The Story of Easter and Easter Traditions
Easter is a very commercialized holiday celebrated by Christian and Pagan. Both of these religions have celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is celebrated on a Sunday, always on various dates. It occurs between March 22 and April 25. Easter always occurs after the Spring Equinox.
The Spring Equinox happens each year on March 20, 21, or 22. Christians and Pagans have always celebrated religious ceremonies somehow linked to the Equinox. The equinox happens twice a year, when the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away, from, or towards the Sun. The word equinox comes from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night, because sometime around the equinox, night and day are equally long.
Easter is on the third day after Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. According to the Christian scripture (The Bible), Jesus was resurrected from the dead three days after he was crucified. Christians and Pagans celebrate this on Easter Sunday. Easter also marks the end of Lent, the season of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Easter is a moveable feast, which means that it can move around from various dates, and is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. All churches now agree that Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. The Paschal Full Moon is the first moon whose 14th day, is on or after March 21.
Easter is linked to Passover, a Jewish and Samaritan day and festival remembers the hebrews escape from enslavement. The Passover holiday begins on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan (March and April in Gregorian calendar).
The Pagans had the idea of hiding eggs, decorating eggs, hiding baskets full with candy and chocolate, and making other goods. The Pagans are a people of no specific religion: and all of these things we consider ‘Easter’ origins, were created by the Pagans. The Christians later decided they could use the idea of eggs and bunnies as part of the Easter Holiday, since Easter is in spring, and the Pagans came up with the idea of bunnies and eggs for the celebration of spring.
Many modern-day Easter ceremonies include going to church, creating and giving colorful decorated eggs, giving candy, and a lot of times, Easter is thought of as bunnies, ducks, and other spring-related animals. Children generally take part in Easter egg hunts (where someone hides eggs, and children find them).
