By: Paola Luna
Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after being crucified, as related in the New Testament of the Bible. It is the most important celebration of the Christian Church.
Easter is also known as Easter Day, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, Glory Sunday or Holy Sunday. Easter ends Holy Week, days in which the crucifixion and death of Jesus are commemorated on Good Friday and his resurrection and appearance before his disciples are celebrated on Easter Sunday. With Easter begins a period known as Easter Time, which lasts fifty days, and ends on Pentecost Sunday.
According to the Holy Scriptures, with Easter God gives Christians hope for the resurrection and for a new way of life, represented in the return of Christ from the dead.Easter is a mobile holiday, the day of which varies every year. This is because the date is not set according to the civil calendar, but by the liturgical year, which is governed by lunar cycles. Thus, Easter is always located after the first full moon after the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the south. In this sense, Easter can be celebrated between March 22 and April 25. And the day on which it falls is important to also calculate the dates of other religious holidays, such as Pentecost and the Ascension.The term Easter comes from the Latin páscae, which in turn comes from the Greek πάσχα (pasjua), an adaptation of the Hebrew פסח (pesach), which means “step” or “jump”.
Jewish Passover Easter, also known as Pesach, is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt, recounted in the biblical book of Exodus. The Hebrew people consider that this fact marks the birth of the people as such. The celebration coincided with the Jewish month (Nissan), which corresponds to the last days of the months of March and April, when the spring season began. The Jews continue with the tradition contemplated in the book Exodus. During the festivity, which takes place over seven days, a special dinner is served with unleavened bread, wine, herbs and lamb, where the whole family gathers. During these festivities the intake of fermented cereals is prohibited.
