Easter, also called Pascha, commemorates the resurrection
of Jesus, which Christians believe occurred on the third day after his
crucifixion some time in the period between 27 to 33 C.E.. It is often
considered by religious Christians to be their most important holiday,
celebrating Christ's victory over death, in which they share through
their belief in him. However, today, many families celebrate Easter in a
completely secular way, as a non-religious holiday.
Easter also refers to the season of the church year, called Eastertide
or the Easter Season. Traditionally, the Easter season lasted for the 40
days from Easter Day until Ascension Day, but now lasts for the 50 days
until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter
Week.
Easter is not a fixed holiday in relation to the civil calendar. It
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.
Easter is also linked to the Jewish Passover, especially for its
position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his
disciples before his crucifixion was a Passover Seder, as described in
the synoptic gospels. The Gospel of John, however, places Christ's death
at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lambs, which would put the
Last Supper before Passover.
Etymology
The English name, "Easter" is thought to derive from the name of a
Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn called Eostre or Ēastre in various
dialects of Old English and Ostara in German. In England, the annual
festive time in her honor was in the "Month of Easter," equivalent to
April/Aprilis. In his De temporum ratione the The Venerable Bede,
an eighth-Century English Christian monk wrote: "Eostur-month, which is
now interpreted as the paschal month, was formerly named after the
goddess Eostre, and has given its name to the festival." However, in
recent years, some scholars have suggested that a lack of supporting
documentation for this goddess might indicate that Bede assumed her
existence based on the name of the month.
Jakob Grimm took up the question of Eostre in his Deutsche Mythologie
of 1835, writing of various landmarks and customs which he believed to
be related to a goddess Ostara in Germany. Critics suggest that Grimm
took Bede's mention of a goddess Eostre at face value and constructed
the parallel goddess Ostara around existing Germanic customs. Grimm also
connected the Osterhase (Easter Bunny) and Easter Eggs to the
goddess Ostara/Eostre and cited various place names in Germany as being
evidence of Ostara, but critics observe these place names simply refer
to either "east" or "dawn" rather than a goddess.
The giving of eggs at spring festivals was not restricted to Germanic
peoples and could be found among the Persians, Romans, Jews, and the
Armenians. They were a widespread symbol of rebirth and resurrection and
thus might have been adopted from any number of sources.
In most languages, other than English, German, and some Slavic languages, the holiday's name is derived from the Greek name, Pascha which is itself derived from Pesach, the Hebrew festival of Passover.
History
The observance of any non-Jewish holiday by Christians is believed by
some to be an innovation postdating the early church. It is likely that
the early Christians—virtually all of whom were Jews—celebrated Passover
in the normal Jewish way, but came to mark Easter as a special holiday
as the Resurrection became increasingly central in Christian theology.
The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (b. 380) attributes
the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of local
custom, stating that neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping
of this or any other festival. Perhaps the earliest extant primary
source referencing Easter is a second-century paschal homily by Melito
of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established
one.
Very early in the life of the church, it was accepted that the Lord's
Supper was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition.
However, a dispute arose concerning the date on which Pascha (Easter)
should be celebrated. This dispute came to be known as the
Easter/Paschal controversy. Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, by tradition a
disciple of John the Evangelist, disputed the computation of the date
with Bishop Anicetus of Rome, specifically as to when the pre-paschal
fast should end.
The practice in Asia Minor at the time was that the fast ended on the
fourteenth day of Nisan, strictly in accordance with the Hebrew
calendar. The Roman practice was to continue the fast until the Sunday
following. An objection to the fourteenth of Nisan was that it could
fall on any day of the week. The Roman church wished to associate Easter
with Sunday and sever the link to Jewish practices.
Shortly after Anicetus became bishop of Rome in about 155 C.E., Polycarp
visited Rome, and among the topics discussed was this divergence of
custom. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus was able to persuade the other to
his position, but neither did they consider the matter of sufficient
importance to justify a schism, so they parted in peace leaving the
question unsettled.
The debate did escalate, however; and a generation later, Bishop Victor
of Rome excommunicated Bishop Polycrates of Ephesus and the rest of the
bishops of Asia Minor for their adherence to the 14 Nisan custom. The
excommunication was later rescinded, and the two sides reconciled upon
the intervention of Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, who reminded Victor of the
tolerant precedent that had been established earlier.
By the third century, the Christian church in general had become
Gentile-dominated and wished to further distinguish itself from Jewish
practices. The rhetorical tone against 14 Nisan and any association of
Easter with Passover became increasingly vehement. The tradition that
Easter was to be celebrated "not with the Jews" meant that Pascha was
not to be celebrated on 14 Nisan. The celebration of Pascha (Easter) on
Sunday was formally settled at the First Council of Nicaea in 325,
although by that time the Roman position had spread to most churches.
According to Eusebius, (Life of Constantine, Book III chapter
18[13]), Emperor Constantine I declared: "Let us then have nothing in
common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our
Savior a different way." However, the custom of Christians and Jews
joining in the Passover feast seems to have persisted, as Saint John
Chrysostom found it necessary to condemn such inter-faith activities in
his sermons. "The very idea of going from a church to a synagogue is
blasphemous," he declared, and "to attend the Jewish Passover is to
insult Christ."
Date of Easter
Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts,
in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian
calendars (both of which follow the cycle of the sun and the seasons).
Instead, the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar, as
is the Jewish Calendar.
In Western Christianity, based on the Gregorian calendar, Easter falls
on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25 inclusive. In the Julian calendar
used by Eastern Christianity, Easter also falls on a Sunday from "March
22 to April 25" but—due to the 13-day difference between the present
calendars—these dates are reckoned as April 4 to May 8.
The First Council of Nicaea decided that all Christians would celebrate
Easter on the same day, which would be a Sunday. The council did not,
however, declare conclusively whether the Alexandrian or Roman
calculations of the date would be normative. It took a while for the
Alexandrian rules to be adopted throughout Christian Europe. The Church
of Rome continued to use its own methods until the sixth century, when
it may have adopted the Alexandrian method. Churches in western
continental Europe used a late Roman method until the late eighth
century during the reign of Charlemagne, when they finally adopted the
Alexandrian method. However, with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar
by the Catholic Church in 1582 and the continuing use of the Julian
calendar by Eastern Orthodox churches, the date on which Easter is
celebrated again diverged.
Position in the church year
Western Christianity
In Western Christianity, Easter marks the end of the 40 days of Lent, a
period of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter which begins
on Ash Wednesday.
The week before Easter is very special in the Christian tradition. The
Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday and the last three days before
Easter are Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy
Saturday (sometimes referred to as Silent Saturday). Palm Sunday, Maundy
Thursday and Good Friday respectively commemorate Jesus' entry into
Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Holy Thursday, Good
Friday, and Holy Saturday are sometimes referred to as the Easter
Triduum (Latin for "Three Days"). In some countries, Easter lasts two
days, with the second called "Easter Monday." The week beginning with
Easter Sunday is called Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Many
churches start celebrating Easter late in the evening of Holy Saturday
at a service called the Easter Vigil.
Eastertide, the season of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the day of Pentecost, seven weeks later.
Eastern Christianity
In Eastern Christianity, preparations begin with Great Lent. Following
the fifth Sunday of Great Lent is Palm Week, which ends with Lazarus
Saturday. Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close,
although the fast continues for the following week. After Lazarus
Saturday comes Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and finally Easter itself, or
Pascha (Πάσχα), and the fast is broken immediately after the divine
liturgy. Easter is immediately followed by Bright Week, during which
there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday.
The Paschal Service consists of Paschal Matins, Hours, and Liturgy,
which traditionally begins at midnight of Pascha morning. Placing the
Paschal liturgy at midnight guarantees that no Divine liturgy will come
earlier in the morning, ensuring its place as the pre-eminent "Feast of
Feasts" in the liturgical year.
Religious observation of Easter
Western Christianity
The Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western
Christians. The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as
practiced among Roman Catholics and some Lutherans and Anglicans, begins
on the night of Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil. This, the most
important liturgy of the year, begins in total darkness with the
blessing of the Easter fire, the lighting of the large Paschal candle
(symbolic of the Risen Christ) and the chanting of the Exsultet or
Easter Proclamation attributed to Saint Ambrose of Milan. After this
service of light, a number of passages from the Old Testament are read.
These tell the stories of creation, the sacrifice of Isaac, the crossing
of the Red Sea, and the foretold coming of the Messiah. This part of
the service climaxes with the singing of the Gloria and the Alleluia and
the proclamation of the Gospel of the resurrection.
A sermon may be preached after the gospel. Then the focus moves from the
lectern to the baptismal font. Easter was once considered the most
perfect time to receive baptism, and this practice is still alive in
Roman Catholicism. It is also being revived in some other circles. The
Catholic sacrament of Confirmation is also celebrated at the Easter
Vigil, which concludes with the celebration of the Eucharist (or 'Holy
Communion').
Certain variations in the Easter Vigil exist: Some churches read the Old
Testament lessons before the procession of the Paschal candle, and then
read the gospel immediately after the Exsultet. Others keep this
vigil very early on the Sunday morning instead of the Saturday night,
particularly Protestant churches, to reflect the gospel account of the
women coming to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. These
services are known as the sunrise service and often occur in outdoor
settings such as the church's yard or a nearby park. The first recorded
sunrise service took place in 1732 among the Single Brethren in the
MoravianCongregation at Herrnhut, Saxony, in what is now Germany.
In Polish culture, the Rezurekcja (Resurrection Procession) is
the Easter morning Mass at daybreak when church bells ring out and
explosions resound to commemorate Christ rising from the dead. Before
the Mass begins at dawn, a festive procession with the Blessed Sacrament
carried beneath a canopy encircles the church. As church bells ring
out, hand bells are vigorously shaken by altar boys, the air is filled
with incense and the faithful raise their voices heavenward in a
triumphant rendering of age-old Easter hymns. After the eucharistic
sacrament is carried around the church, the Easter Mass begins.
Additional celebrations are usually offered on Easter Sunday itself,
when church attendance swells significantly, rivaled only by Christmas.
Typically these services follow the usual order of Sunday services in a
congregation, but also incorporate more festive elements. The music of
the service, in particular, often displays a highly festive tone; the
incorporation of brass instruments to supplement a congregation's usual
instrumentation is common. Often a congregation's worship space is
decorated with special banners and flowers (such as Easter lilies).
In predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, the morning of Easter is
marked with joyous celebration, the first being the dawn "Salubong,"
wherein large statues of Jesus and Mary are brought together to meet.
This is followed by the joyous Easter Mass.
Eastern Christianity
Easter is the fundamental and most important festival of the Eastern and
Oriental Orthodox. Every other religious festival on their calendars,
including Christmas, is secondary in importance to the celebration of
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is reflected in rich,
Easter-connected customs in the cultures of countries that are
traditionally of an Orthodox Christian majority. Eastern Catholics have
similar emphasis in their calendars, and many of their liturgical
customs are very similar.
Pascha (Easter) commemorates the primary act that fulfills the purpose
of Christ's ministry on earth—to defeat death by dying and to purify and
exalt humanity by voluntarily assuming and overcoming human frailty.
This is succinctly summarized by the Paschal troparion, sung repeatedly during Pascha:
Christ is risen from the dead, Trampling down death by death, And upon those in the tombs Bestowing life!
Celebration of the holiday begins with the preliminary rituals of Great
Lent. In addition to fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, Orthodox
Christians cut down on entertainment and non-essential activity,
gradually eliminating them until Great and Holy Friday. Traditionally,
on the evening of Great and Holy Saturday, the Midnight Office is
celebrated shortly after 11:00 p.m.. At its completion all light in the
church building is extinguished. A new flame is struck in the altar, or
the priest lights his candle from a perpetual lamp kept burning there,
and he then lights candles held by deacons or other assistants, who then
go to light candles held by the congregation. Then the priest and
congregation proceed around the church building, holding lit candles,
re-entering ideally at the stroke of midnight, whereupon Matins begins
immediately followed by the Paschal Hours and then the Divine Liturgy.
Immediately after the Liturgy it is customary for the congregation to
share a meal, essentially an agape dinner (albeit at 2:00 a.m. or
later).
The day after, Easter Sunday proper, there is no liturgy, since the
liturgy for that day has already been celebrated. Instead, in the
afternoon, it is often traditional to hold "Agape vespers." In this
service, it has become customary during the last few centuries for the
priest and members of the congregation to read a portion of the Gospel
of John (20:19–25 or 19–31) in as many languages as they can manage.
For the remainder of the week (known as "Bright Week"), all fasting is
prohibited, and the customary greeting is "Christ is risen!"—to be
responded with "Truly He is risen!"
Non-religious Easter traditions
As with many other Christian dates, the celebration of Easter extends
beyond the church. Since its origins, it has been a time of celebration
and feasting. Today it is commercially important, seeing wide sales of
greeting cards and confectionery such as chocolate Easter eggs,
marshmallow bunnies, Peeps, and jelly beans.
Despite the religious preeminence of Easter, in many traditionally
Catholic or Protestant countries, Christmas is now a more prominent
event in the calendar year, being unrivaled as a festive season,
commercial opportunity, and time of family gathering—even for those of
no or only nominal faith. Easter's relatively modest secular observances
place it a distant second or third among the less religiously inclined
where Christmas is so prominent.
Throughout North America, Australia, and parts of the UK, the Easter
holiday has been partially secularized, so that some families
participate only in the attendant revelry, central to which is
decorating Easter eggs on Saturday evening and hunting for them Sunday
morning, by which time they have been mysteriously hidden all over the
house and garden.
In North America, eggs and other treats are delivered and hidden by the
Easter Bunny in an Easter basket which children find waiting for them
when they wake up. This traditionally apparently originated with Dutch
settlers, inheriting the pre-Christian tradition of the Osterhase,
or Ostara Hare. Many families in America will attend Sunday Mass or
services in the morning and then participate in a feast or party in the
afternoon.
In the UK children still paint colored eggs, but most British people
simply exchange chocolate eggs on the Sunday. Chocolate Easter bunnies
can be found in shops, but the idea is considered primarily a United
States import. Many families have a traditional Sunday roast,
particularly roast lamb, and eat foods like Simnel cake, a fruit cake
with 11 marzipan balls representing the 11 faithful apostles. Hot cross
buns, spiced buns with a cross on top, are traditionally associated with
Good Friday, but today are eaten through Holy Week and the Easter
period.