What is Easter?

Easter is one of the important feasts of Christianity. It remembers the Resurrection of Jesus three days after his death by crucifixion (Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment given to the Persians, Carthaginians, Seleucids, and Romans from about the 6th-century BCE to the 4th-century CE.). Easter is a Christian Festival. Most of the Christian Churches celebrate Easter as the joyful end to the Lenten season of fasting and penitence. People are not sure about what is easter, as it is a Christian festival so other religious devotees are not aware of the true origin of Easter festivals.  The earliest observance of Easter comes from the 2nd century, though the earliest Christians commemorated the Resurrection, which is an integral tenet of the faith. Easter is an important festival for Christians. Its importance is similar to Christmas as On Christmas day Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ and on Easter, they celebrate the rebirth of their God.

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 Image: Portrait of Jesus Christ and his followers

What is the Meaning of Easter?

The literal meaning of the Easter festival is the victory of Jesus Christ's over death. The word Easter comes from the Anglo Saxon month 'Eostre Monath' which means the time of year. Because of few Easter traditions, people connect this name of Easter with the name of some goddess as Ishtar who was the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love and fertility, or Eostre  (an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring). Easter, also called Pascha, Zatik or Resurrection Sunday. Easter celebrates the defeat of death and this defeat of death became the hope of salvation.

Why is Easter Celebrated?

The Easter celebration reason is related to the resurrection of Lord Jesus and is celebrated as a rebirth of Christianity. Christian people believe that Jesus is the son of God who died because of the sins of everyone and then he came back to life three days later after his death defeating death and evil. The Easter celebration follows several every year, cultural customs and traditions on the relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover from which is derived Pasch ( a name used by Europeans for Easter). Passover is a famous feast in the calendar of Jewish people that are continuously celebrated for around more than a week and celebrate the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The early Christians most of them were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and Easter was introduced as a new feature of the Passover festival So Easter became a feast that can occur as early as March 22 or as late as the 25th of April. If anyone asks about the significance of why Easter is celebrated so then it is because on this day evil was defeated and Easter celebration is a symbol of the rebirth of virtue.

When is Easter celebrated?

Easter is a movable festival which means its date of celebration changes every year. The decision about Easter date used to be taken from some Easter information sources that were related to the Resurrection of Jesus such as when it was observed and celebrated. It had major controversies in early Christianity. Where an Eastern and a Western position can be distinguished. This famous dispute is known as the Paschal controversies. It was no resolved until the 8th century. 

In the earliest days, Christians celebrated the resurrection on the 14th of Nisan (in March-April). It was the date of the Jewish Passover. The days of Jewish were reckoned from evening to evening. Jesus had his Last Supper on the Passover and was the day of evil punishment on day of the Passover. Some Christians began celebrating Easter on the nearest Sunday to the Passover as Jesus came to life on a Sunday. It slowly became a traditional practice in the Roman Empire. Therefore in Rome, the Easter festival is celebrated on different days.

How is Easter Celebrated?

Lent is a period of fasting in Easter in which most of the churches decide to set aside time for remembrance and repentance. The fasting period of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Good Friday. Good Friday is that day when Jesus Christ was crucified. Pope Gregory 1 had introduced the 40 days on the 40 - day pattern of Israel, Elijah, Moses, and Jesus' time. There are some traditional and modern customs of the celebration of Easter. The famous two fertility symbols are Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny which is from the feast of Ostara. The traditional culture of the bunny was brought to the United States by German to Pennsylvania. The painted and decorated Easter eggs were first observed in the 13th century. The church instructed not to eat eggs during Holy Week. Even on this day the cross symbol and portraits of Jesus Christ, through paintings or idols are remembered. One more famous easter tradition is Easter baskets. The Easter baskets were created by the ideas of fertility and springtime, just like other Easter traditions.

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 Image: The traditional colourful Easter Eggs 

Constantine  (c. 274—337), a Roman emperor did not want Easter to be celebrated on the Jewish Passover and he wanted that Christianity should be celebrated from Judaism and Then the Council of Nicea required the feast of the resurrection to be celebrated on a Sunday and not on the Jewish Passover. Easter was celebrated on Sunday, after the full moon after the spring equinox.

When Was Easter 2020?

Easter festival begins with Lent Fasting and ends with Holy Week. Holy Week includes Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and final Easter Sunday. In Latin Easter is known as Pascha. It is celebrated every year but the date of the Easter festival is not fixed. Easter festival 2020 was on 12 April. Easter Festival has been celebrated at homes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Celebrations in 2020 were held virtually. Queen Elizabeth on 11 April 2020 said, "This year, Easter will be different for many of us. But by keeping apart, we keep others safe".

Fun Fact

There is a story related to the eater celebration of a widow in Britain. The widow had a  son who was a sailor. He asked his mother to bake hot cross buns for him when he returns on Good Friday. But unfortunately, his son never came back. Every Good Friday his mother used to bake hot cross buns. She stored all the buns she baked on Good Fridays. When she died her old house was replaced by a pub. From that day it becomes a culture in Britain that every year a sailor used to add a new and freshly baked bun to the collection. Soon from Britain sailors began to come to the pub and sing songs and pray for the widow. So this is the story related to the baking of hot cross buns on Good Friday. A hot cross bun is made of rich spiced tea cake.