Right next to Christmas, Easter probably is the second biggest day of the year for Christian churches. Here are some facts about it if you are interested:
The Easter Date
A quick run-down on Jesus' last days on earth: On Sunday (Palm Sunday), he entered Jerusalem to attend the coming Jewish Passover holiday, on Thursday evening, he had the last supper with his disciples, on Friday (Good Friday, Passover Day), he was crucified, and on Sunday (Easter Sunday), he resurrected.
Accordingly, Easter should be the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover holiday, which is 14 Nisan (the 7th month) in the Jewish calendar. However, this date (Passover) is linked to the spring harvest in Palestine and since the Jews were banished from Palestine by the Romans since their rebellion in AD 135, such date became unobtainable. Therefore, the early Christians figured out the Easter date this way: They reasoned that at the time of the Last Supper, the month Nisan began with the new moon after the spring equinox (春分, the day when the length of the day equals the length of the night), and the 14th day of Nisan is the day of full moon, therefore Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the spring equinox.
However, since there was no standard way to calculate the spring equinox, it was still possible for different regions to celebrate Easter on different Sundays. In AD 325, the Council of Nicea ruled that all churches must celebrate Easter on the same day. This clearly implies that they instituted a standard method for calculating the date of the full moon after the spring equinox. As a matter of fact, some believe the mathematical formula we use today to fix the date of Easter came from that decree.
The Easter Season
Though not observed by most Protestant churches since Reformation (宗教改革), Easter celebration according to Catholic liturgy calendar is much more than a single day event, but a near 100-day long season centering around Easter Sunday:
* Ash Wednesday is the 46th day, or 40 weekdays, not counting the Sundays, before Easter Sunday. It is to commemorate Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for 40 days of spiritual reflection before beginning his ministry. It is called Ash Wednesday because the faithful place ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance.
* Ascension Day is the 40th day after Easter Sunday, when Jesus ascended into heaven after spending 40 days with his disciples on earth after his resurrection (Acts 1:3-11). It always falls on Thursday.
* Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day after Easter Sunday; it commemorates the day when the disciples gathering in Jerusalem per Jesus' instruction received Holy Spirit and spoke tongues in foreign languages (Acts 2). It is the birthday of the Church through the Holy Spirit.
Here are the actual dates of this year's Easter events:
Ash Wednesday Easter Sunday Ascension Day Pentecost Sunday
February 25 April 12 May 21 May 31
The Easter Name
The English word "Easter" came from Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) origin that refers to an ancient goddess whose name is "Ishtar" in Assyrian, or "Astarte" in Babylonian. It is a goddess of spring and fertility and was worshiped in a festival that used rabbits as symbol of fertility and eggs painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring. Easter, then, similar to Christmas, is quite a pagan influenced Christian holiday. Some Christian churches (e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses) actually refuse to celebrate them due to such reason.
Which is quite ironic, considering some contemporary Christians only go to church twice a year, on Christmas and on Easter.
Happy Easter!
* A little church joke for those of you who have patiently completed this Easter 101 class with me:
There were five country churches in a small Texas town: The Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, the Catholic Church and the Jewish Synagogue. Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels .
The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels.
After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.
In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week.
The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creations. So, they humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.
The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard about the Jewish Synagogue, but they took one squirrel and had a short service with him called circumcision and they haven't seen a squirrel on the property since.
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