Back to the top

Back to the top

Back to the top

Back to the top

Back to the top

When is Easter 2008? 23 March.

Looking for family Easter break? ^{Supported by Pontin's}

• What is Easter?
• What is the Easter Story?
• Where does the name "Easter" come from?
• When is Easter?
• Why does the date of Easter move?
• When is the Easter Season?
• What took place on Easter Sunday, about 2000 years ago?
• What happens on Easter Sunday today?
• What are the connections with Passover and Easter?
• What other names are there for Easter?
• Why do we have eggs at Easter?
• What foods are traditionally eaten at Easter?

What is Easter?

Easter is the time for holidays, festivals and a time for giving chocolate Easter eggs. But Easter means much more....

Easter is the oldest and the most important Christian Festival, the celebration of the death and coming to life again of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the dawn of Easter Sunday with its message of new life is the high point of the Christian year.

What is the Easter story ?

Easter is the story of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem before his death.The Easter story includes Maundy Thursday (the Last supper leading to the Eucharist), Good Friday (the day on which Jesus was crucified) and Easter Day (the day on which Jesus came back to life).

It is a sad story because Jesus was killed. But the story has a very happy ending, because Jesus came back to life and visited his friends and followers once more. He did not die at all, but went back up to Heaven to be with God, his father.

Where does the name 'Easter' come from?

Pagan traditions give us the English word "Easter" which comes from the word "Eostre". The Anglo-Saxon word for April was "Eostre-monath" (the month of openings). However, it should be remembered that Christians celebrated the resurrection of Christ long before the word "Easter" was used, and the word they used for the celebration was "Pascha", which is derived from and linked to the Jewish festival of Passover.

According to Bede, the English monastic historian, the English word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of April, which was known as "Eostremonath" in the AngloSaxon tongue and since Pascha was most often celebrated in Eostremonath, the English Christians began calling it "Easter". Bede also notes that the month was named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess Esostre.

Rituals related to the goddess Eostre focus on new beginnings, symbolized by the Easter egg, and fertility, which is symbolized by the hare (or Easter bunny).

When is Easter?

Easter usually comes in the month of April. However, Easter can fall as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.

Easter Day in 2008 falls on Sunday 23 March. It is the earliest it will be until at least 2030!

Why does the date of Easter move?

Easter is called a moveable feast because the date of Easter changes every year. Easter Sunday can fall on any date from March 22 to April 25.

The reason for this variation in the date of Easter is based on the lunar calendar (moon) rather than our more well-known solar one.

Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the full Moon (the Paschal Full Moon) either on or after the Spring Equinox (March 20 or 21). If the Full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday.

When is the Easter Season?

The Easter Season begins on Easter Day and lasts 50 days, ending on Pentecost.

What happened on Easter Sunday?

It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from death. Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead. Sunday was the third day from Good Friday (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day). The second day after Good Friday.

What has Passover got to do with Easter?

Easter and Passover always fall close to each other but they are not always at exactly the same time.

For many centuries before Jesus' birth, the Jewish people had their own special spring festival, called Passover (Pesach).

Passover commemorates the time when God rescued the people of Israel from slavery and Moses led them out of Egypt. It is the Israelite's liberation from Egypt that led to the beginning of Judaism.

Jesus, a Jew, was crucified during Passover time and it is said that the Last Supper was a Passover seder (a ritual meal that commemorates the Biblical accounting of the Jews escape from Egyptian slavery). It is Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection that led to the start of Christianity.

Both Easter and Passover revolve around the idea of rebirth. Jesus is resurrected, or born again, and the slaves are reborn into freedom. Both festivals draw in the idea of birth or rebirth with Easter eggs and the hard-boiled eggs served on Passover.

What are the different names for Easter?

In many European languages the name Easter comes from the word Passover.

Pascha in Greek and Latin,
Pasqua in Italian,
Paques in French,
Pascua in Spanish

Why do we have eggs at Easter? 

The first eggs given at Easter were birds eggs. These eggs were painted in bright colours to give them further meaning as a gift.

An Anglo-Saxon legend tells how the Saxon goddess Eostre found a wounded bird and transformed it into a hare, so that it could survive the Winter. The hare found it could lay eggs, so it decorated these each Spring and left them as offering to the goddess.

Eggs are a forbidden food during Lent, making them a welcome return to the menu on Easter Day. For Christians, Easter eggs symbolise new life. They believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death and sin and offers people the promise of eternal life if they follow his teachings. Eggs have been a symbol of continuing life and resurrection since pre-Christian Spring celebrations.

To the Pagans the egg's oval shape represents the eternal cycle of seasons. In their tradition, the egg's yolk symbolizes the sun-god, and the egg-white and pale shell represents the maiden goddess: their sacred marriage is said to have occurred at the Spring Equinox.

Eggs have had a religious significance in many ancient civilizations; Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs as did the Greeks; A Roman proverb states, "All life comes from an egg". It’s probably no surprise that Christianity should also adopt the egg to symbolise the resurrection of Christ.

What foods are traditionally eaten at Easter time?

Hot Cross Buns are traditionally served on Good Friday. Find out more

Easter day, like Christmas day, is also associated with special food.

Boiled eggs are traditionally served at breakfast, then Easter cards and gifts may be exchanged.

Roast lamb, which is the main dish at Jewish Passover, is the traditional meat for the main meal on Easter Day.

Simnel cake is baked for tea. Originally the simnel cake was a gift to mothers on Mothering Sunday in Mid Lent.

Back to the top

Shrove Tuesday

If you find our pages useful please tell us! Sign our guestbook