Easter

Easter is considered the most important religious holiday of the Christian liturgical year, observed in March, April, or May to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead after his death by crucifixion (see Good Friday), which Christians believe happened at about this time of year around AD 30-33. Easter can also refer to the season of the church year, lasting for fifty days, which follows this holiday and ends around Pentecost. (See Eastertide.)

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In most languages of Christian societies, other than English and German, the holiday's name is derived from Pesach, the Hebrew name of Passover, a Jewish holiday to which the Christian Easter is intimately linked. Easter depends on Passover not only for much of its symbolic meaning but also for its position in the calendar; the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover seder, based on the chronology in the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John has a different chronology which has Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lambs (perhaps for theological reasons). This would put the Last Supper slightly before Passover, on 14 Nisan of the Hebrew calendar.

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According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration."

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The English and German names, "Easter" and "Ostern", are not etymologically derived from Pesach and are instead related to ancient names for the month of April, Eostremonat and Ostaramanoth respectively. According to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede, this month was dedicated to the pagan fertility goddess Eostre. The Easter Bunny is often identified as a remnant of this fertility festival, although there is no hard evidence of any link.

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Holiday: The word holiday has related but different meanings in English-speaking countries. Based on the English words holy and day, holidays originally represented special days of the Christian Church calendar. The word has evolved in general usage to mean any special day....

Christian: :This article is about the religious people known as Christians; for the 1980s British music group, see The Christians.For other uses of the term Christian, see Christian (disambiguation)....

Liturgical year: The liturgical year, also known as the Christian year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in some Christian churches which determines when Feasts, Memorials, Commemorations, and Solemnities are to be observed and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may ap...

Easter related Images and Photos (experimental)

Easter Lily	Easter Table	Easter Bunny	Easter Matins
Easter Parade (DVD)	Easter Fun Pack	Easter Bunny Cutout	Polish Easter
Easter Table 1915	Easter Island Moai Heads	The Easter Parade	Easter Parade: Special Edition (Dbl DVD)