Easter's Origins and Meaning

To Christians, Easter is the apex of the spiritual calendar, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each spring, egg hunts, a fluffy bunny with baskets of holiday treats, fancy new church clothes, biblical pageants and other traditions arise at Easter.

Easter has been celebrated throughout much of Christian history, likely adapting its name from Eostre, Anglo Saxon goddess of spring. In the first Millenium B.C., pagan festivals offered sacrifices to Eostre to mark the vernal equinox as a rite of spring.

By the fourth century, the Christian Council of Nicea set a movable feast date for Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon in the vernal equinox. Western Christianity has come to apply the Gregorian calendar to this formula, while Eastern Churches (such as Greek and Russian Orthodox) use the Julian calendar. The two Easter celebrations may vary by approximately two weeks.

Easter honors the promise of new life, triumphing over death.

Also called Resurrection Sunday and completing the 40-day Lenten season, Easter focuses on the miraculous victory of Jesus Christ over the grave. According to the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified at Jerusalem's Golgotha. His body was sealed in a borrowed tomb, guarded by Roman soldiers. Three days later, the risen Christ appeared to His own followers and many others.

The resurrection is the crux of Christianity. Without rising from the dead, Jesus could be called just another teacher or an extraordinary man, rather than the Son of God. Blasting forth from death, His claim of everlasting life may be offered to all who will believe His words.

Celebrating Easter in spring makes symbolic sense, as nature bursts out in life and color after months of darkness and deadness. The timing of Resurrection Sunday also fits biblical prophecy and order.

In several European countries, Easter is called Pascha (or similar derivations), recalling the Hebrew Passover.

The Christian Easter is connected to the Jewish Passover, both chronologically and thematically.

Christian tradition holds that Jesus shared the Passover Seder meal with his twelve apostles on the night He was taken into custody in Jerusalem. Christians mark this occasion, sharing Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday.

The New Testament calls Jesus "Christ, our Passover," offering His own life as a once-for-all sacrifice for human sin. This is why, during Jesus' last Passover meal with His apostles, He likened the bread and wine to His own body and blood.

Good Friday follows, recognizing the day He was put to death on a Roman cross, followed by the triumphant Easter Sunday. On this holy holiday, Christians greet each other with this good news:

"Hallelujah. He is risen."

"He is risen indeed."

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