INTRODUCTION
The greatest festival of the Christian church
commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It is a movable feast; that is, it is not always
held on the same date. In AD 325 the church
council of Nicaea decided that it should be
celebrated on the first Sunday after the first
full moon on or after the vernal equinox of
March 21. Easter can come as early as March 22
or as late as April 25.
LENT:
Connected with the observance of Easter are the
40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on
Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy
Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. In many
churches Easter is preceded by a season of prayer,
abstinence, and fasting. This is observed in
memory of the 40 days' fast of Christ in the
desert. In Eastern Orthodox churches Lent is 50
days. In Western Christendom Lent is observed for
six weeks and four days.
Lent may be preceded by a carnival season. The
origin of the word carnival is probably from the
Latin carne vale, meaning flesh (meat), farewell.
Elaborate pageants often close this season on
Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginning of
Lent. This day is also called by its French name,
Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its
name from the practice, mainly in the Roman
Catholic church, of putting ashes on the
foreheads of the faithful to remind them that
man is but dust.
OTHER IMPORTANT DAYS:
Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, celebrates
the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Holy Week
begins on this day. Holy Thursday, or Maundy
Thursday, is in memory of the Last Supper of
Christ with his disciples. Good Friday
commemorates the crucifixion.
SYMBOLS:
Many Easter customs come from the Old World. The
white lily, the symbol of the resurrection, is the
special Easter flower. Rabbits and colored eggs
have come from pagan antiquity as symbols of new
life. The Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility,
and in colored easter eggs, originally painted
with bright colors to represent the sunlight of
spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or
given as gifts. Easter Monday egg rolling, a
custom of European origin, has become a tradition
on the lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.
During the Octave of Easter in early Christian
times, the newly baptized wore white garments,
white being the liturgical color of Easter and
signifying light, purity, and joy.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME:
The name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient
Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In
pagan times an annual spring festival was held
in her honor. Some Easter customs have come from
this and other pre-Christian spring festivals.
Others come from the Passover feast of the Jews,
observed in memory of their deliverance from
Egypt. The word paschal comes from a Latin word
that means belonging to Passover or to Easter.
Formerly, Easter and the Passover were closely
associated.
The resurrection of Jesus took place during the
Passover. Christians of the Eastern church
initially celebrated both holidays together. But
the Passover can fall on any day of the week, and
Christians of the Western church preferred to
celebrate Easter on Sunday the day of the
resurrection.
