Easter is one of the most important and popular Christian holidays. It is
celebrated to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, three days
after he was tortured to death. Easter falls on the last day of the lent
season. Lent season is a long period of celebrations. It starts from Ash
Wednesday and ends with Easter. The origins of Easter date to the
beginnings of Christianity, and it is probably the oldest Christian
observance after the Sabbath (originally observed on Saturday, later on
Sunday). Later, the Sabbath subsequently came to be regarded as the
weekly celebration of the Resurrection. A convergence of three
traditions - Pagan, Hebrew and Christian can be seen in many of the
traditions and observances.
Many of us are not aware that it is also the name of an ancient Saxon
festival, Eastre. Eastre is the pagan goddess of spring and offspring.
The ancient Saxons used to celebrate the return of spring with a
hilarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of
springtime, Eastre. Easter bunnies, lilies and eggs form an important
part of the Easter celebrations all over the world. Of old traditions,
Easter coincides with the Passover, a Jewish festival, also known as
Pesach. Thus, Europeans also apply 'Pasch' derived from it as another
name for Easter.
Unlike modern-day, Easter celebrations did not always follow a specific
calendar. It was after 325 A.D. that the observance of Easter was set
after the first full moon following the equinox. In the West, Easter is
observed by the churches on the first Sunday following the full moon
that falls on or after the Spring equinox or 21st of March every year.
Thus, the day on which Easter is celebrated usually falls between March
22nd and April 25th. Prior to this time, early Christian churches
observed Easter at various dates during the spring. This was due, in
part, to the Jewish festival of Passover, which was observed at the same
time of year.
