Easter

Easter
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This article is about the Christian religious festival. For other uses, see Easter (disambiguation).Easter

16th century Russian Orthodox icon of the Descent into Hades of Jesus Christ, which is the usual Orthodox icon for Pascha.
Observed by Most Christians
Type Christian
Significance Celebrates the resurrection of Jesus
2008 date March 23 (Western)
April 27 (Eastern)
2009 date April 12 (Western)
April 19 (Eastern)
2010 date April 4 (both Western and Eastern)
Celebrations Religious (church) services, festive family meals, Easter egg hunts, and gift-giving (latter two, especially in USA and Canada)
Observances Prayer, all-night vigil (almost exclusively Eastern traditions), sunrise service (especially American Protestant traditions)
Related to Passover, of which it is regarded the Christian equivalent; Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday which lead up to Easter; and Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi which follow it.
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Easter (Greek: Πάσχα, Pascha) is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year.[1] Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead three days[2] after his crucifixion, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday[3] (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday), two days after Good Friday. The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously estimated between the years 26 and 36 A.D.

Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance.

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the Moon. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first moon whose 14th day (the ecclesiastic "full moon") is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastic "vernal equinox").

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. It is also linked to Spring Break, a secular school holiday (customarily a week long) celebrated at various times across North America, and characterized by road trips and bacchanalia.

Many cultural elements, such as the Easter Bunny, have become part of the holiday's modern celebrations, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians alike