Easter
Easter is also known as Pasch and as Resurrection Sunday. It is the most important holy day for Christians of all denominations. Easter is a festive holiday which celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead as it described in the various books of New Testament. The event is supposed to have occurred three days after Jesus was crucified by the Romans. Easter is preceded by Lent, (forty-days of fasting, prayer, and penance) and followed by Holy Week which consists of Palm Sunday (commemorating the day Jesus entered Jerusalem).Holy Thursday (aka: Maundy Thursday; commemorating The Last Supper) and Good Friday (commemorating Jesus' crucifixion ).
Easter is a moveable feast day which means it does not occur on the same day every year. The First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon which occurs on or the soonest after March 21. Therefore, the date of Easter can vary from March 22 to April 25. But, Eastern Orthodox Christianity bases its calculations on the old Julian calendar(created by Julius Caesar) and according to that calendar, the celebration of Easter varies between April 4 and May 8.
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism as well as by its position in the calendar. In many languages, the words for "Easter" and "Passover" are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, exclaiming the traditional Easter greeting :"Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!" and decorating Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb. The Easter lily (aka: the trumpet lily because its flower looks like a trumpet) and is considered to be a symbol of the resurrection. Additionally, non-religious and commercial customs that have become part of Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians. These include decorating eggs, egg hunting, special Easter candies, special Easter breads, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades.
The term Easter Sunday is redundant. Easter is always on a Sunday.
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The Traditional Easter Hymn
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today is a Christian hymn associated with Easter. It is frequently sung at the beginning or the end of Easter church services. Most of the stanzas were written by Charles Wesley. The hymn first appeared under the title Hymn for Easter Day in the book Hymns and Sacred Songs by Charles and John Wesley in 1739. It is now the traditional processionalhymn on Easter Sundayin most Christian denominations..The hymn is a variation of an earlier hymn Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, a 14th-century Latin hymn which had been translated into English and published in Lyra Davidica in 1708. Many hymnals include both hymns separately.
You can both hear the hymn and see the Easter church procession at the following YouTube web-sites:
at Princeton University Chapel: (with kites and banners): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvFUYxh9Yws
at Duke University Chapel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js8h3NC3b3Q
and at St. Marks Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgmueWzUIgY
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Easter Art
The Resurrection of Jesus, Eastern Orthodox Icon.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by Piero Della Francesco.
The Resurrection of Christ, Peter Paul Rubens, 1611.
The Resurrection of Christ, Rafael