'Holy Saturday', or the 'Great Sabbath'.
↑ Peter C. Bower (2003). The Companion to the Book of Common Worship. Geneva Press. ISBN978-0664502324. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2009. Maundy Thursday (or le mandé; Thursday of the Mandatum, Latin, commandment). The name is taken from the first few words sung at the ceremony of the washing of the feet, "I give you a new commandment" (John 13:34); also from the commandment of Christ that we should imitate His loving humility in the washing of the feet (John 13:14–17). The term mandatum (maundy), therefore, was applied to the rite of foot-washing on this day.
↑ Gamber, Jenifer (September 2014). My Faith, My Life, Revised Edition: A Teen's Guide to the Episcopal Church. Church Publishing. p.96. ISBN978-0-8192-2962-5. The word "Easter" comes from the Anglo-Saxon spring festival called Eostre. Easter replaced the pagan festival of Eostre.
↑ Whitehouse, Bonnie Smith (15 November 2022). Seasons of Wonder: Making the Ordinary Sacred Through Projects, Prayers, Reflections, and Rituals: A 52-week devotional. Crown Publishing Group. pp.95–96. ISBN978-0-593-44332-3.
1 2 Jordan, Anne (2000). Christianity. Nelson Thornes. ISBN978-0748753208. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Easter eggs are used as a Christian symbol to represent the empty tomb. The outside of the egg looks dead but inside there is new life, which is going to break out. The Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus will rise from His tomb and bring new life. Eastern Orthodox Christians dye boiled eggs red to represent the blood of Christ shed for the sins of the world.
1 2 The Guardian, Volume 29. H. Harbaugh. 1878. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Just so, on that first Easter morning, Jesus came to life and walked out of the tomb, and left it, as it were, an empty shell. Just so, too, when the Christian dies, the body is left in the grave, an empty shell, but the soul takes wings and flies away to be with God. Thus you see that though an egg seems to be as dead as a stone, yet it really has life in it; and also it is like Christ's dead body, which was raised to life again. This is the reason we use eggs on Easter. (In olden times they used to color the eggs red, so as to show the kind of death by which Christ died, – a bloody death.)
1 2 Gordon Geddes, Jane Griffiths (2002). Christian belief and practice. Heinemann. ISBN978-0435306915. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Red eggs are given to Orthodox Christians after the Easter Liturgy. They crack their eggs against each other's. The cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from the bonds of sin and misery and enter the new life issuing from Christ's resurrection.
↑ Collins, Cynthia (19 April 2014). "Easter Lily Tradition and History". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2014. The Easter Lily is symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Churches of all denominations, large and small, are filled with floral arrangements of these white flowers with their trumpet-like shape on Easter morning.
↑ Schell, Stanley (1916). Easter Celebrations. Werner & Company. p.84. We associate the lily with Easter, as pre-eminently the symbol of the Resurrection.
↑ Black, Vicki K. (2004). The Church Standard, Volume 74. Church Publishing, Inc. ISBN978-0819225757. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. In parts of Europe, the eggs were dyed red and were then cracked together when people exchanged Easter greetings. Many congregations today continue to have Easter egg hunts for the children after the services on Easter Day.
↑ The Church Standard, Volume 74. Walter N. Hering. 1897. Archived from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. When the custom was carried over into Christian practice the Easter eggs were usually sent to the priests to be blessed and sprinkled with holy water. In later times the coloring and decorating of eggs was introduced, and in a royal roll of the time of Edward I., which is preserved in the Tower of London, there is an entry of 18d. for 400 eggs, to be used for Easter gifts.
↑ Brown, Eleanor Cooper (2010). From Preparation to Passion. Xulon Press. ISBN978-1609577650. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2012. So what preparations do most Christians and non-Christians make? Shopping for new clothing often signifies the belief that Spring has arrived, and it is a time of renewal. Preparations for the Easter Egg Hunts and the Easter Ham for the Sunday dinner are high on the list too.
↑ "History of Easter". The History Channel website. A&E Television Networks. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
↑ Karl Gerlach (1998). The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History. Peeters Publishers. p.xviii. ISBN978-9042905702. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2020. The second century equivalent of easter and the paschal Triduum was called by both Greek and Latin writers "Pascha (πάσχα)", a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic form of the Hebrew פֶּסַח, the Passover feast of Ex. 12.
↑ Karl Gerlach (1998). The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History. Peters Publishers. p.21. ISBN978-9042905702. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2020. For while it is from Ephesus that Paul writes, "Christ our Pascha has been sacrificed for us", Ephesian Christians were not likely the first to hear that Ex 12 did not speak about the rituals of Pesach, but the death of Jesus of Nazareth.
1 2 3 4 Vicki K. Black (2004). Welcome to the Church Year: An Introduction to the Seasons of the Episcopal Church. Church Publishing, Inc. ISBN978-0819219664. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2020. Easter is still called by its older Greek name, Pascha, which means "Passover", and it is this meaning as the Christian Passover-the celebration of Jesus's triumph over death and entrance into resurrected life-that is the heart of Easter in the church. For the early church, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover feast: through Jesus, we have been freed from slavery of sin and granted to the Promised Land of everlasting life.
↑ Orthros of Holy Pascha, Stichera: "Today the sacred Pascha is revealed to us. The new and holy Pascha, the mystical Pascha. The all-venerable Pascha. The Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer. The spotless Pascha. The great Pascha. The Pascha of the faithful. The Pascha which has opened unto us the gates of Paradise. The Pascha which sanctifies all faithful."
↑ Karl Gerlach (1998). The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History. Peeters Publishers. p.21. ISBN978-9042905702. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2020. Long before this controversy, Ex 12 as a story of origins and its ritual expression had been firmly fixed in the Christian imagination. Though before the final decades of the 2nd century only accessible as an exegetical tradition, already in the Pauline letters the Exodus saga is deeply involved with the celebration of bath and meal. Even here, this relationship does not suddenly appear, but represents developments in ritual narrative that must have begun at the very inception of the Christian message. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified during Pesach-Mazzot, an event that a new covenant people of Jews and Gentiles both saw as definitive and defining. Ex 12 is thus one of the few reliable guides for tracing the synergism among ritual, text, and kerygma before the Council of Nicaea.
↑ Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold, and Paul Bradshaw, Eds., The Study of Liturgy, Revised Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992, p. 474.
↑ Genung, Charles Harvey (1904). "The Reform of the Calendar". The North American Review. 179 (575): 569–583. JSTOR25105305.
↑ Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold, and Paul Bradshaw, Eds., The Study of Liturgy, Revised Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992, p. 459: "[Easter] is the only feast of the Christian Year that can plausibly claim to go back to apostolic times... [It] must derive from a time when Jewish influence was effective... because it depends on the lunar calendar (every other feast depends on the solar calendar)."
↑ Thurston, Herbert (1 May 1909). "Easter Controversy". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.5. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023– via New Advent.
↑ Socrates, Church History, 6.11, at Schaff, Philip (13 July 2005). "Of Severian and Antiochus: their Disagreement from John". Socrates and Sozomenus Ecclesiastical Histories. Calvin College Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
↑ Peter of Alexandria, quoted in the Chronicon Paschale. In Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Volume 14: The Writings of Methodius, Alexander of Lycopolis, Peter of Alexandria, And Several Fragments, Edinburgh, 1869, p. 326, at Donaldson, Alexander (1 June 2005). "That Up to the Time of the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews Rightly Appointed the Fourteenth Day of the First Lunar Month". Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius. Calvin College Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
↑ MS Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare LX(58) folios 79v–80v.
↑ Sacha Stern, Calendar and Community: A History of the Jewish Calendar Second Century BCE – Tenth Century CE, Oxford, 2001, pp. 124–132.
↑ Allen Brent, Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995.
↑ Philip Schaff; Henry Wace, eds. (1 January 1890). Church History, Book II (Eusebius). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series. Vol.1. Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. Christian Literature Publishing Co. Retrieved 23 April 2023– via New Advent.
↑ Mosshammer, Alden A. (2008). The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.50. ISBN978-0-19-954312-0.
↑ Mosshammer, Alden A. (2008). The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.51, 65. ISBN978-0-19-954312-0.
↑ Mosshammer, Alden A. (2008). The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.50–52, 53, 62–65. ISBN978-0-19-954312-0.
↑ Apostolic Canon 7: "If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon shall celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be deposed." A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, Volume 14: The Seven Ecumenical Councils, Eerdmans, 1956, p. 594.
↑ St. John Chrysostom, "Against those who keep the first Passover", in Saint John Chrysostom: Discourses against Judaizing Christians, translated by Paul W. Harkins, Washington, DC, 1979, pp. 47ff.
↑ McGuckin, John Anthony (2011). The encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Maldin, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. p.223. ISBN978-1-4443-9253-1. OCLC703879220.
1 2 Mosshammer, Alden A. (2008). The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.239–244. ISBN978-0-19-954312-0.
↑ Declercq, Georges (2000). Anno Domini: the origins of the Christian era. Belgium: Turnhout. pp.143–144. ISBN2-503-51050-7. OCLC45243083.
↑ Mosshammer, Alden A. (2008). The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.223–224. ISBN978-0-19-954312-0.
↑ "The Church in Malankara switched entirely to the Gregorian calendar in 1953, following Encyclical No. 620 from Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem I, dt. December 1952." Calendars of the Syriac Orthodox ChurchArchived 24 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 22 April 2009
↑ "Easter: A date with God". The Economist. 20 April 2011. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2011. Only in a handful of places do Easter celebrants alter their own arrangements to take account of their neighbours. Finland's Orthodox Christians mark Easter on the Western date. And on the Greek island of Syros, a Papist stronghold, Catholics and Orthodox alike march to Orthodox time. The spectacular public commemorations, involving flower-strewn funeral biers on Good Friday and fireworks on Saturday night, bring the islanders together, rather than highlighting division.
↑ "Easter: A date with God". The Economist. 20 April 2011. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2011. Finland's Orthodox Christians mark Easter on the Western date.
↑ "Easter (holiday)". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
1 2 Hieromonk Cassian, A Scientific Examination of the Orthodox Church Calendar, Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1998, pp. 51–52, ISBN0-911165-31-2.
↑ M. Milankovitch, "Das Ende des julianischen Kalenders und der neue Kalender der orientalischen Kirchen", Astronomische Nachrichten 200, 379–384 (1924).
↑ "Towards a Common Date for Easter". Aleppo, Syria: World Council of Churches (WCC) / Middle East Council of Churches Consultation (MECC). 10 March 1997.
↑ MacKinnon, Grace (March 2003). "The Meaning of Holy Week". Catholic Education Resource Center. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
↑ Sfetcu, Nicolae (2 May 2014). Easter Traditions. Nicolae Sfetcu. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
↑ "Holy Saturday". Encyclopedia Britannica. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
↑ Huck, Gabe; Ramshaw, Gail; Lathrop, Gordon W. (1988). An Easter sourcebook: the fifty days. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. ISBN0-930467-76-0. OCLC17737025.
↑ McGuckin, John Anthony (2011). The Orthodox Church: an introduction to its history, doctrine, and spiritual culture. Chichester, England. ISBN978-1-4443-9383-5. OCLC1042251815.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Lash, Ephrem (Archimandrite) (25 January 2007). "On the Holy and Great Sunday of Pascha". Monastery of Saint Andrew the First Called, Manchester, England. Archived from the original on 9 April 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
↑ The Pentecostarion. Massachusetts: Holy Transfiguration Monastery. 1990. pp.6–7. ISBN0-943405-02-5.
↑ Liturgical Commission Of The Sisters Of The Order Of St Basil The Great (1970). The Pentecostarion(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023– via melkite.org.
↑ "These Are the Real Meanings behind the Colors of Easter". Southern Living. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023. On Easter, the color white symbolizes purity, grace, and, ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the joyful culmination of the Easter season. On this holiday, white Easter lilies are displayed in churches and homes, symbolizing the purity of Christ and representing a trumpet sharing the message that Jesus has risen.
↑ "Meaning of Cross Drape Colors". Wake Union Baptist Church. Retrieved 10 April 2023. The cross is draped in white on Easter Sunday, representing the resurrection of Christ and that He was "...raised again for our justification".
↑ Moroz, Vladimir (10 May 2016). Лютерани східного обряду: такі є лише в Україні (in Ukrainian). РІСУ – Релігійно-інформаційна служба України. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2018. В українських лютеран, як і в ортодоксальних Церквах, напередодні Великодня є Великий Піст або Чотиридесятниця.
↑ "Easter". History.com. History. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
↑ Daniels, Bruce Colin (1995). Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England. Macmillan, p. 89, ISBN978-0-31216124-8
↑ Roark, James; Johnson, Michael; Cohen, Patricia; Stage, Sarah; Lawson, Alan; Hartmann, Susan (2011). Understanding the American Promise: A History, Volume I: To 1877. Bedford/St. Martin's. p.91. Puritans mandated other purifications of what they considered corrupt English practices. They refused to celebrate Christmas or Easter because the Bible did not mention either one.
↑ "The Regulative Principle of Worship". Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022. Those who adhere to the Regulative Principle by singing exclusively the psalms, refusing to use musical instruments, and rejecting "Christmas", "Easter" and the rest, are often accused of causing disunity among the people of God. The truth is the opposite. The right way to move towards more unity is to move to exclusively Scriptural worship. Each departure from the worship instituted in Scripture creates a new division among the people of God. Returning to Scripture alone to guide worship is the only remedy.
↑ Minutes of Session of 1905. Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. 1905. p.130. WHEREAS, There is a growing tendency in Protestant Churches, and to some extent in our own, to observe days and ceremonies, as Christmas and Easter, that are without divine authority; we urge our people to abstain from all such customs as are popish in their origin and injurious as lending sacredness to rites that come from paganism; that ministers keep before the minds of the people that only institutions that are Scriptural and of Divine appointment should be used in the worship of God.
↑ Uro, Risto; Day, Juliette; DeMaris, Richard E.; Roitto, Rikard (2019). The Oxford handbook of early Christian ritual. Oxford, United Kingdom. ISBN978-0-19-874787-1. OCLC1081186286.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ "American holidays". USAGov. U.S. General Services Administration. 6 December 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2024. Many government offices and some private businesses close on annual federal holidays. If the holiday falls during the weekend, the government may observe it on a different day. [emphasis added]
↑ Siemaszkiewicz, Wojciech; Deyrup, Marta Mestrovic (2013). Wallington's Polish Community. Arcadia Publishing. p.101. ISBN978-1439643303. The tradition of Easter eggs dates back to early Christians in Mesopotamia. The Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, promising an eternal life for believers.
↑ Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 5. T.B. Noonan. 1881. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2014. The early Christians of Mesopotamia had the custom of dyeing and decorating eggs at Easter. They were stained red, in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion. The Church adopted the custom, and regarded the eggs as the emblem of the resurrection, as is evinced by the benediction of Pope Paul V., about 1610, which reads thus: 'Bless, O Lord! we beseech thee, this thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to thee on account of the resurrection of the Lord.' Thus the custom has come down from ages lost in antiquity.
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