Easter

The Christian festival of Easter combines elements from several religious traditions. The Christian holiday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead after his crucifixion at the time of the Jewish observance of Passover. The timing—and the name—of the festival is based on pre-Christian pagan rites at the time of the spring equinox, most likely associated with the goddess Eostre and, hence, Easter. The fertility symbols of the rabbit and the egg are likely associated with these pagan customs as well. In the contemporary age, the holiday has nonreligious associations with springtime and nature.

Easter, a major Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, has both religious and secular significance today. In the religious context, Easter has particular significance for Christians and those for whom the resurrection of Jesus is a religiously significant event. The timing of the liturgical celebration of Easter varies to some extent among Christian groups. For instance, within the Roman Catholic Church, Easter occurs at different times for those who follow the Latin Rite and those who follow the Syrian, Greek, and other Eastern Rites owing to the calendar and the method used for calculating the date. The Latin Rite uses the Gregorian calendar, which is also the dominant calendar used by the majority of societies and for commercial purposes. Some groups use the Julian calendar, while Jews use a lunar calendar. Generally, the Sunday on which Easter is celebrated varies depending on whether the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church or the Gregorian calendar is followed.

As with the evolution and development of the annual liturgical calendar, Easter as it is now celebrated evolved from the understanding of Jesus' apostles (all of whom were Jews) and their familiarity with Jewish practices and was adapted as the adherents encountered other cultures and practices. Hence, Easter parallels the Jewish celebration of Passover that commences with the Triduum, which is Latin for “3 days.” Following the traditional Jewish practice of days beginning and ending at sunset rather than the secular day of midnight to midnight, the three days begin with the evening celebration of Holy Thursday, continues through Good Friday, and culminates in the celebrations of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil and the Sunday celebrations. Easter is then celebrated for 7 weeks or 50 days, until the feast of Pentecost. Being approximately a seventh of the 365 days or 52 weeks of the year, the Easter season bears a relationship to the liturgical year in the same proportion as Sunday is to the week. For Christians, Easter season is, in this sense, the beginning of a new and renewed life.

For observant Christians, as for Jews, the Passover experience conditions, modifies, and determines the understanding of life and all of reality. For instance, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy issued by the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church states,